Studer created a unique version of its Vista 8 digital mixing console for installation in the new Copenhagen Opera House, which will open with a Royal Command Performance on January 15, and to the public on January 26, 2005. The console was received by the state of Denmark at a formal ceremony in October. The custom-built Vista provides two movable front-of-house control surfaces, connected to each other and to the control room by fiber-optic cable, which can be freely positioned anywhere in the theater, from the control room to the auditorium.
A project worth $450 million, the Opera House is set to be one of the most technically advanced theaters in the world. Located on Holmen, just across the water from the royal palace of Amalienborg, the 135,000-square-foot building has been designed by Danish architect Henning Larsen, with acoustic design by Arup Acoustics.
The audio control room is centrally located on the first of the three levels above the stalls. Racks for the Vista 8 front-of-house console are situated there, incorporating the DSP core, I/O frames and power supplies. By moving the control system for the Vista 8 into the same rack, Studer’s engineers have made it possible to have two movable control surfaces: one with two input bays and another with input and control bay. These lightweight frames are connected to the main rack by fiber-optic cable. Complete freedom to move the frames anywhere in the house is enabled by a fiber patchbay with wall boxes in different positions. Each frame is light weight so that two people can easily move it. All of the Studer equipment has been supplied by Kinovox A/S, Studer’s distributor in Denmark.
The concept of the remote bay was originally raised by another Studer customer, DetNorskeTeatret in Norway, with Jarle Felin, Studer’s sales director in the region, who has played a key role in the specification of the Copenhagen console. The unique flexibility of the Vista system was the main reason that the Opera House chose Studer as a supplier, and the design of this console has benefited from considerable input from the Opera House technical team, led by Claus Wolter.
In total, the Studer Vista 8 front-of-house console, with integrated digital routing matrix, is capable of offering up to 288 inputs and 144 outputs. The remote operating desk has 20+2 faders, while the remote bay has another 20 faders. The I/O frames hold 120 mic/line inputs, 48 analog line outputs, 16 digital AES/EBU input/outputs and 32 mono equivalent ADAT input and output channels.
For more information on Studer, please go to www.studer.ch.
