Located in the eastern Dutch town of Hengelo, the Metropool is a long-established live music venue featuring a huge range of acts and genres. It moved to its present home in 2009 and at that point its console stock was updated to include three DiGiCo SD8s and a large-format analogue desk, covering all its audio mixing needs across its Jupiler and Jack Daniels halls. They were one of the first Dutch venues to invest in DiGiCo technology as Teun Zekhuis, their Head Technician recalls: We chose the SD8 for its sound, interface, workflow and overall look and feel. Being one of the first stages in the Netherlands with this first series of SD8s we were really pioneering in a new world of digital audio. The SD8s proved to be a great choice and served us very well.
Fast forward nine years to 2018 and through a series of events, Metropool found itself taking over the business of Atak, a venue for pop music, creating Metropool | Pop stages of Twente. The audio equipment we inherited at Enschede confirmed that we made a good choice back in 2009; unlike ours, it had not withstood the test of time! So, one of the first things we did in Enschede was to replace the consoles, Zekhuis continues. Having DiGiCos in Hengelo, the choice for a new series of DiGiCos in Enschede was obvious; why change a winning formula? But to be sure we checked a few competitors and concluded that there was no other brand with a product line so compatible with our business, both affordable and quantitive. So, in 2018 we chose an SD5 for front of house in the Hertog-Jan hall (850 capacity) an SD10 for FOH for the 350-capacity Saxion Hall and SD12s for monitors in both rooms. We also bought an SD11 for the Muziekcafe which can hold up to 100 people.
Then, in 2020 back at Metropool we purchased another set of DiGiCo consoles: the Jupiler hall (850 capacity) now has a Quantum 338 for front of house with an SD12 on monitors, the Jack Daniels hall (cap: 250) uses an SD10 for front of house. Both rooms have SD12s on monitors and in the Muziekcafe it's an SD11.
Zekhuis shares his vision for presenting and maintaining contemporary performance venues in technical terms. We run an average of 500 shows a year and have many volunteers and freelancers at work, he says. In order to guarantee continuity in personnel and to keep the workflow constant, we have chosen to provide the same audio quality in all rooms, optimally realised in audio terms due to the Stadius 32-bit pre-amp technology in the racks. Besides that, all the mixers and workflows on the stages are adjusted to each other, which means that when you know how to handle monitors on one stage you also know how it works on all the other stages. The same goes for FOH we want to keep it as simple and plug-and-play as possible, which saves time in setup and gives the artist more time to prepare and perform.
Meanwhile in Enschede some 10km away, Wilminktheater en Muziekcentrum, a major regional facility encompassing several rooms of varying sizes and which presents everything from rock and roll to comedy, opera, theatre, ballet, conferences, cabaret, jazz and classical music, was also in the process of upgrading its technical infrastructure. These two organisations in two different cities combined forces through municipal budgets and clever in-house solutions to realise their respective goals.
We were looking for an upgrade on our mixing consoles, explains Eelco Braakhuis, the main engineer and audio specialist for the Wilminktheater en Muziekcentrum. The guys from Hengelo already knew DiGiCo so for them it was a no brainer in the search. For us also it was a console we knew and are very pleased with as we already owned two. It ticked all the boxes in terms of usability because we have a wide variety of shows that we produce ourselves, so we needed a console that is as flexible as it can be. Anything you can come up with in audio routing and processing, a DiGiCo can do it!
DiGiCo made a huge step up in audio quality with their new 32bit Stadius cards and we were very pleased with the sound it delivers. Combining it with Waves plugins and with the ability to go to immersive audio already in the console's software is very nice to have. It takes us a step forward to the future of theatre and opera.
Braakhuis notes that Wilminktheater en Muziekcentrum has a crew that all have to know how a console works, and it was easy for them to get used to the new DiGiCos.
We chose the SD10 for our main auditorium and two S21s for our small auditorium and church where we host mostly classical music, and a SD11 for flexible use in front of the house or during small conferences, he adds. So now here in Enschede we have six rooms with a total of ten DiGiCo consoles, all equipped with various racks including SD, D2 and D types. The different consoles have been very consciously chosen for the individual rooms, so they exactly meet the needs of each. It also makes it possible to use the different consoles in different rooms, entirely according to the technician's wishes.
As this is a purchase that was made by the city council, we had to do an inventory of pricing from three different companies, Braakhuis notes. The Ampco Flashlight Sales team made us a very good offer, they also know the consoles inside and out and do all the technical maintenance for DiGiCo in the Netherlands. This made them a good partner in our purchase. They handled everything very well for us during finalising the order and helped us create a great set of mixing consoles.
At Ampco Flashlight we're thrilled to have worked with both Metropool and Wilmink for the last two decades and that we've had the chance to extend and fortify our relationship with these beautiful DiGiCo-setups in both venues, concludes Bart van der Smissen, Product Manager Audio for Ampco Flashlight Sales. Ensch
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm
Restar Corporation
Tokyo
Register here
John Daro is the ...
Located in the eastern Dutch town of Hengelo, the Metropool is a long-established live music venue featuring a huge range of acts and genres. It moved to its present home in 2009 and at that point its console stock was updated to include three DiGiCo SD8s and a large-format analogue desk, covering all its audio mixing needs across its Jupiler and Jack Daniels halls. They were one of the first Dutch venues to invest in DiGiCo technology as Teun Zekhuis, their Head Technician recalls: We chose the SD8 for its sound, interface, workflow and overall look and feel. Being one of the first stages in the Netherlands with this first series of SD8s we were really pioneering in a new world of digital audio. The SD8s proved to be a great choice and served us very well. 
