Vioso powers Octave's immersive musical and visual experience 9 a Seattle

The transformation of Octave 9, an immersive space that fuses music and visual technology of this North American orchestra, has Vioso for the calibration of this complex assembly.

Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Centre named after Seattle philanthropists (in the American state of Washington) James y Sherry Raisbeck, who donated 2 millions of dollars for its creation, to which other contributions were added, public and private, to transform the former Soundbridge Seattle Symphony Music Discovery Center into a unique music experience.

Merging music and technology, Octave 9 It was designed to expand the creative limits of use and immerse the viewer in new worlds created with the music of this orchestra., for which the technology had to fully adapt to the variety of genres and eras recreated by the orchestra.

The American acoustic and audiovisual design company Jaffe Holden contacted the German projection specialist Vioso to provide assistance in the installation and calibration of visual systems.

““When we were approached about the visual content for this project, it was an exciting challenge,” says Kevin Zevchik., director of Vioso America-. Complexity and purpose, together with the need for the technology to be totally flexible to any future needs, made it a proposal to be part of.”.

The visual complexity of the project lies in the mobile cylindrical screens, located surrounding Octave's intimate demo space 9, that move in an upper rail of more than 270º around the room.

“As the screens move quickly and need to be changed between performances to support the music experience visually - adds Garth Hemphill of Jaffe Holden - we needed to offer a projection solution that would allow any change in the position of the screens to be recalibrated with the push of a button.”.

The Vioso team created a viable solution for this with two media servers Anystation Pro to provide the operation and reproduction of cylindrical panels and the videowall LCD, composed of eight panels and located at the front of the room.

The pair of Anystation Pro servers from this manufacturer use Wings Vioso RX, a software created in collaboration with BY Stumpfl, for cylinder mapping. This solution employs camera-based calibration technology to keep all ten ultra-short throw projectors in perfect shape and blend..

“With a single fisheye camera mounted in the center of the room, System recalibrations are as easy as a simple button command, which will then display the projection on the panels, will convert the compound into cylinder and export it to Wings Vioso RX”, explains Zevchik.

This recalibration system “has been fundamental for the design - assures this person in charge -, as it mitigates the need for any professional to have to go out and remap the projection every time the screens are modified”.

In addition to initial setup and calibration, Vioso provided installation assistance to the integrator Diversified and trained staff in Avio's show control functions, which in turn uses system commands Crestron to facilitate the needs of the performance and sends signals to Vioso RX not only to change the type of content, but also to switch the system's live inputs.

The visual space also supports the audio improvements made in the Octava 9 to enhance the music experience. Specifically, 62 small full range speakers, along with ten compact subwoofers Meyer Sound make up the Constellation Sound from the manufacturer to expand the reverberation of the instruments, y 28 miniature microphones spread across the ceiling to pick up sounds.

As Zevchik adds, “We chose Vioso for its self-calibration technology, but we also offered the flexibility necessary for the project to last for many years., many years. The end result is an incredible transformation of the musical experience with 21st century technology.”.