Originally only 4,000 DMX lines were planned for the lighting design of the Berlin show, which could have been controlled by a single lighting desk. However, during the preparations for the production, the demands on the control desk gradually increased to include 130 moving lights, integrated video control via four High End Catalyst Media Servers and eight High End Catalyst DL-1 projectors and 50 Atomic Strobes from Martin Professional with 36 Atomic Color colour changers.
Thus the maximum capacity of 4098 channels was quickly reached. The use of a second console would have meant a disadvantage for the lighting designer, as he would not have direct access to all effects and luminaires. Moreover, due to the internal DMX wiring, it was necessary to plan more than eight DMX lines. Every year the 'Berlinale' also takes place in the Theater am Potsdamer Platz and therefore they had to achieve the highest flexibility without making any modifications to the existing wiring. Therefore LD Marc Brickman, associate production designer Marc Janowitz, and programmer Marcus Krömer decided to use MA Lighting's new network signal processor (NSP), which made it possible to retain the previous system planning, and add only the NSPs.
The Network Signal Processors can be used as a decentralized parameter expansion to any of the grandMA family of consoles, except the grandMA micro. DMX signals are no longer generated and distributed from the main console, but are calculated locally by the NSP units. A maximum of eight NSPs can be used to process a total of 16,384 parameters. Even with the grandMA ultra-light, a single Network Signal Processor doubles the capacity of the console.
A full review of The Blue Man Group in Berlin appears in the June 2004 issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine, out soon.
(Lee Baldock)
