More than 75,000 people attended Godiva 2014 to watch headline acts including Happy Mondays, Lightning Seeds, and Buzzcocks.
"The Sapphire Touch works well on a festival due to the many faders and easy to read touch screens," says Nyholm. "It's very intuitive, so any LD can use it within a few minutes of turning up. The many faders work well on a festival/busking situation, where you need to be able to grab anything very quickly."
Avolites' Sapphire Touch allows ultrafast programming with two wide screen touch monitors offering a huge workspace area, and 45 motorised master faders.
"The console features a very easy to read layout, and quick palettes which can be easily read with the picture and colour legends," Nyholm continues. "Virtual playbacks also meant that there was an almost limitless amount of looks available literally at a touch of a button. The fixture overlay meant that big sweeping looks could be achieved almost in seconds, and the pixel mapper running the array of sunstrips made for very interesting daytime looks."
Daylight festivals can often present challenges, but as Nyholm says, the Sapphire Touch coped well in bright conditions.
"All of the LDs who used the Sapphire Touch were amazed at how easy it was to operate, and how well laid out and accessible the touch screens were. Even in bright sunlight, it was never a problem to read the screens.
"The feel and look of the desk is just amazing. The faders and flash buttons make it feel like you are actually running a show. The response is instant and it feels very reliant and robust. But the most impressive is probably the software and how easy it is to understand. For example, if you want to record a new locate value for a light, you make the look, hit record then hit locate. No need for extensive searching through layers of sub menus."
(Jim Evans)
