The event attracted audio professionals from across Europe
Austria - In late September, 145 audio professionals from throughout Europe headed for the Austrian Alps, as Yamaha hosted its sixth annual System Designers Conference in the stunning location of the Scalaria Conference Centre, St Wolfgang.
Featuring workshops and lectures on a wide variety of topics, it was a truly international gathering, attracting audio professionals from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE and the UK.
Participants could have been forgiven for being distracted by the stunning views from the conference centre, located on the shores of the picturesque Wolfgangsee. However all of the seminars hosted in the eight conference rooms were delivered to fully attentive audiences!
As usual, Yamaha Music Europe worked in close co-operation with a number of other leading manufacturers, who provided staff leading the seminars, expertise and equipment. This year they were Audinate, Beckhoff Automation, Dan Dugan Sound Design, Nexo, Revolabs (which has recently joined forces with Yamaha under the banner of Yamaha Unified Communications) and Stage Tec. Atterotech and Shure also provided product support. A dedicated crew of 43 from across all the participating companies planned, managed, built and presented the various demonstration systems.
Seven main spaces at Scalaria were used for the seminars. The biggest was the Circus Circus Hall, which hosted a number of sessions and also the conference dinner. This was followed by a performance by the Wolfgang Haffner All Star Band, bringing the focus onto how fundamental musical inspiration and cultural entertainment are to Yamaha’s presence in the professional audio industry. The performance was streamed live to Facebook using a Newtec Tricaster system, with the audio feed coming direct from the Yamaha CL5 mixing console manned by sound engineer Olli Voges.
With so many seminars covering a huge range of topics - from ‘ears-on’ presentations about many different pro audio concepts and applications, through the use of Dante, the new CS700 Video Sound Collaboration System, different control systems, simulation software, location recording, Yamaha matrix processors and many, many others - the event was hailed a huge success by all who participated.
“It was a very positive experience and really captivating throughout,” says Dario Zanotti, from Delta Tecno Studio in Rome. “Great moments included the new Yamaha VXL column speaker presentation and the ‘battle of concept’ formula, which cleared showed the highlights of the product. Dan Dugan’s presentation was a great surprise, clear and addictive. The event was really useful and in touch with Delta Tecno Studio’s activities.”
“At every System Designers conference we try to offer an interesting, technology-focused event for Europe's top community of system designers, project managers and consultants,” says Ron Bakker, systems marketing manager at Yamaha Music Europe.
“This year we offered the most wide-ranging programme of seminars that we have attempted. I am very grateful to all the staff, presenters and attendees who were involved with this year’s event. I have heard so many great responses to all of the seminars. It was a really positive and worthwhile experience - we are already looking forward to delivering something even better next year.”
(Jim Evans)

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