AC-ET's senior technical sales executive, Ben Taylor, was invited by Gareth Shelton, deputy manager of the ROH's sound & broadcast department, to demo the Hog 4 console in-situ to the venue's technical team.
Gareth comments, "Our department looks after all aspects of video projection on main stage shows. Specifically, we use our console for video projection programming with our media servers, so it was really important to ensure that the upgrade would provide a more powerful console capable of satisfying the venue's increasingly ambitious production needs on shows."
Ben adds, "I went in and showed them how easy it was to take the old show files from their existing Wholehog III, which they had been using for the past decade, put them onto the Hog 4, and then bring in the new software features like Kinds and CITP, into those old shows.
"This was beautifully demonstrated via the current show they were running on their Wholehog III, and within five minutes they had the whole show up and running on the Hog 4, with the media file thumbnails imported from their Catalyst media server."
High End's Hog 4, which continues on from the award-winning and much-loved Wholehog III platform, provides state of the art hardware combined with a tried and tested backbone. The console embraces the latest technology, while retaining the Hog's familiar control surface. In addition, the console is fully compatible with Wholehog III shows and hardware.
"As we have so many shows already programmed on the Hog 3 from the past 10 years, it made sense to stay with the same platform," says Gareth Shelton.
"When previous productions come back, the rehearsal schedule often doesn't allow for long periods of re-programming. The ability to take a Hog 3 show, load it straight into the Hog 4 and then have it working in a matter of minutes is a big bonus. Also, it's fantastic being able to utilise our programming knowledge from the Hog 3, without needing to learn new skills."
Gareth and his team debuted their new Hog 4 during the ROH's recent production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, utilising the console in conjunction with d3 Technologies' d3 media server. The Hog 4 controlled playback cues and also DMX position control of moving elements in the 3D Don Giovanni model, to match the actual set. The console will be used for programming on all upcoming productions using Catalyst or d3 media servers.
(Jim Evans)
