Eurovision Song Contest 2006 grandMA helps ... - MA Lighting

MA Lighting UK
16 months on
16 months ago MA Lighting set up
their own office in order to have direct
representation in the UK market and
certainly nobody could have predicted
the incredible market response.
During the last year, multimedia grand -
MA control sys -
tems have been
used ex tensively
through out the UK
and Eu rope, and
the de mand shows
no sign of slowing
down.
Richard Lambert With links and
roots to people in the UK there’re also
overseas events such as the Olympics,
Commonwealth Games, Oman Military
Tattoo, World Cup Draw, Eurovision
Song Contest and the new Madonna
world tour, all controlled by grandMA.
Richard Lambert, Technical Director for
MA Lighting UK, says: “The demand for
grandMA consoles has been staggering.
It’s very exciting to be part of this successful
product line – having joined MA
only a year ago it’s been just the best
year!!!”
Of Musicals and
Rockstars:
Latest grandMA references
and projects in progress
Avenue Q • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •London
Wicked • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •London
Love • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Las Vegas
Danish Radio Byen • • • • • • •Copenhagen
Rock in Rio • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Lisbon
City Harvest Church • • • • • • • •Singapore
Mariah Carey • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Tour
Red Hot Chili Peppers • • • • • • • • • • • •Tour
Tool • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Tour
The Strokes • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Tour
Elton John • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Tour
Take That • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Tour
Guns n` Roses • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Tour
Mark Knopfler • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Tour
Madonna • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Tour
Jay-Z • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Tour
To find out more: www.malighting.com
MA Lighting International
An der Talle 26-28
33102 Paderborn · Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 5251 68 88 65-10
Fax: +49 (0) 5251 68 88 65-88
E-mail: sales@malighting.de
http://www.malighting.de
Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Show of superlatives designed in pre-programming studio
With more than 1,000 people from
37 countries as well as 2,000 reporting
journalists the Euro vision Song
Contest was one of the biggest
music events worldwide. It was held
in the O.A.K.A. hall in Athens which
was fully booked out with 14,000
spectators.
Monsters from Finland: Lordi rocked to victory
Production Technology LLC better
known in Dubai as Protec recently
provided full lighting production
services to their Dubai based
client, Al Nabooda Automobiles,
for the Middle East’s largest ever
car launch. The event took place in
the iconic Sheikh Rashid Hall of
Dubai’s International Convention
Centre, within the United Arab
Emirates. One grandMA full-size,
one grandMA ultra-light and two
NSPs controlled the vast variety of
lights during the show.
Al Nabooda, the leading Audi
distributor in the Middle East,
launched the latest top of the
Technically the Eurovision
Song Contest was an outstanding
event organised by the German
company Procon. The lighting
system used around 500 moving
lights as well as Barco video- and
Schnick schnack LED systems. The
video as well as the LED systems
© Ralph@Larmann.com
range SUV from Audi: the Q7. The
event was attended by over a
thousand invited guests, including
several local VIPs.
The set consisted of, among
others, eight hydraulic scissor lifts,
four of which lifted two cars
through the stage, with the other
four featuring UK based pyrotechnic
performers from Phoenix
Productions. Eight cars were flown
in from the roof of the venue, as
part of the reveal, from state of
the art motor control systems.
Lighting Designer Paul Smith,
a free lancer based in Dubai, specified
his preferred lighting in stru -
ments: 30 Clay Paky Alpha Spot
© Ralph@Larmann.com
Athen´s high-tech amphitheatre
were put in motorized movable
stairs that had the shape of an
amphitheatre. In total 44 DMX lines
were used that were divided into
four lighting worlds: moving lights,
LED, white light and video/media
server. The complete lighting control
was done via MA Lighting’s
grandMA system – four grandMA
full-size and one grandMA light
including backup and 22 NSPs (network
signal processors). More over
an optic-fibre network with four
HP switches was installed to guarantee
the highest possible stability
of the lighting control system
especially with the network.
Such a complex installation
of control and network could only
be realized by a continuous, twoyear-lasting
cooperation between
the mo² Design GmbH – the company
of lighting designer Manfred
“Ollie” Olma – and MA Lighting.
Six weeks before the show Olma
Middle East’s largest ever car launch
A big show for a big car with a big console
HPE 575W, 46 Clay Paky Alpha
Wash 575W, 28 Clay Paky Stage
Colour 1200W, 22 Clay Paky Stage
Zoom 1200W, 20 3K Strobes, 96
Par Cans and 90 2500W City
Stability and flexibility
were important
invited the whole team to the preprogramming
in Cologne: Manuel
da Costa (Moving Lights), Marcus
Bossdorf (LEDs) and Philipp Herbst
(Video). Marcus Krömer and René
Berhorst (MA Lighting) where
there to support all three programmers.
For the pre-programming
they used another eight
grandMA 3D systems for the realtime
visualization in addition to
the further consoles and NSPs.
“For the realisation of our job
the MA system offered us possibilities
that we loved”, says Olma.
“Since the beginning of the preprogramming
in Cologne everything
was to our full satisfaction.“
In Athens Oliver Heidings -
felder (pro grammer for the white
light) and Pia Virolainen (lighting
designer assistant) joined the
team as well. As the build up of
the stage in the hall was considerably
delayed the complete LED
programming had to be made via
grandMA 3D. As grandMA 3D is
very close to reality and flexible
the production team was very
impressed and full of praise for
the system. This was a very important
benefit for a big production
of this kind.
The stability, flexibility and
the direct access possibilities were
important for the Eurovision Song
Contest, as within the short lighting
time moods for 37 individual
songs and artists had to be created.
Colours, which were used to light
up the 100 meter wide satin back
drapes.
The Protec team was led by
Stephen Lakin.
grandMA delivered the best lighting for the stars on four wheels
grandMA helps Madonna with her confessions
World tour launched with extensive moving lights and effects
With a reputation for astonishing
stage spectacles, Madonna
has launched her Confessions
Tour 2006. Lighting designer
Roy Bennett and lighting programmer
Troy Eckerman are
using an extensive array of
moving lights and effects, controlled
by two grandMA fullsize
consoles and nine NSPs to
spotlight her dynamic performances.
Confessions toured the US,
Canada, Europe and Japan this
summer and autumn. It follows
Madonna’s current CD, “Confes -
sions on a Dance Floor,” which
“grandMA´s doing great”
debuted at #1 in 29 countries.
“Every Madonna tour is big,
and this tour is probably the biggest
one she has done,” says
Eckerman. “There are 26 trucks
of equipment, lots of video, set
pieces, things that fly, costume
– autumn 2006 –
changes. Our lighting system has
to be very versatile to accommodate
so many elements. We use
cyberhoist moving motors for all
the lighting pods; that enables
us to change looks going from a
very heavy rock to a disco dance
feel. grandMA controls all of the
lighting with no less than 30
DMX universes via 9 NSPs. It’s
the only way to go for a show
this big where we have eight
separate cue lists running simultaneously
and multiple layers for
some songs. grandMA’s doing
great!
Since the show is so complex
with so many cues, the best
© Steve Jennings
way to make it accurate and
consistent every night is to run it
of SMPTE timecode, it would be
impossible to do this manually.
The SMPTE track is sent by the
sound department.”
The lighting pods feature 99
VL 3000s, eight VL 2500 washes,
five VL 500 arcs, 31 Mac 2K
washes, 13 Syncro -
light B52s and 82
© Steve Jennings
Confessions surrounded by 30 DMX universes
Material girl in a grandMA world
Atomic Strobes
with color scrolls.
An additional
grandMA console is
on hand for back
up.
Corey Fitz gerald
served as the
second grandMA
programmer to
Eckerman.
Comprehensive
project support was
provided by A.C.T
Lighting, MA’s
exclusive distributor
for the US and
Canada.
Change in leadership
with MA Lighting
International
Michael Althaus new Managing
Director of MA Lighting
Beginning 1st July 2006 Michael
Althaus (aged 31) became the new
Managing Director of MA Lighting
International. He has taken over the
position previously held by Ralph-Jörg
Wezorke (aged 49) who, over the last
20 years, has built up the successful
sales of MA products.
MA as leading brand requires
an independent management
“Michael started working at
Light power some 11 years ago and has
been part of the senior management
the last three years. He has lots of
experiences in the lighting business
and an MBA in business studies,”
Wezorke explains. We succeeded in
getting a top international position
with MA. Our next objective is to
further develop MA as a leading
brand. This requires an independent
management momentum of its own.
That is why my dual role will now
change,” Wezorke will remain Mana -
ging Director of the main company
Light power, at the same time also
remaining majority shareholder of
both companies. Lightpower is also
taking pride in its internal staff development.
The manufacturing company, MA
Lighting Technology, is very pleased to
see this development as a sign of substantial
company expansion.
Ralph-Jörg Wezorke (l.) and Michael Althaus (r.)
© MA Lighting International

They are floating cities. Carnival Cruise
Lines ships offer their passengers a lot of
variety. Now grandMA’s play a key role in
the line's entertainment show control.
"The grandMA system is an important
component for technical operations in the
main showroom on our ships," says Preston
Bircher, entertainment technical projects
manager for Carnival. "Most ships have between
two and seven production shows and
although they're completely different, they
utilize the same basic rig and light plot. The
difference is in the programming with all
the moving lights and colour changers. The
flexibility of the grandMA system is fantastic,"
he continues.
Demfis Fyssicopulos of dfdesign served
as grandMA lighting programmer for
Carnival's 2,052-passenger “Sensation”,
with the next installation scheduled for the
Pure “Sensation”
From Sensation to Fascination
grandMA goes to Sea with Carnival Cruise Lines
line's 2,052-passenger
“Fascina-
tion”. "These vessels
are simply spectacular,”
states Fyssi -
copulos. “The main
From Broadway to Westend
“Avenue Q”, “Jersey Boys” and “Wicked” with grandMA
On Broadway, the runaway hit Avenue Q
has already won the Tony award for Best
Musical, Best Score and Best Book. If this
wasn’t accolade enough, its lighting designer,
Howell Binkley, this year scooped the
prestigious Tony Award for Best Lighting
Design for the musical Jersey Boys. Both
musicals were programmed using
grandMA.
Lighting designer Ken Posner for the
Broadway musical Wicked has also used
grandMA control systems. Now, with "Sina tra"
and Avenue Q already running on grandMA
in the West End, Wicked is the next to move
over from Broadway to London, scheduled
to open on the 27th September, 2006. In -
terestingly, the Apollo Victoria Theatre,
home to Wicked, already has a fixed installation
of a grandMA ultra-light controlling
their LED Houselight system.
The consoles had already been applied in
New York with success and both designers,
Ken Posner and Howell Binkley, prefer
Hillary Knox as their programmer. Numerous
Tony Awards for the musicals proved the
high standards of grandMA’s. Binkley mentions
that he’s very grateful for all the help
and support MA has given to Avenue Q since
the beginning.
Puppets and their masters
His control choices for Avenue Q were a
grandMA full-size for programming, a
grandMA light for show playback and a
grandMA replay unit as backup. They controlled
the moving lights, LEDs, Video and
conventional lights. After the production
period only the grandMA light was used
with the replay unit working as the backup.
Avenue Q has been on Broadway at the
John Golden Theatre since July 31st, 2003.
It’s the story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college
graduate, who comes to New York with
big dreams and a tiny bank account.
Princeton discovers soon, that the only place
where he can live is Avenue Q. In his neighbourhood
he has to deal with all the difficulties
of life. That’s the introduction to the
story where all but three characters are portrayed
by puppets.
showroom seats
about 1,000 people
and is two- to
three-decks high.
The theatre has all
the accustomed
lighting positions:
ladders, pipes,
front-of-house
truss, balcony, etc.
The larger ships also
have a full fly
space. Fyssicopulos
was charged with
programming two
shows for Sensa -
tion, an '80s-style
show, “Far From Over” and, the fleet's latest
show, “Curves”, which he characteri zes as
"very Vegas." "A variety of LED fixtures were
used to light the key set elements. All of the
data distribution was done via PathPort,
coming directly from the console. The entire
show runs slaved to SMPTE timecode.
Lights, lasers, video, and even pyro are slaved
to timecode. The grandMA was simply
the best tool for the job."
In the Sensation's main showroom,
grandMA controls among other fixtures some
50 moving lights like the Vari-Lite VL 2500
Spot, 84 Wybron Colorams and 70 ETC Source
Four 575W ellipsoidals. A grandMA Replay
Unit provides day-to-day show playback.
Carnival Cruise Lines travelling with a full-grown theatre on board
"Preston and other members of the
Carnival team are true professionals. Seeing
them work with Demfis, and seeing how
deep into the feature-set they reach, gives
me a great deal of satisfaction," commented
Bob Gordon, president and CEO of A.C.T
Lighting. A.C.T Lighting is grandMA's exclusive
distributor for the USA and Canada.
New Features inside
grandMA video now with Pixelmapping
The new grandMA video pre-release will
have some new features! This year’s PLASA
was the first anniversary for the one and
only integrated media server and MA is
proud to show a great set of feature
implementations.
After strictly listening to the market,
there are now a couple of new features
included since grandMA video was launched
last year. For example four Live video inputs
and a nice and easy way of soft-edging
through the console.
A totally new Administrative tool has been
introduced in the last release version and in
the new version there
will also be Pixel -
mapping inside.
grandMA video
becomes a comfortable
Pixel DMX editor as
already known from the
console (layout view).
The Pixel mapping is calculated
from an additional
media server – and
to talk to most common
LED-walls and fixtures
upto 255 DMX universes
can be addressed directly
over Ethernet by Art-Net, if 100 MBit/s
receivers are used. It is available with software
pre-release 5.7x.
The MA mediaPC – the “rock´n´roll
proven” media server hardware - will now
be optionally available with an SDI or VGA
input card and/or with a Scanconverter to
transform the digital video output signal to
any other needed signal format.
grandMA video is the first real fixture orientated
media Server that can playback most
of the known media formats and will be
frame synchronous throughout the network,
simultaneously including synchronous
streaming DMX using MA-Net.
grandMA video is now a comfortable Pixel DMX editor
dimMA
Successful dimMA
Recourse of many permanent installations
With the MA 2Port Nodes MA
Lighting expands its product
range for networking and integrated
system solutions.
The MA 2Port Nodes will be
available in different versions.
For DMX distribution in fixed
installations is the 2Port Node
qualified: One version will fit
into a 80 mm ‘Flush-mounted’
box (European version) while the
‘US version’ will fit into a twogang-box.
Both versions are
available in three hardware configurations:
two DMX input connectors,
two DMX output connectors
or one input and one
output connector.
For flexible and mobile use
there are the MA 2Port Nodes
onPC available. They address
amongst others the need of theatres
and rental companies to
flexibly distribute DMX on stage
or in rigs. If used standalone
with grandMA onPC the 2Port
Node onPC outputs 512 parameters
of DMX (1,024 parameters
as 2Port Node onPC PRO) and
dimMA MA Lighting’s dimmers
for fixed installations are getting
more and more popular in
integrated network (control)
environments or whenever different
input and backup solutions
are necessary. During the
last months, over 2,700 dimmer
channels have been installed
in renowned projects like,
for example:
DR Byen TV Studio Complex,
Copenhagen Denmark
Fashion Hall, Milano Italy
Veranstaltungshalle Weiz,
Austria
Shouwbourg Arnhem,
Netherlands
RTV Noord, Groningen
Netherlands
Tribüne Theatre Berlin,
Germany
Kaiserhaus Arnsberg, Germany
Alte Oper Frankfurt, Germany
Stadthalle Kronberg, Germany
Hochschule für Musik
Cologne, Germany
BMW World Munich,
Germany (currently running
installation)
dimMA compact houses 12
channels in one module
Next to this top end dimmer
solution is also the more budget
“dimMA compact” system available,
being fully compatible
with the regular dimMA system.
The same NDPs (network dimmer
processor) will be used and all
configurations will be done in
the same way. The main difference
is the housing. “dimMA
compact” houses 12 channels in
one module that can slide in and
out. These modules are only four
units high so that any cabinet
can take 108 channels instead of
Networking on a higher level:
MA 2Port Nodes
becomes a powerful show controller
for smaller applications.
Also handy backup solutions
become possible for reduced
budgets. These versions are available
with integrated power supply,
but they will also run with
power over Ethernet, and thread
to put a coupler as
well as a safety connection
point. The
new 2Port Nodes
onPC are passive
components in the
network – for Para -
meter Expan sion of
the grandMA console
you still need
NSPs.
Two green LEDs
will indicate on all
nodes if DMX traffic
is generated. Both,
DMX LEDs and Back -
light, can be switched
off remotely.
The ‘Finder Func -
tionality’ will give
you an elegant solution
and way of working
- the console can indicate a
chosen node by flashing the
backlight, but also a button
press on the Node will indicate
the chosen one in the console.
All MA 2Port Nodes are fully
integrated into the MA family.
That means easy, comfortable
Flush-mounted box “EU Version”
Any combination
possible
72. Each channel has 180µs rise
time (10% - 90%) and two different
module versions are available:
12x3kVA and 6x5.7kVA.
They can be combined in any
way. Each module, which will be
a fully populated crate at the
dimMA, is equipped with a main
switch, three phase fuse of 63 A
each and a RCD, as well as one
MCB per channel. Control and
feedback will be handled by the
internal CAN bus and the NDP as
the Master unit.
dimMA compact
con figuration incl. in/out assignment
of each node from any
grandMA console or onPC. It’s
al so possible to use the nodes
with other systems, because
they speak MA-Net and Art-Net,
both 100 Mbit/s, which can be
chosen re motely.
Flush-mounted box “US Version”
MA 2Port Nodes onPC
Upcoming Software
Pre-Release 5.7x
“Constant improvements” is MA
Lighting’s ambition. Therefore we are
pleased to announce that there will be
a new Software Release a few weeks
after the PLASA show. To give a brief
over view here are some highlights of
the new features, functions and im -
provements:
New features grandMA Version 5.7x
Playback on Screen: Fader, Executor
& Buttons are able to playback “virtually”
on the Screen.
The well known Bitmaps Effects can
now be linked to cues like normal
effects.
“DMX” keyword is now functional. It
allows direct access to unpatched
DMX addresses like “DMX 100 at 50
ENTER”.
Copying and moving a block of cues
will keep the relative cue numbering
(whenever possible).
New commands (and Quikeys) BLOCK
and UNBLOCK. They work on cues
and complete sequences. The simple
command BLOCK ENTER would for
example block the current cue of the
default executor.
New command: PAGE [x.]+ ENTER or
PAGE [x.]- ENTER has been added for
switching to next or previous page
with “link”-commands in cues.
New keyword IFACTIVE can be used
as selection in all kind of commands.
IFACTIVE ENTER will simply select all
fixtures that have active (red) values
in the programmer.
User Profiles have a world filter. A
dimmer operator would name all his
worlds e.g. "DIMMER xxx". If he uses
then a world filter called "DIMMER",
he can no longer select the worlds
named "FIXTURE xxx".
Cue number Limit is expanded to
3999 in one cuelist.
NSP Workload is now shown in Desk
Status and NSP configuration window.
A new DMX-network-Protocol will
be introduced, implementing the
brand new MA 2Port Node.
Networking dialogs have been rearranged
for a better overview.
Midi Show Control (MSC) has improved:
Access any executor by an MSC
command instead of only the selected
sequence.
For further details visit our website
www.malighting.com.