As Richie Worboys, who was commissioned to refit the club said: "When I was commissioned I picked ShowCAD Artist for the venue as my experience with it for the last seven years has been fantastic. The software approach makes it the ideal choice for a nightclub installation - not to mention the price and flexibility."
This flexibility extends to allowing users to build their own front-end control surface, as opposed to the "take what you're given" approach of most console manufacturers. Worboys continues: "Wanting to build a great front end for Artist and after some research I decided on two MIDI controller keyboards - an Edirol PCR50 and a Roland PC300 with one to be stacked on top of the other organ style. I also went for a Peavey PC1600x for fader control. And to top it off, a USB touch panel monitor to make use of Artist's User Definable GUI (Graphical User Interface). I would recommend two monitors as you can never have enough visual space with any controller, and now that monitors are cheaper, the cost really makes it worthwhile."
Originally Worboys had planned on putting in a HOG PC to run the Catalyst and DL1's, with so many control channels he considered the HOG would support them better. However that plan changed as soon as he played with Artist and made a custom template straight out of the box - all of a sudden he had every control at his fingertips in full colour!
Warboys comments: "I have always been a fan of MIDI control, and here again Artist allows the user to customize the system. If anything goes wrong or breaks on a MIDI controller, then you just pop down the local store and buy a new one at relatively low cost. I am extremely excited about the recent WYSIWYG implementation too. It is definitely the most comprehensive visualizer available and in combination with Artist's forthcoming embedded Flash MX application, I'm looking forward to being able to programme new venues and to make reprogramming adjustments in existing installations all offsite and online if necessary.
Offline programming is already possible using PC Anywhere, Timbuktu or similar programmes, but WYSIWYG and Flash make huge improvements on these methods and users can programme directly in a proper virtual environment. Lastly, the flexibility of the DMX interfaces makes expansion easy - just plug and play using USB. Worboys has used five universes of DMX in Avalon Hollywood, at very low cost, and with the possibility of adding more.
Employing the Pathway Ethernet DMX system, ShowCAD now claim to be able to control 32,000 channels of DMX. Warboys says he is continually improving and adding to the system and its' programmes and the next step for him is to implement Artist in the live shows completely replacing the "consoles" currently in use.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
