With PLASA Focus: Leeds less than a week away – 30 April – 1 May at the Royal Armouries, Leeds – a sold-out show floor and a reported 30% increase in visitor registrations on last year will mean anyone who plans to attend the exhibition should expect a busy one. Installation rounds up what’s on offer.
Professional Development Programme
The show’s opening day will be capped off by a keynote address from Harald Haas, professor of mobile communications at the University of Edinburgh and fellow of the World Technology Network. Addressed to an audience at an entertainment and installation technology event for the very first time, ‘Li-Fi – Broadband Through Light’ is a speech that considers the application of using light, specifically light from LEDs, rather than radio waves to transmit data.
On the final day, Funktion One’s Tony Andrews will deliver the closing session of the Professional Development Programme, with a presentation entitled ‘It’s About Time.’ Joining him in conversation is industry journalist Phil Ward. Tony will discuss the issues facing the future development of pro audio.
Overall, the Professional Development Programme has 20 free-to-attend sessions available to attendees in the form of seminars, demonstrations and tutorials.
In ‘Light, Spectacle and the Large-Scale Event’, a panel of experts, brought together by the ALD (Association of Lighting Designers), explains how designers approach the design brief, what technical and logistical aspects need to be taken into consideration, and important factors for to keep in mind for large-scale events.
‘A Hands on Look at Allen & Heath’ will be presented by Audio-Technica and will showcase the Allen & Heath GLD and ICE-16 as well as new products launching in 2013, including the ME-1 personal mixing system.
In ‘An Introduction to Cellular Technology’, Martin Audio will examine the technology behind the MLA family of multi-cellular loudspeaker arrays and outline some of the possibilities that cellular technology allows.
‘Lighting and Video – the Integration, the Benefits, the Future’, presented by Avolites, will provide an overview of the latest features of the Titan V7 and Ai Media Server.
And finally, in ‘Wireless Lighting Control in a Co-Existence Environment’, Wireless Solution will explain the difference between the products available and how to combine protocols such as DMX, RDM, Art-Net and s/ACN.
Show floor attractions
On the show floor, UK product debuts will include Martin Audio’s UK launch of its latest multi-cellular array product, the MLA Mini, while LMC Audio Systems will launch the optima line-array system from the company’s newly acquired brand Inspired Audio.
Elsewhere in the realms of audio, Stage Electrics will be exhibiting the recently released Halo line array compact system from EM Acoustics alongside its mini EMS51 speakers with an i8 sub. The new Roland M200i audio console and DiGiCo’s SD9 with UB MADI audio interface will also be live and available for demonstration from Stage Electrics throughout the event.
Midas, meanwhile, will unveil its new Generation 2.1 software, designed for its entire range of digital consoles. Also on show will be an array of new FX plug-ins including a dual-channel Klark Teknik DN60 Real Time Analyser and a Klark Teknik tape saturation effect. d&b audiotechnik will showcase its latest software, the new ArrayCalc Version 7, which offers the ability to perform acoustic simulations quickly, easily and intuitively.
Electro-Voice will present the new ZLX loudspeaker series; a new generation of mobile loudspeakers in polypropylene cabinets. The new series is comprised of two powered models, ZLX-12P and ZLX-15P, and their passive counterparts, ZLX-12 and ZLX-15.
Artistic Licence will officially launch sundial – a new range of smart modular dimmers that present a universal control solution. It features DALI and DMX inputs, high channel counts and dimming to suit every fixture from incandescent to solid-state.
PLASA Focus: Leeds visitors will also see the UK launch of Chroma-Q’s new Inspire high output, RGBW colour-changing LED house light and AutoLED II ultra bright daylight white LED moving head fixture as well as High End Systems’ new flagship lighting console, the Road Hog 4.
Elsewhere on the show floor, ShowTex will present the newly enhanced HiSpeed Roll Up hardware system for fast screen motion.
