Working with Hamburg-based systems house Amptown System Company (ASC), Stage Tec has completed the first of a number of joint projects, with two well-known Berlin venues installing systems from the German manufacturer. A 36-fader Avatus is now installed in the Konzerthaus Berlin on the Gendarmenmarkt, to be followed in a few weeks by the Volksbühne Theatre, which will be equipped with a 48-fader Avatus at FOH accompanies by two mobile 12-fader consoles.

Avatus celebrated its German premiere in the Konzerthaus Berlin as part of Young Euro Classic, an international music festival for youth orchestras. Avatus replaces a 20-year-old Cantus – the first Stage Tec digital console – and marks the Konzerthaus’ move into IP-based working.

The new concept, in combination with the proven audio signal processing and the modern user interfaces, has proved convincing: ‘The decision for Avatus was made democratically,’ explains says Ralf Bauer-Diefenbach, MD of MMT Network. ‘Both the sound department of the Konzerthaus, colleagues from rbb Radio and Deutschlandradio Berlin and we as planners were immediately convinced by the innovative features – with Avatus we are entering the future of audio engineering.’

‘The broadcasters’ opinion is always important to us, because they use our audio control room regularly for transmissions and recordings,’ adds Peter Laduch, Technical Director of Konzerthaus Berlin. ‘I was very pleased that there was a clear consensus on this issue’.

Avatus is part of an extensive audio network that includes nine static Nexus Base Devices distributed throughout the facility, as well as a mobile Base Device and a router. A Nexus is used to transfer signals to connected OB vans. For example, the second concert on Saturday, when Avatus was used, was recorded by an OB van for Deutschlandradio.

‘It was something special, accepting the first four IP-based mixing console interfaces with the associated Nexus audio routing system and hundreds of I/Os at the same time,’ reports ASC, Head of Sales, Christoph Wegner. ‘As head of the ASC Berlin office, I am particularly pleased to be able to equip two such renowned stages as the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Volksbühne, and to have our customers, as well as the manufacturer Stage Tec, virtually on our doorstep here in Berlin for the direct exchange of information’.

Stage Tec’s Reinhold Friedrich is overseeing both the Konzerthaus Berlin and Volksbühne Theatre projects: ‘We are delighted about the collaboration,’ he says. ‘With Ralf Bauer Diefenbach from MMT Network as the specialist planner responsible and ASC as the system specialist, we have found broad-based partners with a wealth of experience and expertise from which our customers benefit. The first Avatus in Germany was installed in a very short time and celebrated a successful premiere just one week after delivery.’

More: www.stagetec.com