Spain - Powersoft has launched its third-generation fixed-install amplifier platform, UNICA.
The UNICA range comprises three four-channel (UNICA 9K4, 12K4 and 16K4, with 9,000W, 12,000W and 16,000W respectively) and three eight-channel models (UNICA 2K8, 4K8 and 8K8, with 2,000W, 4,000W and 8,000W).
Featuring high power density, sound quality and backed by five new patents and four existing ones, UNICA represents the third and latest generation of Powersoft amplifier platforms, designed to meet the requirements of any size of installation with a single product family, explains Powersoft’s R&D director and co-founder, Claudio Lastrucci.
“UNICA is engineered to accommodate upcoming functions and feature expansions to fulfil the most demanding audio design requirements for years to come – all within a single platform,” says Lastrucci. “By listening to customer feedback and market demands, and drawing on our passion and R&D ingenuity, we have, with UNICA, created an amplifier platform truly fit for the future.”
In conjunction with Universo, Powersoft’s new cloud-based platform, UNICA represents a significant milestone in the development of cloud-based devices, offering cloud-native connectivity and remote monitoring functions without the need for specific product registration or configuration. Cloud integration allows for the storing and sharing of projects online, keeping the amplifier’s firmware up to date, or simple integration in third-party systems through APIs.
UNICA enables install professionals and system int

France - Anolis ArcPar 150 Outdoor architectural luminaires have been installed for an urban lighting renovation scheme – halving the power consumption – in and around the vibrant Gerland Park district of Lyon.
Gerland is a dynamic residential area that has also become a hub for emerging tech companies and commerce and a hotspot for sports and entertainment events with several world-class venues located in its 7th arrondissement catchment area.
Lighting designer Laurent Fachard, founder of Les Éclairagistes Associés (LEA), has worked extensively in and around this area, and recently two of his key landscape lighting projects were updated with new LED technology that had subsequently come to the market.
The new Anolis lighting authentically replicates his original illuminated art, simultaneously making these landmark urban lighting designs more energy efficient and sustainable.
The two areas that have been re-lit using the Anolis fixtures are the Chromatic Garden in Gerland Park, running adjacent to the river Rhône, and a landscaped roundabout on the Place des Docteurs Mérieux, part of the major road gateway into the city of Lyon.
The job of completing this diligent and meticulous task fell to Thierry Marsick, head of the city of Lyon's urban lighting department (DEU), who commented, “With LEDs coming onstream, apart from the energy efficiency, it was also an opportunity for us to utilise fixtures with much finer colour control and tuning”.
A main requirement for the new luminaires was to reproduce the original lighti

Europe - Bosch has announced the Integrus Omneo transmitter, a new addition to the Integrus Wireless Language Distribution System. The Integrus Wireless Language Distribution System, which is widely found in parliaments and used for international congresses, is designed for multilingual meetings to enable attendees to understand speeches in their native language. The audio signals of simultaneous interpretations are transmitted to pocket receivers and headphones via radiators utilizing proven, tamper-free infrared technology.
Thanks to the built-in Omneo IP architecture, the Integrus Omneo transmitter can seamlessly interconnect with the fully IP-based Dicentis conference devices from Bosch. This allows all existing Dicentis users – building owners, rental companies and system integrators specifying the Dicentis conference system – to integrate Integrus systems in an easy, time-saving and future-proof way. By becoming part of a complete IP workflow, open industry standards and protocols such as Dante and AES67/70 can also be used.
All language settings are automatically detected and transferred between the Dicentis conference system and the transmitter, and the entire setup can be conveniently configured in the Dicentis meeting application. Once integrated into an IP network with the Dicentis conference system, it is also possible to take full advantage of flexible power options supporting PoE and redundancy concepts. The IP infrastructure further ensures enhanced security by state-of-the-art encryption.
A new, cost-effective licensing model all

Italy - Neapolitan rapper and record producer Luchè, former member of the hip hop group Co'Sang, landed in arenas across Italy with his latest platinum-selling album DVLA - Dove Volano Le Aquile. The sell-out tour has crossed Italy from Naples to Milan via Rome and Rimini and will reach London in March 2023 for a special one-off date. During the tour the singer was joined by other stars of the Italian music scene such as Shiva, Elisa, Marracash, Sfera Ebbasta, Paky and Guè.
Lighting designer Giorgio ‘Josh’ Geromin chose 42 Ayrton Domino Profile S fixtures as the main light source and key lighting for the tour. The concept started from the idea of an eagle's flight, echoing the name of the album Dove Volano Le Aguile (Where Eagles Soar) and symbolising a human being’s attempt to rise up and land on Mars. From this was born the idea of approaching the stage as if it were a first outpost on Mars through the use of visuals and set design.
"I used Dominos for their great versatility as spots, with intensive use of zoom changes and prism rotations,” says Josh. “The Dominos were rigged both vertically and horizontally along the five trusses that formed the scenic structure. Because of Domino’s wide zoom capability, in some scenes we were able to light the structure directly to emphasise the 'ironwork' of the structure, while in other scenes they were used to expand the stagespace through the use of gobos which gave a sense of ‘air’ to the light. I was impressed by Domino’s ability to achieve and maintain gobo focuses with great precisi

Europe - Prolight Concepts Group has introduced the Elumen8 Evora 740ZP LED Zoom Wash produces a high output from a very compact and durable chassis, making it a versatile yet affordable solution for both rental and installation applications.
The first-class optical system presents a high intensity adjustable zoom; the narrow 4 degree beam angle creates sharp mid-air effects, whilst the wider angles produce uniform colour mixing, bathing concerts and events in rich colours.
Full pixel control over the seven 40W Osram Ostar quad-colour LEDs gives lighting designers a further level of creativity, whilst colour calibration ensures colours match from batch to batch.

Sweden - Pop supergroup GES (an acronym derived from the surnames of three of the country’s biggest singing stars – Anders Glenmark, Orup (Thomas Eriksson) and Niklas Strömstedt – continued a rollercoaster tour that started in 2021, wrapping up 2022 with a 33-date sold-out residency at Stockholm’s Cirkus venue.
The lighting and visual stage design was created by Palle Palmé, based around the architecture of this circular-shaped venue which was also where the tour had originally kicked off all those months ago after the first Covid restrictions were lifted.
The design featured two truss circles – large and small – and a curved LED screen on an automation system, with an all-Robe lighting rig in the air.
Backed by a versatile band, the whirlwind-paced show romped through a string of hits from the collective and individual careers of GES to which the audience knew all the words! Palle’s major task was keeping everything looking fresh and vital for two hours.
The overhead rig comprised 64 x Robe LEDBeam 150s, 16 x MegaPointes, 17 x BMFL WashBeams, with three RoboSpot systems running six of the BMFL WashBeams – two for each member of GES. The RoboSpot system had also been an important element of the touring lighting system.
All of these Robe fixtures, supplied to the Cirkus dates by rental company Musiklagret from Borås, were chosen for their versatility and power, the essential requirements needed to create lots of dynamics and fluidity.
The 64 x LEDBeam 150s were equidistantly spaced out around on the larger 10 m

UK - The MOBO Awards, which recognise and celebrate black music and culture, returned for its 25th year in October last year. With Craig David, Little Simz, Central Cee and Knucks among the artists recognised, the annual ceremony took place at the OVO Arena Wembley, where a star-studded line-up of artists including Nile Rodgers, Kojey Radical, Tion Wayne, Fireboy DML, Cat Burns, FLO and Eliza Rose all performing on the night.
DiGiCo’s SD10, SD12 and S21 digital mixing consoles offered flexibility, sound quality and reliability to the technically challenging event.
Simon Purse, head of audio at South West Group Events (SWG Events), who also acted as audio crew chief at MOBO Awards, explains that, for the first year, SWG Events was sole audio supplier for the event.
“The MOBOs is a technically challenging event to pull off,” says Purse. “It was also an extremely quick turnaround from when SWG Events won the project to when the event happened, so prep time was limited.”
The company’s own DiGiCo digital mixing consoles, including an SD10 and an SD21 were used at the event, with a guest SD12 deployed at Nile Rodgers monitor position and an additional SD12 at FOH.
“DiGiCo is always extremely rider friendly,” continues Purse. “If you put an SD10 on monitors and an SD12 at FOH, you just know that whoever turns up they are going to be happy. With the MOBOs being such premium production and knowing there could be last minute additions to the lineup, we wanted to ensure we had the best audio equipment to work with.”
Withou

USA - Philadelphia’s HiJinx Festival transformed the Pennsylvania Convention Centre into a massive two-night EDM New Year’s Eve party, bringing a stellar line-up of bass heavy DJs who played out amid lighting that was designed to uplift and thrill.
Creative production company Raw Cereal, known for pushing the boundaries of light-art shows, created a wide range of powerful effects using Vari-Lite VL3600 fixtures from Signify.
Raw Cereal’s Cort Lawrence joined HiJinx as production designer and creative director for the inaugural Philadelphia incarnation of the festival in 2018 and has been raising the bar ever since. Working with Live Nation Philadelphia, which runs HiJinx, Lawrence created a design that integrated multiple artists’ production riders, resulting in a curated lighting environment that made each performer shine and ensured upbeat consistency throughout.
“We supplied a design that pushed forward current design trends and technology, creating the right balance between lighting, lasers, and video, for a well-rounded show,” says Lawrence. “EDM fans are well educated when it comes to production, so we do our best to wow and dazzle them with lights and give them a fresh show every year.”
The Raw Cereal team learned about the VL3600 following a demo by Tyler Gannaway, Vari-Lite business development manager central and eastern rental & touring at Signify and went on to work with Nashville’s Premier Global Productions to invest in them for the HiJinx Festival.
“We were stunned by the level of quality and powe

USA - Dead & Company kicked off 2023 with a concert series in Riviera Cancún, Mexico and chose Meyer Sound’s Panther to power the destination event. Dead & Company tour director and FOH engineer, Derek Featherstone brought UltraSound LLC’s Panther system to the beach to anchor the 14-17 January series that also featured a one-night headline performance by rising American rock band Goose.
UltraSound provided a Panther system with 16 per side (12L, 4W) providing even coverage across the long, narrow waterfront audience area. The system also included six Panther per side (4L, 2W) for out-fill, six Panther (L) for lipi-fill, a centre cluster with six Leopard, and 24 1100‑LFC, supported by six Galileo Galaxy 816 processors.
“The Panther system covered the space as we expected it to and easily kept up with the wind,” said Derek Featherstone, UltraSound CEO. “We are happy with the simplicity of deployment and fidelity.”
Goose FOH engineer Eric Loomis commented: “The Meyer Panther was a joy to mix on. Its phase coherence is quite apparent, and the transient response is wonderful. The UltraSound team was very accommodating to our whole crew and made the show run smooth.”
UltraSound introduced Panther on Dead & Company’s 2022 summer tour and plan to deploy it for The Final Tour: Dead & Company Summer 2023, with 29 shows in 19 American cities starting 19 May in Los Angeles.

USA - The new Ovation E-2 FC from Chauvet Professional has an RGBAL engine that delivers richly textured colours and smooth, even whites (it has a CRI of 93), plus an integrated 25-50 degree zoom lens in a compact body that makes it suited for small and mid-sized applications.
Weighing in at under 15 lbs. and measuring 18.1 x 12.2 x 17.5 inches (461 x 310 x 445 mm), the tidy, but powerful, fixture puts out 1107 lux at 5m when used at its narrowest and 488 lux at 5m when used at its widest beam angle.
The Ovation E-2 FC features advanced optics, which means it ‘projects sharp, crisp gobos that add depth to any design’. A convenient dedicated focus mode button allows one-touch focusing without the aid of a board operator. A Virtual colour wheel and preset white CCTs add to the conveniences offered by this versatile fixtures, which can be controlled via DMX or RDM.
Other features in this ultra-quiet fixture include selectable PWM, +/- Green adjustment and emulated red-shift, a built-in gobo slot, electronic dimming, and USB ports for software updates.

Spain - Sennheiser has announced a new ceiling microphone for mid-sized meeting rooms and lecture or collaboration spaces. Named TeamConnect Ceiling Medium (TCC M), the new TeamConnect Ceiling solution was unveiled at ISE 2023.
TCC M delivers ‘all the innovation and features of the award-winning TeamConnect Ceiling 2 (TCC 2) to a new segment of the meeting space market’. With a coverage area of up to 40 m², customers can now bring the power of TCC 2 to their mid-sized meeting space, with a sleek design and at an attractive price-point, says Sennheiser.
“With the worldwide success of our TCC 2 for large meeting spaces, we wanted to provide that same experience to mid-size conference rooms and educational spaces,” said Jens Werner, product manager, UC Solutions, Sennheiser. “Now with TCC M, a whole new meeting category can realise TeamConnect Ceiling Solutions benefits like Trusted Sennheiser Audio Quality, efficient setup, brand agnostic integration and simple management and control. Also, when considering a new design, it was important to us to make a sustainable impact with smaller housing.”
Unlike the TCC 2, TCC M is round, but does offer the same ceiling installation choices - surface mounted, suspended, or flush mounted. These options allow for cable-free tables and flexible furniture arrangement.

Europe - KLANG’s latest software version 5.3 introduces a flexible offline editor and simulator. This enables users to prepare a show remotely without requiring access to KLANG processor hardware. Built into the KLANG:app, the offline editor emulates any existing KLANG processor from the smallest :vier to the flagship :konductor including network communication for DiGiCo SD and Quantum console integration, as well as to connect other KLANG:apps or the personal mixer :kontroller on a local network.
The offline editor also offers full compatibility with DiGiCo consoles’ offline editor, making it possible to set up the console remotely without having a console and KLANG processor on hand.
“Imagine you are sitting on a tour bus to the next gig and you need to make quick changes. Now, you just need your laptop to open an existing show file, adapt it for a different KLANG processor, or changes in the band or equipment available. With just the press of a button you can preview the mix settings with KLANG:app’s built-in :kontroller emulator,” says KLANG’s CEO Dr. Roman Scharrer.
KOS 5.3 also offers greatly improved Remote Management, adding an extra layer of security to the KLANG system. Administrators are now able to fully restrict access to the system with password protection, and help musicians to connect and configure their :apps remotely. In addition, musicians can be locked to their mix to prevent them from changing another mix.
When managing a monitoring system with many devices and users, it is crucial to find and access devices qu

USA - ESTA has announced that Richard Nix is the new technical standards manager for the Technical Standards Programme (TSP). His predecessor, Karl Ruling, will stay on in a supporting role.
Nix’s involvement in the development of standards spans decades. In early 1994 he was already actively involved in the USITT Rigging Standards project when discussions began about the TSP and its mission. He immediately came on board as a volunteer and has been, as he puts it, “a rather hyperactive standards evangelist ever since,” having led multiple tasks groups over the years before joining ESTA as assistant technical standards manager in May 2019.
Former technical standards manager Ruling will now be senior technical standards manager. “I am stepping back so that Richard can step forward, and I am sure he will excel. Richard has been involved in the TSP for as long as I have, and with other standards organizations even longer.” Ruling will continue to write the TSP newsletter, Standards Watch, and will still be the technical editor for Protocol, ESTA’s quarterly technical journal.
The TSP is a programme by the Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA). It comprises over 350 volunteer experts who devote time and knowledge to drafting American National Standards for the benefit of the whole entertainment technology industry.

Spain - Electronic musician and composer, Jean-Michel Jarre, and contemporary French artist Eric Decastro teamed up with Coda Audio to unveil Space by Coda at ISE 2023.
Space by Coda combines advanced AV technology with art ‘to create a seamless audio-visual experience that is scalable and adaptable to any environment – and where the mechanics of what is a concert-grade audio experience are rendered completely invisible’.
“Conventional AV solutions are often a compromise between technical requirements and visual aesthetics,” explains Coda founder and MD, Svetly Alexandrov. “High quality AV solutions usually include projector and/or LED screens, multiple loudspeakers, mounting accessories, and a lot of cables as well as acoustic absorbers and diffusors. This is usually at odds with the vision of the architect and/or interior designer who don’t want loudspeakers, acoustic elements, cabling and other technology cluttering up their interior design. Space by Coda resolves all these problems.”
Space by Coda integrates high-end, immersive 3D audio, a 4K projector screen, ambient lighting and advanced acoustical treatment with the art or projection of your choice into a united system solution to transform spaces with audio. The result is the Space Panel.
At just 70mm deep, Space Panels can offer sound quality and performance surpassing that of conventionally designed (cabinet) loudspeakers. This driver-equipped canvas can transform spaces to feature invisible audio, enabling high quality, full-range sound in previously limitative envi

Europe - Hall Technologies has announced a new distribution relationship with ADI Global Distribution, a global distributor of security, AV and low voltage products. ADI customers across EMEA will now have access to the comprehensive line of end-to-end pro AV solutions from Hall Technologies.
“As part of our global expansion strategy, we’ve partnered with ADI to bring our human-centric products to their clients. Hall’s focus is on truly understanding what customers need and offering top quality products to exceed those needs. We look to ADI as a key strategic partner to help us grow our brand and customer base in the region. We’re thrilled to collaborate with ADI and look forward to our mutual growth opportunities,” says Hall Technologies vice president of sales and marketing, Hal Truax.
"ADI remains committed to expanding our Pro AV portfolio of products and providing our customers with the products they need to successfully design and install integrated solutions." said Chris Godfrey, senior category manager, Pro Av. "We're really excited work with Hall Technologies and further expand ADI's Pro AV product portfolio."

Spain - LED screen manufacturer Alfalite received the visit of His Majesty King Felipe VI on the first day of ISE. The Spanish manufacturer is exhibiting at the Digital Signage and DooH Zone in Hall 6 (stand 6H310).
Jesús Cabrera, CEO of Alfalite, was among the team welcoming Felipe VI. During his visit, Felipe VI praised Alfalite for their innovations in LED technology.
Jesús Cabrera says, "We feel honoured by the King’s visit to our company stand at ISE. We shared a brief talk about the company, its products and innovations. And we took the opportunity to invite him to visit our plant in Huelva."
The Spanish manufacturer has 20+ years of experience designing and manufacturing LED screens for advertising, shows, television and conference rooms with the most sophisticated technology. Its innovations for the display market include technologies like ORIM or Modularpix Pro VP XR line of panels.
The Spanish company was recently involved in major projects, including building a 132sq.m LED wall in record time for Plazamedia's hybrid studio near Munich to broadcast all FIFA World Cup matches from Qatar.
At ISE 2023, Alfalite is showing its Alfalite VP XR solution, a complete virtual production environment using Alfalite LED screens with a specific development and full integration into the production ecosystem of the UK manufacturer Mo-Sys. Alfalite's Modularpix Pro LED screens are also on display on some partner stands, including AVIXA (stand 3Q400), Novastar (stand 3B750) and nsign.tv (stand 6H400).

Spain - Brompton Technology has announced the release of a new receiver card, the Tessera G1, which is the first receiver card to support 10Gb fibre connections direct to the panel. It is also capable of supporting a 1m pixel capacity for a new generation of ultra-fine pixel pitch panels, or up to 1,000 fps (frames per second). All this is made possible by a 20x increase in computing power compared to the existing top performer, the Tessera R2+ receiver card.
Cesar Caceres, Brompton's product lead, emphasises that the company's Tessera R2+ receiver card is still optimally positioned to deliver exceptional performance for a vast majority of LED fixtures. In fact, thousands of projects worldwide will continue to use LED panels integrated with R2+ cards with great success.
“We are definitely not forsaking the R2+ card and all its impressive capabilities,” Caceres explains. “We are simply recognising the rapid advancements of LED video technology. As a company, we are proactively positioning ourselves to meet and exceed the future demands of our industry.”
Already in talks with panel manufacturers, Brompton is working to integrate the new receiver card as the driving force behind the next generation of LED screens. Caceres notes that the benefits are not only about the substantial increase in pixels that can be processed thanks to the new card, but that it will also facilitate the integration of additional calibrated channels, which Brompton defines as RGBW, Red, Green Blue and Whatever.
“As with all our systems, we offer flexibility by

Spain - Via an online special event and at ISE 2023 in Barcelona, Martin Audio unveiled a smaller addition to the Torus series, the Torus 8 (or T820 as the individual model is known).
T820 is a passive, two-way loudspeaker engineered for small to medium-scale applications which do not call for the longer throw capabilities of a line array. With exceptional ease-of-use, scalability and deployment flexibility, it is primarily used as an array element in vertical constant curvature arrays as well as being used singly as a point-source loudspeaker. In venues with short throws, yet high ceilings - as is the case in some theatres - a horizontal centre cluster may also be a practical solution.
T820 combines impressive output capability, sonic performance and a defined 100° by 20° coverage pattern, all from a compact enclosure that weighs just 14kg. Its small size and portability extend its range of applications from live sound and permanent installations to corporate events, gigging musicians and DJ’s.
A phase plug is mounted in front of an 8” neodymium driver to increase mid-band sensitivity while two 1” exit, 1.4” voice coil high temperature polymer dome neodymium compression drivers ensure sonic performance is not compromised, even when driven at higher SPL. That higher SPL can be as much as 130dB.
Torus 8 comes in a plywood cabinet, finished in hardwearing PU paint, and incorporates two pocket handles for easy installation and deployment, as well as fixings for pole-mounting. Rigging hardware and accessories are suitable for installatio

Spain - Adam Hall Integrated Systems has introduced QUESTRA design and management software for networked LD Systems installation solutions.
LD Systems from Adam Hall offers a vast range of robust, well thought-out audio solutions for applications as diverse as touring and events, DJ and MI, plus of course integrated systems. The integrated systems portfolio includes dedicated loudspeaker solutions, power amplifiers, mixer amplifiers, preamps, wireless systems and microphones and much more. QUESTRA is the new software brain that makes planning, designing, configuring and managing your project easy.
QUESTRA enables access to the full DSP capabilities of all LD Systems’ audio installation devices, allowing you to configure audio networks of any size and manage and control every device from a single application. The software also includes a powerful editor to create custom user panels for remote control that can be operated from Windows computers or any Android or iOS portable device.
Administrators can create users, assign specific roles and limit access to certain functions, thus ensuring that critical network settings cannot be modified. Device presets to match different user applications can be easily created and managed in QUESTRA and triggered via the individual user panels. Also, with remote access to the audio network, monitoring and support can be provided from anywhere, at any time.
Adam Hall Integrated Systems product manager, Gabriel Alonso, comments, “QUESTRA gives you full control of your project before, during, and after commis