Although the Soundcraft Vi6 will mainly be used in the PhilipsHalle, it will be mobile, enabling it to be used in any of the seven other Düsseldorf Congress venues, such as the massive 61,000-capacity LTU-Arena and the 13,400-seat ISS Dome, home of the Düsseldorf ice-hockey team, where the console made its debut on an outdoor show.
Markus Grotheer, event engineer for Düsseldorf Congress GmbH, was assigned the task of selecting a digital console to replace the ageing analogue desk in the PhilipsHalle. He and his colleagues had already decided on a popular mid-range model when they came across the Soundcraft Vi6 at the ProLight+Sound expo in Frankfurt.
The flexibility of the Soundcraft Vi6 won over the technical team of Düsseldorf Congress, which has to supply production equipment to a wide variety of shows and sports, from boxing, basketball and handball, to the European Dance Championship. "We could imagine using the Soundcraft Vi6 at all kinds of events," explains Grotheer, "from sports, to corporate, to rock 'n' roll, to carnival events." (Düsseldorf is well known for its carnival season.)
The reputation of Studer's audio technology helped convince Grotheer and his team that the Soundcraft Vi6 was a reliable and stable digital solution for their purposes. "The reaction from the sound engineers has been overwhelmingly positive. Even seeing this desk for the first time, they are praising its intuitiveness.
"Compared with what we have seen on other digital consoles, we have been particularly impressed by the Vistonics II user interface," says Grotheer. "And there are many well-planned features on the console that help us, such as the 'Follow Output Solo' Function, which is praised by our engineers because it really speeds up the working process during soundcheck. A very beneficial feature for us is the housing of the converters in an external Local- and Stagerack as well as the connection via CAT5. We also like having the ability to connect a second user surface and local rack to the stage rack for a separate monitor mix which saves the splitter."
Ordered through the contractor BTL Düsseldorf, this is the first Soundcraft Vi6 to be delivered by Audio Pro, Soundcraft's distributor in Germany. This year alone the venues under the Düsseldorf Congress umbrella are expected to handle nearly 3000 events, providing plenty of opportunities for the Soundcraft Vi6 to showcase its versatility to the German market.
(Chris Henry)
