With a burgeoning Irish music scene and ever increasing demand for rider-friendly consoles, Murt Whelan, owner of the eponymously named Murt Whelan Sound, has chosen a DiGiCo SD12 as his first console from the brand – the first SD12 in Ireland. It proved so popular, that he quickly decided to add an SD10 to his inventory.

‘Investing in DiGiCo has worked very well for us,’ Whelan says. ‘Ever since we took delivery the SD12, it’s been our busiest console and has been pretty much constantly out on hire, either for shows we’re working on or for dry hire to other rental companies. It’s been out with Irish bands Gavin James Walking on Cars and Picture This, on the Féile Classical Festival, Independence Festival in Cork and for the Trinity Summer Series in Dublin.’

As the only SD12 in Ireland, the console has proved exceptionally popular and proving that this is no fluke, since Whelan took delivery of his SD10 at the beginning of September, it has been equally hard-working. In fact, he is in the enviable position of not expecting it to spend much time in the company’s warehouse.

‘We immediately had several enquires for sub-rental for the SD10, and it’s also booked to go out regularly for the next year, which is exactly how you want it to be,’ he smiles. ‘The market for DiGiCo in Ireland is growing very rapidly and the SD12 and SD10 have given us a very definite advantage.’

Whelan purchased both consoles through SSE and, despite this being the company’s first experience with DiGiCo, they have not required training on the consoles. ‘We just spent some time with the SD12 in the warehouse,’ he says. ‘I did a show on it myself, having only spent an hour with it in the warehouse. I found it really easy to get around. Both DiGiCo and SSE offer amazing support and we know they’re there if we need them, but so far that hasn’t been necessary. The consoles are very intuitive but also, as you would expect because they’re so popular, a lot of our engineers have used DiGiCo before, so it was very easy to get everything set up.’

So pleased is Whelan with his investment that he’s already planning to add more DiGiCos to his inventory. ‘I’ve been really impressed with everything, from the fast turn round on deliver to the fact that they are there as a brand to support should you need it,’ he concludes. ‘We are definitely planning to expand our DiGiCo stock in the very near future.’

More: www.digico.org