GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND – With a multigenerational talent line up on three stages that included Amy Winehouse, The Who, Paul Weller, The Killers, Paolo Nutini, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party and a host of others, last Summer’s Glastonbury Festival was a success despite occasional heavy rain.
But even the mud couldn’t slow down Optocore's technological support on Glastobury’s main Pyramid Stage. The Optocore optical fiber network offered a solution in providing the link for a digital path between the Digidesign D-Show VENUE FOH consoles and the Funktion One speakers on stage.
Simon Honywill, system designer for control and monitor system suppliers RG Jones Sound Engineering, had requested a high-speed digital transmission from FOH to the stage. The purpose was to ensure maximum creative flexibility and transparent operation for the 36 acts and their sound engineers appearing on the festival’s main Pyramid Stage.
Marquee Audio, UK distributor for Optocore, led by their digital expert Andy Huffer, came up with the solution of integrating three DD32E network devices to transmit a maximum amount of digital data at high speeds. One DD32E was placed at the FOH console, the other two at the left and right stage wings.
"The idea was to establish a 100% digital solution via AES I/O's," explained Huffer. Two Digidesign D-Show VENUE’s piggybacked between the main stage acts throughout the festival fed AES signals to the D-Show Profile. The output was transmitted to the AES inputs of XTA 482 processors, along with RS485 control data, via an Optocore DD32E network device using optical fiber. This enabled the control of the XTA 482 processors on stage to be done from FOH without any additional connections.
Huffer also pointed out that the combination of Optocore's ultra-high speed transmission and the VENUE's mix-buss algorithms produced optimum audio quality. "It was particularly noticed how clear the vocals sounded," he said. Simon Honywill concurred. "We wanted to keep the signal in the digital domain for as long as possible — and we’re able to do so right up to the speaker processors. The reaction received was really positive — it all worked seamlessly.”
For information, please visit www.optocore.de.
