Lite Alternative's Catalyst system immediately went out of the Human League's UK tour, designed by Paul Normandale and programmed and operated by Rob Sinclair. PID supplied the full digital media system, including the dual 2GHz PowerMac on which it runs, to which PID installed an ATI9800 video card along with a Decklink Black Magic video input card and an Artistic Licence Ethernet to DMX input unit.
Catalyst XPress is a cost-effective version of the full Catalyst package. It's now available through PID as a software only purchase - making the Catalyst universe more versatile and accessible to another layer of users and viable for small to medium tours - like Human League.
Video runs in all but two songs of the Human League's set. Back in the 1980's, when they were rarely out of the charts, a slide show was an integral part of their stage presentation, and they wanted a return to visuals being the core of the show. Using the Catalyst XPress system has enabled them to run a complex show and opened plenty of creative doors.
Rob Sinclair created the show's playback footage - an amalgamation of Human League archive footage, images from digital content libraries and new DV cam footage shot by Sinclair for the tour. They also use five lipstick cameras onstage, which are mixed into the Catalyst system via a D-TEK D-Mix Pro, also supplied by PID.
Four audio inputs from the monitor console are also used to change specific section of video, and all visuals are mixed and output via the WholeHog II lighting console. The projector is a Sharpe V10, also sold to Lite Alternative by PID. Human League's tour itinerary encompassed a huge variety of venues - from sports halls to small theatres many of them challenged for space, so the whole lighting rig and visuals were designed to be shrunk or expanded as needed.
Sinclair loves the system. "It's reliable and very stable" he states. He's also taking full advantage of the Catalyst's new 'remote' feature, allowing him to monitor what's happening in the onstage rack from his laptop at FOH position.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
