Having taken owonership of Plopsaland De Panne, Belgium’s principle theme park, in 2000, TV production company Studio 100 has added Plopsaqua – a 1,250-capacity ‘wild water’ park.
FACE, the park’s contractor and maintenance company, worked with Plopsa extensively in De Panne as well as its other parks – three in Belgium, one in Coevorden in the Netherlands and another in Germany. ‘We didn’t want to build a traditional indoor swimming pool,’ Plopsaqua Project Manager Steve van Camp says of the project’s concept. ‘We opted for a closed construction, allowing us to implement and control special effects.’
In the past, the company has made extensive use of Powersoft’s M series amplifiers (in the Mayaland indoor playpark and 1,500-capacity Plopsa Theatre), D-Cell modules (for the park’s mobile stages) and Ottocanali. Again, the efficiency of Ottocanali 4K4 DSP+D amplification was sought for the Plopsaqua installation.
The water park itself encompasses a number of attractions including a 65-ft Sky Drop and an interactive ‘disco slide’, but the highlight, which bursts into life for ten minutes every other hour, is the storm pool. This full audiovisual experience involves a 16-channel surround thunder storm and lightning show. The Powersoft Ottocanali 4K4 DSP+D drives a Renkus-Heinz loudspeaker system under the control of Peavey MediaMatrix Nion and by a TiMax2 SoundHub system – creating immersive 3D thunderstorm effects, with seamless image transitions, over a Dante network. According to FACE Project Division Manager Steven Kemland, this was recorded using Motu’s Digital Performer and is delivered via the Dante network.
The storm pool is served by 16 Renkus-Heinz CFX81 two-way compact loudspeaker systems, arrayed to create the illusion of a storm passing overhead. ‘The challenge was to create a genuine thunderstorm, moving over the storm pool and exploding above the 15 x 15m rain-shower zone before softly fading away,’ Kemland, says.
The CFX loudspeakers have been treated to resist the sub-tropical temperatures, high humidity and chlorine content in the enclosed environment, as have all rigging and peripheral components. ‘The speakers are covered with a special chemical finish, and so is every bolt and plug used in the rigging,’ Kemland confirms.
Despite their compact profile, he says the CFX81 cabinets were the perfect choice for the project: ‘The CFX-81s are used to create the thunderstorm effect. Instead of steering the sound over individual speakers, the TiMax SoundHub uses the full configuration, creating a realistic surround effect of a tropical storm’s movement.’ The system also serves as general PA system for safety or emergency messages.
In addition to the thunder show, the sound system is also used for other FX, as well as background music, announcements and emergency evacuation spanning 24 different sound zones, using three Ottocanali 4K4 DSP+D amplifiers. ‘The big advantage of these eight-channel amplifiers is their compact size and that they have the Dante protocol onboard,’ Kemland says. ‘With MediaMatrix Nion and TiMax also using Dante, we have control over the whole signal chain. It is a much more flexible option than the CobraNet we were using previously.’
Packing eight channels of 500W power in 2U, coupled with their ability to drive 100V loudspeakers, Kemland regards the Ottocanali 4K4 DSP+D as the obvious choice of amplifier for the project. In fact, his company is increasingly specifying them for multi-zone applications in small to mid-scale installs.
Due to their compact size the entire Ottocanali/Nion set-up at Plopsaqua only occupies 12U of rack space. Despite the complexity and amount of control and functions, the user interface has been custom designed for ease of use by non-technical staff and flexible day-to-day operation via Peavey’s Mediamatrix Kiosk2Go app – further minimising the equipment footprint.
Prinsessia Castle
Sitting in its own sound zone, the Prinsessia Castle – modelled on a TV series featuring five singing princesses – has seen the Belgian debut of Martin Audio’s CDD (Coaxial Differential Dispersion) series loudspeakers.
The attraction was part-opened in time for Hallowe’en with CDD6 enclosures inside the castle restaurant, and CDD5TX running 100V line and weatherised by FACE, on the merry-go-round ride outside. These form part of a complement of 50 loudspeakers that includes Martin Audio C4.8T ceiling speaker.
‘Prinsessia provided a great opportunity to use the new range,’ Kemland says. ‘Such was the power and dispersion that it meant for the first time we didn’t need to place two speakers on small masts, as we had with the C115, but we only needed to use a single CDD5 placed higher up on the pillars.
‘I noticed immediately that the sound was even better [than the C115] although that has done a really great job for us. The power of CDD is greater, the dispersion is fabulous, with superior pattern control, and it also looks much nicer. CDD is also sensitively priced and being able to replace two C115 with a single CDD5 keeps the project within budget.’
Inside the Castle, the facility needed the additional power of the 6-inch CDD6 as it will often be used for presentations, with local iPod input. Kemland notes that the quality of the transformers confirm that the 100V line approach was the correct one for its simplicity and consistency.
The main banqueting area is surrounded by a VIP room, toilets and a merchandising shop, with eight C4.8T ceiling speakers – frequently used by FACE – covering these ancillary areas.
Martin Audio solutions have been used in the water park (Plopsaqua), and most significantly in the principal ‘meet and greet’ stage in the main piazza. This performance stage, which also features many of the characters that appear on the children’s television networks, can routinely draw 3,000-4,000 people into the square. To broadcast the action, specified six Martin Audio XD15s with two XD12s, along with a pair of powerful WS218X subs.
‘Originally we set the criteria for the XD to provide coverage for around 500 people, with the normal meet and greets, accompanied by background music,’ says Steve Van Camp, part of the Plopsa Invest Team. ‘But when we have a live band playing it attracts several thousand – and when we heard the XD, particularly the XD12 stage monitors, we realised it could cope comfortably with that. In fact some visiting sound engineers have even asked ‘Where is the main system?’ – until they hear it.’
‘We have been happy with Martin Audio since Plopsaland first opened, and following the initial investment there has been almost no maintenance costs,’ he reflects. ‘The C115 has been used now for 15 years and is still working – however, we are certain that the new CDD range will deliver an even better service. What we can already hear in the new Prinsessia zone is that we have completely equal dispersion, despite using even fewer cabinets than we would have done with the C115 and AQ5 enclosures.’
Powering the Martin Audio CDD speakers are Powersoft Ottocanali 4K4 DSP+D eight-channel power amplifiers with signal processing and redundant Dante digital streams, allowing FACE to take advantage of a Dante card swap and firmware upgrade to bridge the pre-existing CobraNet and Dante networks. ‘Using a part of the existing fibre network, we have to pass more than ten switches to reach some zones,’ Kemland says. ‘With CobraNet we experienced a lot of drop-outs but Dante is really stable.’
‘In many zones, the speakers require separate level, EQ and delay, for music and for speech – this often incorporates up to 24 audio sub-zones in one attraction, but we can do this for each independent channel via three Ottocanalis in a very small amp rack.
‘Also, the new 4K4 you can connect either low impedance or 100V line so it’s easy and versatile. It’s an economical solution, but we will only use 4K4s DSP+Dante function if we do not have a local Nion.’
For the principal mobile stage, FACE used a Powersoft K3 series to drive the Martin Audio subs and three M50Q HDSP+ETH [four-channel power amp with DSP and Ethernet] to power the XD series speakers. Once again, FACE has equalised and levelled the speakers individually via the amps, which are placed in a rack up in the roof.
‘In the past, we had a big amplifier rack housing several amplifiers in every zone. Since we started using Powersoft we can run 16 channels on 16A supply and place them in the IT rack.’ For maintenance too it has made a big difference, he says. ‘Where previously we needed someone for several weeks to undertake maintenance at the beginning of the season, it’s ready now in just a few days. That we now have DSP and amplification on a single platform guarantees that we have a working, perfectly tuned and secured solution in every zone and sub-zone.’
Dante has also helped to streamline the operation: ‘It certainly gives us a more stable situation,’ Kemland agrees. ‘By using Dante in both our Nion network and in the Powersoft amplifiers, it is much easier to create sub-zones and to control them. In recent years we have invested in a complete new fibre network, and the audio is also benefitting from this.’
Imaginative use of Powersoft technology in De Panne is the deployment of the D-Cell504 module on a presentation stand, close to Prinsessia Castle, where FACE produced a tiny weatherproof cabinet and paired it with the amplifier module.
‘With a small adaptation circuit we have created an iPod input and volume set-up, so we can tune every stage separately regarding maximum level and EQ and store all settings in the amp module. After tuning, operations can just plug in the iPod and play the song that’s appropriate to the meet and greet moment,’ says Kemland. More than 15 of these stages exist throughout all five parks.
Since the park needs to be operated by technically unskilled staff, simplicity is the watchword. The complete system is under control from FACE’s office, from where healthchecks and diagnostics are run.
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