Vioso drives Octave's immersive musical and visual experience 9 in Seattle

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

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

Fusing music and technology, Octave 9 it was designed to expand the creative limits to use and immerse the viewer in new worlds created with the music of this orchestra, for which the technology had to adapt fully 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 they contacted us for the visual content of this project it was an exciting challenge-says Kevin Zevchik, director of Vioso América-. Complexity and purpose, together with the need for 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, situated surrounding Octave's intimate demo space 9, moving in an upper lane of more than 270 degrees around the room.

“Since the screens move quickly and it is necessary to change them between performances to support the music experience visually - adds Garth Hemphill of Jaffe Holden - we needed to offer a projection solution that would allow us to recalibrate any change in the position of the screens at the push of a button”.

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

The pair of servers Anystation Pro of this manufacturer uses Wings Vioso RX, a software created in collaboration with AV Stumpfl, for cylinder mapping. This solution employs camera-based calibration technology to keep the ten ultra-short shot projectors in perfect and blended.

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

This recalibration system “it has been fundamental for the design -assures this person in charge-, since 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 the initial configuration 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 live system inputs.

The visual space also supports the audio improvements made in the Octave 9 to enhance the music experience. specifically, 62 small full-range speakers, together with ten compact subwoofers of Meyer Sound make up the Constellation Sound manufacturer to extend instrument reverb, and 28 miniature microphones scattered around the ceiling to pick up sounds.

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

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