Instant Breakthrough for Optocores Revolutionary Festival Box posted: 14/10/2019
Global success, from Spice Girls and Billie Eilish tours to top European festivals
Optocore's Festival Box looks set to revolutionise big event touring after rental companies around the globe were quick to respond to the launch of the much-anticipated new device this summer. As demo systems were released to targeted dealers and production companies around the world, Optocore Technical Sales Manager, Maciek Janiszewski, said, It is gratifying that customers have trusted us with delivering a completely new device concept and placed it immediately on high-profile tours and festivals.
Early adopters have included the high-flying Billie Eilish and Spice Girls, both with Wigwam, while festivals have ranged from the mighty Sziget in Hungary and KFPP Opole in Poland, to Parklife and Bluedot festivals in the north of England.
What makes Festival Box so special? In essence, it allows any audio protocol as well as video and data to tunnel over the same fiber, making it a hugely efficient solution for multi-act scenarios. Migrating the technology from sister company BroaMan's Repeat48WDM media converter, which uses Repeat48-2Fiber modules at its source, it offers countless conversion options, supporting all fiber protocols as well as Cat5 Ethernet-based standards or even HDMI, since the standard SFP optical module transceivers are hot swappable.
With each sound engineer bringing different consoles to festivals, running different protocols to the stage box, everything can now be transported down Festival Box using just a single duplex fiber, thereby saving a tremendous amount of cabling between FOH and Stage, continued Janiszewski.
Alex Hadjigeorgiou, from Optocore-BroaMan dealer, fac365, had led the charge to put the word into the rental community at the beginning of the year. It's been very well-received and we've had really positive feedback, he said. This year has been all about getting the concept across. In some ways the name Festival Box' restricts it as it is so much more than that: it's perfect for running complete touring infrastructure down it, using just two fibers.
In Poland, GMB Pro Sound have had it out at the Open'er Festival at Gdynia Airport, Krakow Live Festival and Festival Opole, as well as on tour with Meskie Granie. Festival Box also provided an elegant and efficient solution at the Sweden Rock Festival in Solvesborg, supplied by Soundware Sweden, Sziget in Hungary (via Leon Szolgaltato Ltd), while in the north of England fac365 supplied the devices to dbnAudile (for Parklife and Bluedot).
Said GMB Pro Sound Director, Remigiusz Kasztelnik, Festival Box might be a new concept but those who have tried it have immediately found it extremely useful, especially when there are different protocols in place. The big advantage is simplicity-there is no software or configuration necessary; you just plug in the cable onstage and FOH, and pair the stage boxes and consoles whether Cat5, coax or fiber.
We expect Festival Box to become a must-have, and a no-brainer for larger tours and mid-size/large festivals over the next few years.
Wigwam co-founder Chris Hill-another early adopter, and influencer of Optocore solutions over the years-agreed. I have always liked the quality of Optocore products and what they stand for, he confirmed. Festival Box has already dug us out of a couple of holes, and is proving to be a very useful tool.
It made sense to invest for many reasons, he said. When Spice Girls came along we put it on as a data tunnel so we could put comms, video, the support band console and remote aerials through it. It got used heavily, and proved to be very flexible, reducing the number of cables to plug in at front of house.
For Billie Eilish, Festival Box fulfilled an altogether different solution. Production had wanted to run their system over Cat5, since their Allen & Heath console sits on that network, and all available fiber ports had already been used. So instead of wrestling with a system rejig, thanks to Festival Box they were able to carry on as they were, with no issues of distance, no reconfiguration or software changes necessary, said Hadjigeorgiou.
Chris Hill agreed. Their production loved it because they could work the way they wanted to work. Festival Box introduced them to a really simple way of getting out of a problem.
You don't need a laptop and another screen-you can plug in more SFPs and put other formats down it. In fact it is now being specified on another project which will require further investment. Anyone who is initially sceptical only has to see it working to be convinced.
Alex Hadjigeorgiou also believes it offers a great return on investment for mid-sized rental houses who have yet to commit to the substantial investment required in fiber cable. It is generally hard to charge [clients] good money for fiber because it's expected to come with the consoles, he said. But as Festival Box is a separate chargeable item it becomes a chargeable item it makes a lot of sense.
In summary he said, Festival Box is ultimately about efficiency, but it's for the long term. In years to come, once Festival Box is established, people will be saying, In the old days we used to run a network, RF and console loop all on separate cables!'
Europe Stories
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
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Thursday 2 July 2026
Tea with Judi Dench returns to Sky Arts with legendary guest, Sir Ian McKellen
Sky today confirms Tea with Judi Dench will return this su...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
LEXINGTON, Kentucky - July 2026 -Tyler Childers' seventh and latest studio record, Snipe Hunter, is an adventurously sprawling collection of tunes that span...
01/07/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
BLEACH Comes to Life in Los Angeles with First-of-Its-Kind...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
01/07/2026
Nectar360, the Retail Media, Loyalty and Insights business of the Sainsburys Gro...
01/07/2026
9.2 million streams on RT Player between 11 and 28 June
Reach of 2.9 million viewers during Group stages of FIFA World Cup on RT 2
23 million video views acr...
30/06/2026
Could your journalism reach an international stage?
Entries are now open for the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2026, one of the most prestigi...
30/06/2026
Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects
Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...
30/06/2026
New IR reverb engine, Juno-inspired chorus & more
The latest version of Rapid Flow's hardware-emulation synth plug-in expands on its predecessor with a ...
30/06/2026
Excels at heavy-handed VCA compression
For their latest release, Shy Audio have recreated the crunchy' sound of a rackmount compressor that found its w...
30/06/2026
Component scarcity drives cost increases
Shortly after Apple's CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that cost increases would soon be inevitable , the company hav...
30/06/2026
Hitachi and Bank Pekao S.A. have completed the installation of the first Hitachi...
30/06/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/06/2026
Four-layer instrument aimed at dark electronic music
Excite Audio's latest software instrument has been designed with dark drum and bass, atmospheric te...
29/06/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
29/06/2026
Details environmental policies & results
The Focusrite Group have just announced that following a long audit process, they have published their 2026 sustain...
29/06/2026
Arvato Systems Achieves AWS Cloud Operations Competency
The team behind the AWS Cloud Operations Competency (from left to right: Philipp Hellmich, Johanna Bod...
29/06/2026
RT today announced that Ger Gilroy will join the RT Podcasts team to present a daily sports podcast. Launching later this year, the new show will set the spor...
29/06/2026
RT Commercial announced OUTsurance as sponsor of the Oliver Callan show on RT Radio 1 from Wednesday 1 July.
Oliver Callan doubles the fun, delivering two ...
28/06/2026
Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up
Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...
28/06/2026
New EXO Series DSP control software announced
EVE Audio's EXO Series monitor range has just gained a new software element that provides remote access to...
27/06/2026
Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects
Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...
26/06/2026
Virtual session musician plug-in gains new percussion options
Celemony's latest update for their virtual session musician platform complements the exist...
26/06/2026
Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up
Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...
26/06/2026
ELT Group and Rohde & Schwarz sign a cooperation agreement to explore commercial...
26/06/2026
Flicker Productions to produce five-part docu-reality series following women who have fallen for men in prison and have become TikTok sensations, with brands an...
26/06/2026
Catch up on the latest developments across Baselight and Daylight v7, Nara and F...
26/06/2026
26. June 2026 News
DFT is pleased to announce that a second Polar HQ film s...
Instant Breakthrough for Optocores Revolutionary Festival Box posted: 14/10/2019 
