Little Dragon Performs At UK’s Somerset House With HARMAN Soundcraft Vi3000 Digital Console

LONDON, United Kingdom – Having attained international prominence, electronic pop band Little Dragon took to the stage at London’s major arts and cultural center Somerset House, utilizing the mixing capabilities of a HARMAN Soundcraft Vi3000 console. The 3,000-capacity venue is constructed with an open courtyard in the middle of a Victorian-era building, a true acoustic test for the latest Soundcraft digital console.

With almost a decade of audio engineering experience and several years working with the Soundcraft Vi Series, Little Dragon’s monitor engineer Marco Cruneri sees the Vi3000 as the best choice for the band.

“All Vi Series consoles have nice layouts and great sound, but the features on the Vi3000 are what attract me the most as they are excellent for monitor engineers,” said Cruneri. “I love the flexibility and versatility of the desk, it allows me to work as I would like. The fact that all the I/O is at the back of the desk makes it really compact.”

During its tour throughout the UK, Little Dragon faced multiple technical challenges including limits on the weight of the trailer and time restrictions during sound checks. Thanks to the ergonomics of the Vi3000, and the ability to complete sound checks with the iPad ViSi Remote App, Cruneri found it extremely easy to complete sound checks in the short time allocated.

“The iPad App means that I can work faster and more efficiently. I found that unlike some other brands, Soundcraft offers a straightforward console that touring engineers can pick up and immediately mix on, shown by intuitive features like FaderGlowTM.”

Cruneri plans to continue using the Vi3000 console for Little Dragon’s performances within the UK, and use it again during the upcoming winter tour. Greatly appreciating the simplicity and effectiveness of the console, he is able to bring out the “dense and punchy sounds” of the band.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets premier audio, visual, infotainment and integrated control solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson ®, the Company is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 16,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.3 billion for the twelve months ended June 30, 2014.

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Phonophobia Adds HARMAN’s Soundcraft Vi3000 Digital Console to Expanding Hire Fleet

KENT, United Kingdom – After recently investing heavily in HARMAN’s Soundcraft Vi platform, Mark Chant’s Kent-based Phonophobia has now added a next-generation Soundcraft Vi3000 digital console to its inventory. The console was sold through Sound Technology Ltd., HARMAN’s UK and ROI distributor.

“Having MADI and Dante built into this desk gives Soundcraft a massive advantage as does the additional functionality, with the local ins and outs on the board,” Chant observed.

The Vi3000’s first high-profile appearance was at a University of Kent Summer Ball in Canterbury, attended by around 4,000 students and headlining Ella Eyre, supported by several DJs. Phonophobia’s Vi1 was down at the stage and the company also brought its Vi rack, running 60 inputs over 30 outputs.

“Visiting engineers patched in through Dante or MADI, and since we have a lot of riders now showing Vi1 or Vi6, most seemed excited to be using the new desk,” Chant added. “They turned up with their show files and used the Universal Audio plugins.

“Although it was a stressful gig, none of my headaches came from the console—we could leave it and just walk away from it,” Chant said.

Summing up, Chant said, “This feels like a Vi desk—but is vastly superior, and the Vi3000 will be out constantly. Since we have advertised it on our website, we have received a steady flow of inquiries and the interest has been incredible.”

For more information on Phonophobia, please visit www.phonophobia-online.co.uk

For more information on Sound Technology, please visit www.soundtech.co.uk

HARMAN designs, manufactures and markets premier audio, visual, infotainment and integrated control solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. With 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson ®, the Company is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a global workforce of 15,200 people and reported sales of $5.1 billion for the last 12 months ended March 31, 2014.

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SSE Audio Group Adds HARMAN Soundcraft Vi3000 to Extensive Inventory

Chris Courtney mixing monitors for Travis
at the Isle of Wight Festival with SSE’s new
Soundcraft Vi3000.

POTTERS BAR, United Kingdom – HARMAN Professional has announced that SSE Audio Group has been appointed a Soundcraft Vi Select Dealer, and immediately purchased one of the first Soundcraft Vi3000 digital consoles off the production line, sold through HARMAN’s UK distributor Sound Technology.

SSE Sales Director, Alex Penn, confirmed, “We have a long history with Soundcraft’s Vi Series. We saw the Vi3000 for the first time at Frankfurt Prolight & Sound; it sits neatly between the Vi1 and Vi4 and offers many new features, which will secure the longevity of this series, which has always been popular with engineers.”

Marking a massive technological upgrade to the groundbreaking Vi Series, the Vi3000 offers many advantages, including the much-requested access to Universal Audio’s plug-ins via Soundcraft’s Realtime Rack plug-in engine—both points picked up on by Penn.

“The Realtime Rack can also be used with our existing Vi6 inventory,” Penn continued. “We have a pool of sound engineers who are existing Vi users and it will be useful to let these guys know about the new facilities on offer with Realtime Rack.”

“We also see a lot of potential in SSE sales and installations for the Vi3000, with its very competitive price point and new facilities,” Penn added. “This is the first time a large-format Vi control surface has been available to the market at this level and the Vi3000 will integrate very neatly and cost-effectively into venues with existing analogue infrastructure via the I/O on the back of the surface. Onboard MADI and Dante interfaces as standard are also a huge bonus as well as upgraded DSP and new graphics.”

SSE’s Vi3000 had had its first major outing at the recent Isle of Wight Festival where it was used by SSE regular Chris Courtney to mix monitors for Travis. Courtney had previously used a Vi6 for the band, but for this festival run, the reduced size and lack of rack requirements made the Vi3000 a more attractive proposition.

For more information on SSE, please visit www.sseaudiogroup.com

For more information on Sound Technology, please visit www.soundtech.co.uk

HARMAN designs, manufactures and markets premier audio, visual, infotainment and integrated control solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. With 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson ®, the Company is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a global workforce of 15,200 people and reported sales of $5.1 billion for the last 12 months ended March 31, 2014.

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Lydvaesenet Snaps Up Denmark’s First HARMAN’s Soundcraft Vi3000 Digital Console

Henrik Kjærgaard, Lydvæsenet

AARHUS, Denmark – LydRommet A/S has confirmed its first sale of HARMAN’s Soundcraft’s Vi3000 next-generation digital mixing console to concert touring and festival specialists, Lydvæsenet—run by Henrik Kjærgaard. The delivery was the first of three Vi3000 sales confirmed by Lars Christensen, Sales Manager at LydRommet, HARMAN Professional’s territory distributor.

He confirmed, “We began promoting the Vi3000 as soon as the first pictures were up in cyberspace and immediately received a number of inquiries. Henrik was one of the first people we approached.”

The momentum grew further during the presentation at this year’s Prolight+Sound Show in Frankfurt, and having taken delivery of its own demo console, LydRommet’s participation at local promo events, supported by HARMAN Professional’s Dom Harter and Dave Karlsen, further spread the word.

Both Lars Christenesen and Henrik Kjærgaard—a vastly experienced sound engineer in his own right—say there is much to commend the first of Soundcraft’s new console, pinpointing the Dante/ MADI interfaces for recording/plugins; 96 mix channels; 24 stereo or/mono busses; the built in local rack; the high-quality local mic pre’s; the additional screen and control for the price; the 36 faders, and in particular “the fantastic audio quality.”

“Most of our customers just say ‘wow’ and can’t believe what they are getting for the money,” continued Christensen. “The Vi3000 is certainly introducing the Vi quality to a broader range of productions.”

Lydvæsenet is no stranger to the Soundcraft platform and already has a number of Si Expressions, Si Performers and a Vi1 in its inventory. “All were chosen because of the audio quality, facilities and ease of use,” confirmed Kjærgaard.

There were several reasons for the latest purchase, he said. “The main reason was the I/O capacity of the Vi3000, which we needed to take on certain tour productions. But all the other cool features like onboard MADI/Dante, UA plugins, upgraded DSP and graphics certainly helped to make the decision.”

The first tour of duty for the Vi3000 was with Lis Sorensen, an evergreen Danish pop artist at the Jelling Musik festival.

In summary, Lars Christensen stated, “We are proud to count Henrik as one of the most enthusiastic users of Soundcraft’s entire range of digital consoles. He needed the enhanced capacity that the Vi3000 could offer—and the RealTime Rack and access to UA plugins certainly didn’t hinder the decision!”

Speaking generally, he believes the Vi3000 would make a perfect partner for every sound engineer and rental company. “Unofficially, the Vi’s are the preferred digital consoles for a festival stage—and this will be enhanced with the Vi3000 with all its facilities, integration with the UA RealTime rack and the overall price point.”

He also noted that trends in live mixing are changing, and audio quality and ease of use are again taking top priority. “We believe people are reverting from mixing on screens to mixing on their ears, so consoles with the most direct access and control will gain market share, and those based on menus will decline,” he predicted.

HARMAN designs, manufactures and markets premier audio, visual, infotainment and integrated control solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. With 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson ®, the Company is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a global workforce of 15,200 people and reported sales of $5.1 billion for the last 12 months ended March 31, 2014.

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HARMAN’s Soundcraft Vi3000 Ushers in the Next Generation of Digital Consoles

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – At InfoComm 2014, HARMAN’s Soundcraft is spotlighting its new Vi3000 ’all-in-one’ digital live sound console, offering a host of state-of-the-art features including the groundbreaking internal DSP Soundcraft® SpiderCore, a new industrial design, 96 channels to mix, onboard Dante compatibility as standard and much more in a very compact footprint.

“The Vi3000 joins the successful Vi1, Vi4 and Vi6 models and represents a massive leap forward in digital console design and functionality, while also keeping the best elements of its sister Vi consoles,” said Andy Brown, Senior Product Manager Vi Series. “We have a totally new internal core based on the highly successful Studer Vista 1 and a completely new, more efficiently designed surface running updated operating software. Compared to other consoles in its price range, the Vi3000 offers more input channels, more busses, more faders, and a user interface like no other. We are proud to say the Vi3000 is simply unparalleled in its category.”

The Vi3000 utilizes the new internal DSP SpiderCore with Soundcraft’s Vi Version 4.8 operating software, offering the new 3D Vistonics user interface while adding a fourth 24-channel fader layer to improve access to the console’s 96 input channels. The surface operation and layout is similar to other Vi Series consoles, providing a familiar feel while offering expanded functionality. The Vi3000 features upgraded microphone preamps and 40-bit Floating Point DSP processing for superlative sound quality.

The Soundcraft Vi3000 features an all-new appearance with efficiency enhancements to the control surface, 36 faders, 24 mono/stereo busses and a sweeping black screen panel with four Vistonics II™ touch screens with sleek, updated 3D graphics. Because the Vi3000 has four touchscreens, it’s the only console in its class that can be used by two engineers simultaneously.

“Visibility of parameters and easy access to them are the most important features a console can have,” Brown noted. “When something unexpected happens—as it always does in live sound—being able to see a lot of settings quickly is a massive advantage.”

The Soundcraft Vi3000 offers extensive rear panel connectivity. In addition to a full complement of analogue and digital inputs and outputs, the console provides MIDI, USB, Ethernet, DVI out, Dante and MADI record feed outputs, redundant power supply and other connections. The Vi3000 has two expansion bays that can be fitted with MADI Stagebox cards to connect multiple Soundcraft Stagebox input expander modules. The Vi3000 can also accommodate the new Soundcraft® Realtime Rack, designed in collaboration with plug-in manufacturer Universal Audio that provides access to 74 industry-standard UAD plug-ins. The Vi3000 is the first Soundcraft console to incorporate a built-in Dante interface as standard, for seamless digital audio networking with Dante-enabled devices. Along with its greatly expanded functionality, the Vi3000 retains all the features that have made the Soundcraft Vi Series the consoles of choice for live sound engineers worldwide, such as FaderGlow™ illuminated faders that display different colours according to function, the ability to store and recall snapshots and cues, compatibility with Soundcraft’s ViSi app that allows remote control from an iPad, built-in Lexicon reverb/delays, dbx compression, effects and more.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 15,200 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.1 billion for the last twelve months ended March 31, 2014.

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Wesley United Methodist Church Reinforces Its Sound With HARMAN’s Soundcraft Vi3000 Digital Console

(Gray Shirt) Garret Kyler, Wesley United Methodist Church;
and (Black Shirt) Chase Daigle, MSC Systems.Photo Credit: Abel McBride

BEAUMONT, Texas – Wesley United Methodist Church in Beaumont, Texas recently improved its audio capacity with the new HARMAN’s Soundcraft Vi3000 digital console and Soundcraft Si Performer 3 digital console. Installed by MSC Systems of Beaumont, the consoles are part of a sound reinforcement project aimed at providing better audio fidelity to the 100-year-old church, which provides contemporary services for up to 500 people.

The newly launched Vi3000 features the new powerful SpiderCore DSP, plus extensive onboard options such as Dante and MADI interfaces. The expanded capabilities of the new 40-bit floating point DSP engine mixes FPGA and DSP technologies in a unique combination with a footprint small enough for it to be included within a control surface. While adding the usual ease-of-use features that made Soundcraft consoles so desirable, such as the Vistonics™ user interface and FaderGlow™ functionality, this console takes any venue to new heights.

“The capabilities of the Vi3000 are amazing, as it has plenty of ins and outs,” said Chase Daigle, Lead Designer/Installer of MSC Systems. “The operators can now mix 12 stereo in-ear monitor mixes right on the console, and have 48 local inputs in addition to the 48x32 stage box run with fiber and 64x64 capability of Dante to the Si Performer. We can also configure presets for every channel, which means we can now recall settings for every single musician on different weeks, instead of resetting the whole board. Operation was so easy that the technical staff often involves the assistance of local volunteers, who despite lacking professional training were able to operate the Vi3000 and the Si Performer 3 after a few pointers.”

Nothing was compromised to provide the best audio solution for this house of worship, with the Vi3000 handling FOH and monitors on different sections of the same board, while the Si Performer 3 with an additional Dante card is used for recording in a separate room. Feeds from the Vi3000 are also routed through the Si Performer 3, so the church services can be streamed directly online.

“The audio has been dramatically improved over our old system,” said Garret Kyler, Worship and Technical Arts Director of Wesley United Methodist Church. “The new Vi3000 console does not sound thin and digital, but very warm and analog-like. It’s also not like other consoles such as those made by Yamaha, where you go through layers of menus. The whole thing is incredibly responsive, because whatever you put in, you get back immediately.”

With a completely remodeled sound and lighting infrastructure, the church is set to handle another decade of contemporary performances. With the “spectacular and natural” Lexicon effects that Daigle applauds, the new Vi3000 will grant church members the sound they were looking for.

For more information on MSC Systems, please visit www.mscsound.com

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 15,200 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.1 billion for the last twelve months ended March 31, 2014.

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ESS Audio Announces First Sales of HARMAN’s Soundcraft Vi3000 Console in Poland

LOMIANKI, Poland – HARMAN Soundcraft’s Polish distributor ESS Audio has fulfilled the first of its first batch of orders for the new Soundcraft Vi3000.The first two companies to take delivery are W Sound from Szczecin, run by Mariusz Węgiełek, and Modussound of Sieraków Śląski, headed by Artur and Lukasz Kedzia. Both confirm they already have the consoles out on tour.

ESS Audio demonstrated the new features of the much-anticipated console to its customer base, and at the same time staged an open day for the Vi3000, which coincided with the European premiere of JBL Professional’s new VTX V20 loudspeakers and included two days of training. The event was supported by Oskar Tarczynski (from ESS Audio) and Ed Jackson (from HARMAN Professional).

The Soundcraft Vi3000 boasts many new attributes. In addition to the much requested access to Universal Audio’s plug-ins (via the new Soundcraft® Realtime Rack plug-in processing engine – which also integrates with the rest of the Vi Series consoles), the console also provides an analogue infrastructure via the I/Os on the back and has built-in MADI and Dante, as well as an upgraded SpiderCore™ DSP and new ‘3D’ Vistonics graphics.

In addition to the Dante/MADI record feed outputs, the console provides MIDI, USB, Ethernet, DVI out, redundant power supply and other connections.

According to W Sound’s Mariusz Węgiełek, “The Soundcraft Vi3000 is the ideal solution for medium-sized touring companies such as ours. The capability of the board, the price of the controller and additional peripherals like the stage rack or expansion cards, make it impossible to look at any alternatives.”

“The immediate driver for the purchase was to acquire a console that would meet most of the riders from the middle range of touring artists—and after almost a month of use, it has been a big hit,” Węgiełek continued. “The response from our sound engineers could not be more positive, and our Vi3000 is working almost every day, earning us money.”

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 15,200 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.1 billion for the last twelve months ended March 31, 2014.

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Pick Of The Hits - Soundcraft in Mondo Dr, May 2014

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