Sound Environment automates Melbourne’s Christmas Festival

AUSTRALIA: Melbourne-based systems integrator Sound Environment is using JoeCo BlackBox Players to support the city’s 2015 Christmas Festival. Synchronised to the 7,500 channels of lighting that form the centrepiece of the seasonal event, the BlackBox is being scheduled via AMX control to replay its pre-programmed 24-channel surround sound soundscapes day and night over the Christmas period. The project was facilitated by the manufacturer’s partner in Australia, Gigpiglet Productions Pty Ltd.

‘I love the machine,’ enthused Sound Environment director, Bryce Grunden. ‘We have one unit installed in the show that runs over Christmas, as well as a permanent installation in a viewing platform here in Melbourne. For the Christmas show, the unit runs as a master with 7,500 channels of synchronised lighting and also slaves to time code. The other unit is permanently looping material and also plays other tracks when instructed over RS232 from the AMX.’

The BlackBox Player is a software add-on for the manufacturer’s BlackBox Recorder, developed specially for synchronised playback. It can be triggered using timecode, GPI, QWERTY keyboard, Midi commands and JoeCo Remote for iPad.

‘We’re delighted to see our BlackBox Player used in an increasing number of large-scale, creative projects such as this,’ commented JoeCo’s Joe Bull. ‘It’s good to see its role developing from replaying audio tracks in a performance situation to integration in more complex installations that involve a range of different synchronisation and control parameters. Congratulations to Bryce and his team on this successful festive installation and Merry Christmas to everyone from JoeCo.’

www.gigpiglet.com.au
www.joeco.co.uk
www.soundenvironment.com.au