In a progressive move typical of DiGiCo, not only has the company already sold its groundbreaking SD7 console to buyers in four different countries, but work is also already underway with one of the UK’s leading theatre sound companies to develop a theatre-specific version.
From London’s West End to Broadway, Moscow, Tokyo, Toronto, Sao Paulo and Sydney, Autograph Sound’s team of designers has been producing world-beating theatre sound for over 35 years. And whether it is Mamma Mia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Les Miserables or The Valkyrie at the English National Opera, the company’s desire to raise audiences’ experience of theatre sound is matched by DiGiCo’s desire to develop consoles that achieve the same aim in all live sound environments.
With Autograph having played a key role in assisting DiGiCo’s development of the D5T – the theatre-specific version of the D5 console – it is a natural progression that Autograph is an early purchaser of the brand new SD7. And already the company’s engineers are examining how the SD7’s remarkable power and open architecture can be harnessed to develop the most advanced theatre sound console available.
“Autograph has bought one of the first SD7’s because we are completely committed to continuing the work that we started when we adopted the D5 in 2002,” says the company’s chairman and co-founder Andrew Bruce.
“The relationship that has developed with DiGiCo, which is entirely focussed on adapting the functionality of their consoles for use in the theatre environment, has been an exceptionally happy and productive one.
“DiGiCo has always taken a great deal of notice of our market and the special things that we need a console to do, most of which are still not catered for in standard digital console software. However, following our collaboration in producing the D5T, several of those operational procedures have now been incorporated into the core software of SD7.”
“Our purpose of investing in the SD7 is to help DiGiCo produce the theatre version of the console as soon as possible,” concludes Andrew.
