Sales of Soundcraft’s new Vi1 compact digital desk have immediately gone into overdrive, report UK and ROI distributors, Sound Technology Ltd, rapidly boosting inventories in both the rental and permanent install sectors.
In the latter category, Paul Duffy’s Pacific Sound & Light have been quick to install a 32-input board at the new flagship Glee Club in Nottingham — a hybrid theatre which hosts, comedy and an eclectic mix of both emerging and established song-based artists.
Pacific recommended the desk to Glee Club owners, Comic Enterprises, after working on the resident ‘parent’ Soundcraft Vi6 console at the O2 Arena’s IndigO2 while on tour last year. This led to an invitation for a demo at the Soundcraft HQ.
At the same time, SSE Audio Group had also been speaking to Pacific, which resulted in Jon Nash, the venue’s production manager, heading across the Midlands to attend SSE’s Vi1 launch / training day (the first in the UK).
All parties realized that this compact desk — measuring half the size of the Vi6 — would provide the perfect solution … and SSE duly arranged shipment.
Converted from a Jongleurs Comedy Club, with a CAT 5 cabling infrastructure, capacity runs at 450 seated (700 standing) in the main theatre and 250 seated (350 standing) in the second room. Jon Nash can use the desk inputs for band mixing upstairs in the main venue (which also has a raked balcony), while a floor lower in the second space — which operates as an independent room — a small Soundcraft EFX12 has been deployed.
Other bonuses for the production manager, who has worked with Comic Enterprises for eight and a half years, is that because the Vi1 can be plugged into any local stagebox, it can easily be transported to any of the company’s other three venues in Cardiff, Birmingham and Oxford. In addition, a MADI card for stagebox connection will allow expansion to 64 channels (via CAT5) if necessary.
Comic Enterprises’ artistic director, Alistair Cunningham, had requested a high-end sound reinforcement system, confirmed Paul Duffy, “and the Vi1 was clearly the best solution for them all round.
“The desk needed to offer everything required in a small package, and be very rider friendly — at a competitive price. The Vi1 has a very high spec and provides us with a lot of flexibility as there is a monitor position; and if any visiting engineers arrive with a Vi6 they can plug straight into the stagebox, with 64-in and 32-out, as it is compatible with the existing Vi racks.”
Jon Nash is delighted with the new acquisition. “I have worked with digital consoles before — but I really wanted something that was both intuitive, and which would take us through the next five years. I had been asking bands what they would like to see — and the answer kept coming back Soundcraft. It’s something engineers recognise because a lot of people are using Vi6 and Vi4’s — and when I heard the price tag, that did it for me!”
The sound system installation and Vi1 training was masterminded by Pacific’s Matt Trigg.
Pacific Sound & Light have worked with Mark Tughan’s Comic Enterprises for the past ten years — and fitted out three other Glee Clubs around the country — but since the Nottingham venue is situated in Nottingham’s historic Grade II-listed British Waterways Building, with an awkward auditorium shape, steel girders and restricted sightlines, his achievement in creating a first class performance infrastructure is all the more remarkable.
In addition to the sound system, the company also designed and installed the lighting, based around LED fresnels, colour bars and house lights, all run off an Avolites Pearl Tiger.
More information:
