Chosen as the FOH console by tour production company Silence!, the M-5000 was specified because of the console's intuitive workflow, flexible architecture and sound quality - plus the fact that so many features came in such a compact footprint.
FOH engineer, Manu Guiot (designer of the Notre Dame de Paris musical amongst other high profile projects) was at the helm of the M-5000 for the tour. He reports, "It was the first time that I had seen or used the Roland M-5000 and my initial impression was good and that in comparison to other consoles at this end of the market that I had used before it was right up there. The console includes some really good features and after messing around with it and trying it out I found that I really liked it. The M-5000 had a good sound and was easy to use."
The M-5000 mixed down 64 channels delivered from the I/O boxes on the stage using two stereo outputs and one mono output to connect. Inputs from the band on stage were provided by the Roland S-4000S-3208 Digital Snake (32x8 Modular Stage Unit), connected via Cat 5e cable at 96kHz using REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication). The M-5000 has two REAC ports which allow extra I/O boxes to be added. A third REAC port can be used for connecting to monitors or recording.
Working alongside Silence! on the tour preparation, Thomas Delory from Roland Central Europe commented, "Both FOH and system engineers were highly satisfied, confident and proud to work with the new M-5000. In fact, Silence! have already decided to specify the M-5000 for a second classical live show Fauteuil d'Orchestre and for possible television production work in the future."
(Jim Evans)
