The show finale revealed the engine itself, mounted on a revolve. There were no spare slip rings available, so getting data to the equipment on the revolve was tricky. As the show was repeated up to 20 times, manual cable management was out of the question - so Avolites' eDMX was an obvious choice. The radio DMX link controlled a mixture of James Thomas Pixelline battens (run in 54-channel mode), Martin MAC 250s and Atomic 3000 Strobes, with the balance of the rig controlled via a conventional, wired, system. The system worked immediately, straight 'out of the box' with no problems whatsoever during the 4 week period, despite operating alongside many other local wireless networks. AP's Alex Passmore says: "I'd have no hesitation in using the system again. In fact, the project is likely to be repeated, and so I'll probably use many more 'nodes' on the next batch of shows."
Derek Halliday Productions recently used the eDMX system at an event in the Gran Hotel Costa Meloneras in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria. The location was a terraced area in front of a waterfall beneath the hotels "infinity" pool, right on the seafront adjacent to the beach. Three channels of radio DMX were used. Channel 1 controlled four Studio Due City Colors, lighting the rear of the hotel and its two stunning towers; Channel 2 controlled a Martin MAC 2000 with a custom gobo of the event logo, focused on the Faro - a lighthouse and landmark of the resort; and Channel 3 controlled two more City Colors illuminating the Faro.
Using Avolites eDMX enabled them to dispense with hundreds of metres of DMX cable, and the associated labour. The distance from the control position to the hotel was around 180m, with a similar distance to the Faro. The projection distance for the MAC 2000 was 120m! Derek Halliday said: "A few 'big-ups' - Ben Fox, lighting designer for suggesting radio DMX; Steve Warren for pointing me in the direction of Essential Lighting; Martin Lubach for providing the kit and the excellent service including a crash course in 'Radio DMX for Dummies'."
The system was also used in Northumberland with PFL Pro Audio & Lighting for the 'Tweed River Festival' - a lighting and visual show staged on the banks of the river in Berwick-upon-Tweed. The show recounted the story of the Tweed using sound, lighting and visual effects. PFL was asked to produce the show after doing a similar, smaller show the year before at Norham Castle, near Berwick, for the Union of the Crowns Festival. However, this show presented more technical challenges. Several areas needed lighting, all of several hundred metres apart from each other and from the central control point. DMX was also needed to jump across the river, and span the 500m gap from the control station to the first lighting station! High powered antenna were used to jump the river from the DMX encoder to the first decoder at the initial lighting station. The signal was then distributed from here to two additional decoders at the other lighting stations. eDMX was used to control eight 2500W Studio Due City Colours, four 150W Studio Due Mini Citys, six Vari*Lite VL2000 2402 washes, and two Martin MAC 500s, all running off a Zero 88 FAT FROG lighting desk.
Using the Avolites eDMX made the show possible without a communication nightmare on both sides of the Tweed, and allowed the control of everything from a central point on the opposite side of the river. It proved an elegant solution to transmit DMX between all lighting stations, saving on clumsy and time-consuming long cable runs with in-line boosters.
Production man
