Prolight + Sound 2012 preview

Taking place slightly earlier than normal this year’s calendar is the annual Prolight+Sound exhibition in Frankfurt. Last year’s event reversed the dip in 2010, with exhibitor numbers up six per cent and visitors up too, by nine per cent. Overall the exhibition saw 873 exhibitors over the myriad of halls at the Frank am Main messe.

For those who don’t know, the show is aimed at event-venue operators, planners, retailers, wholesalers, sound experts, lighting designers, stage designers, studio technicians, events service providers and exhibition-stand builders who want to find out about the latest technical developments and products and services.

The different products are divided into several product groups: Audio, lighting, communications, theatre and stage, and media technologies, visual communication and systems integration. Visitors will find the section on sound systems (portable sound, concert sound, installed sound, microphones, networks, production and broadcast sound) in Hall 8.

Exhibitors in the lighting and stage section will present their products to visitors in Hall 11 (show and stage lighting, public installations, laser and lighting effects) and in Hall 9 (theatre and studio lighting; display, video, stages and lighting gantries). The audio section (mikes, mobile sound systems) is in Hall 6.1.

No exhibition can be without a corresponding seminar programme these days and Prolight + Sound is no different. Highlights include a panel discussion – ‘The future of A/V Standards-Based Networking: IEEE 802.1 AVB’ (21 March 15:45) and Biamp, also presenting on AVB in ‘Media technology in the Cloud’ (21 March 12:45).

We choose a selection of the most relevant stands to visit for those in the professional AV world.

Avolites Hall 11, stand D50 and C50
The Avolites Group will be with its German partner Trendco to exhibit its new Ai Media Server in tandem with Avolites Ltd’s Sapphire Touch and Titan Mobile lighting control
consoles.   As well as demonstrating the currently available range from Ai Media, visitors will get the first preview of ‘Sapphire Media’.  The Sapphire Media Live Video Controller is a show media controller which integrates the accuracy of multi-timeline control and flexibility.

EKTA Hall 9, stand D05
EKTA will be showing new LED screens with a moving mechanical element, as well as an interactive LED video floor.
The moving mechanical element was made possible due to EKTA’s control system – ERMAC/SPU 005, developed by the company to solve problems in information visualisation.  EKTA’s LED interactive floor is an LED floor covering. The material displays different visual effects on its video-surface depending on the presence of objects and their movements on it.

Electro-Voice Hall 8, stands A22 and B22
V Electro-Voice will be showing the new ZXA1-Sub at Prolight+Sound, the matching subwoofer for its ZXA1 compact self-powered loudspeaker. The ZXA1-Sub is equipped with an EV-engineered 12in woofer, a 700W amplifier, a 15mm wood enclosure, and a maximum SPL rating of 126 dB. The ZXA1-Sub weighs 21kg and measures 40x44x46cm.

Genelec Hall 8 stand H25
Genelec’s DSP monitors will take on its stand at Prolight+Sound 2012. Visitors to the booth will be able to preview the 8260A and 1238CF, as well seeing the other monitors in the Genelec portfolio for the professional market, including the 8000 Series. An additional attraction on the booth will be free ‘drop-in’ training sessions that will enlighten the steps needed to carry out a successful DSP monitor set-up and calibration in a typical studio environment.

Green Hippo Hall 11 stand B11
Green Hippo will be exhibiting alongside its German distributors B&K Braun again at this year’s show. Since Plasa 2011 and the launch of Hippotizer software version 3.1, the company has added more improvements and fixes with 3.1 SP1.  Other things to feature on the stand will include VideoMapper, LiveMask and new accessories now shipping for the Hippotizer range, such as breakout panels and a new Dual 3G HD/SDI input option, as well as new FXs and FX Generators.

Highlite Hall 11 stand D07 and D11
Highlite International will be showing over 200 new products from its brands DMT, DAP Audio and Showtec. The Showtec brand will introduce new LED products including light effects, LED Spots and LED moving heads. DMT will show the latest additions in its range including the new P10 SMD screen as well as its new P14,4 mesh screen which can be built in curved shapes.
There will be sneak-previews for the latest KlingNet fixtures and a new protocol for plug and play use of LED screens and pixel fixtures developed by Arkaos.

Mipro Hall 6 stand C60
Mipro is to show its A4-size portable wireless PA system MA-303 which features 60W output power and weighs 2.7kg. It has one or two wireless receivers with 16 preset channels, optional USB music player and recorder with LCD screen, 3.5mm line-in and built-in alarm sound.  Its built-in lithium rechargeable battery provides 10-16 hours of standby time per charge, along with four-level battery meter. It can be carried via the fixed handle or mounted on a stand for all situations where it is needed to raise the volume of a voice to communicate with a small audience.

Rane Hall 8 stand A01
Rane will be at the show to promote the new 1.1 release of Halogen software, which enables third-party Ethernet control messages in its HAL1 DSP hardware devices. Programmers of AMX, Crestron, iPad, Stardraw and webpage control systems can develop their software code using only the Halogen software which emulates all hardware control functions.
HAL’s single Ethernet port provides the interface to dozens of peripherally located audio I/O and control devices. Multiple IP clients can connect to HAL which supports multiple IP addresses allowing independent addressing for control systems, administrator/DHCP management and/or simultaneous control from Halogen software.

Riedel Hall 8 stand K80
Riedel Communications will be showing MediorNet Compact, at this year’s Prolight+Sound. It provides a real-time media network, including integrated signal processing, at the cost of simple multiplexing point-to-point products. Riedel is also to premiere a suite of AVB products for the Artist digital matrix intercom platform at this year’s show.
Based on official IEEE next generation Ethernet standards like 802.1Qav, P802.1Qat and P802.1AS, AVB allows usage of AVB compliant facility or enterprise LAN infrastructure for intercom applications.

Roland Hall 8 stand G54
Roland Systems Group (RSG) will be demonstrating their combined pro-audio and pro-AV products in Frankfurt. On the audio side, the range of V-Mixer digital mixing consoles, M-48 live personal mixers, Digital Snake I/O units and the R-1000 48 Track Recorder-Players will be on show.  These products (as well as others in the RSG range) can be configured as a flexible, expandable system using REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication), the proprietary technology from Roland for low latency, high quality digital audio transfer.

Sennheiser Hall 6 stand C10A
Sennheiser is launching its new XS Wireless Series of entry-level transmitters which have a battery life of up to 10 hours, and a switching bandwidth of up to 24 MHz.
The series is comprised of two vocal sets, an instrument system and presentation sets with clip-on microphone or a headmic.
The systems are operated via intuitive menus, and automatically search for free frequencies, and transmitters are synchronised with their receivers via a wireless link. For installed sound applications and presentations, users can choose between systems with a handheld transmitter or a bodypack transmitter with either a head-worn mic or clip-on microphone.