JoeCo BlackBox Players are helping to bring the sounds and sights of Christmas to the city of Melbourne. Systems integrator Sound Environment is replaying 24-channel surround sound landscapes synchronized to 7500 channels of lighting as part of a spectacular Christmas tree sound and light show that forms a centrepiece of the city’s Christmas Festival. The BlackBox is scheduled (via AMX control) to play pre-programmed shows that run day and night throughout the festive period.
“I love the machine,” says Sound Environment’s director, Bryce Grunden, “We have one unit installed in the show that runs over Christmas, as well as a permanent installation in a viewing platform here in Melbourne. For the Christmas show, the unit runs as a master with 7500 channels of synchronised lighting and also slaves to time code. The other unit is permanently looping material and also plays other tracks when instructed over RS232 from the AMX.”
The BlackBox Player is a software add-on for JoeCo’s award-winning BlackBox Recorder that has been specially developed for synchronous replay of backing tracks and surround stems for live shows and themed entertainment. Playlists can be stored on USB Flash drive and tracks cued up for instant replay. The Player can be triggered using timecode, GPI, QWERTY keyboard, MIDI commands and JoeCo Remote for iPad. Multiple playlists can be stored for quick changes or alternative show formats.
“We’re delighted to see our BlackBox Player used in an increasing number of large-scale, creative projects such as this,” says JoeCo’s Joe Bull. “It’s good to see its role developing from replaying audio tracks in a performance situation to integration in more complex installations that involve a range of different synchronization and control parameters. Congratulations to Bryce and his team on this successful festive installation and Merry Christmas to everyone from JoeCo.”
JoeCo is represented in Australia by Gigpiglet Productions Pty Ltd of Surry Hills, NSW.
