The V-Mixing Systems mixes program sound, musical performances, community and sporting events at Canwest Place in Winnpeg Manitoba.

Located in the heart of Winnipeg, Manitoba, at one of Canada’s most well known and windiest intersections, Portage and Main, Canwest Place’s football field sized outdoor courtyard is a focal point for public gatherings of all kinds; from Canwest global sponsored community and sporting events, to cultural events tied to the Winnipeg Folk, Jazz and Fringe Festivals. Flexibility was the key factor in the installation for both the client, and Peter Bernatsky, Operations Manager for installer/integrator Advance Pro. The Roland V-Mixing System was the clear choice and driving force to provide sound reinforcement for the evolving needs of the contractor, Creswin Properties, sister company Canwest global, as well as those in the community at large.

The System
The Basic V-Mixing System provides ambient program sound, as well as reinforcement for musical performances in the courtyard, and the buildings in the lobby reception area. Housed in a control room adjacent to the Canwest Place lobby, the M-400 V-Mixer’s local I/O are currently used for monitoring and control of the A/V system, which includes 11 pedestal-mounted JBL speakers and a 35-foot wide High Res, outdoor LED sign – the largest such outdoor sign structure west of Toronto. One Cat5e cable is passed through conduit to an S-1608 digital snake, providing a flexible system to serve a variety of live events.

Application
Whether it’s live music for a summer festival, promotional events for cultural institutions like The Canadian Museum of Human Rights, or delivering breaking news at the push of a button directly to the public passing through Manitoba’s busiest public square, the V-Mixing system provides maximum reliability and functionality at an affordable price point well below the installation cost of a comparable competitor’s system.

“The logistics of pulling cable out to the courtyard using any other solution, says Advance Pro System’s Engineer, Wayne Edel, would be off the chart. The fact that we can get 16 channels in a small piece of conduit, along with the fibre running the DV, is a big deal for us.”

While the compact nature of audio over Cat5e cable was the prime consideration in choosing the V-Mixing system, so too was the ease with which the M-400 V-Mixer can be reconfigured to facilitate virtually any event, on site, or remotely. During testing, Edel experimented with presets on the M-400 V-Mixer using an Apple iTouch. “We’re a very big Crestron integrator,” adds Edel, citing the V-Mixers RS232 functionality as key to Bernatsky’s and Advance Pro Audio Sales Consultant, Ted Parnell’s vision and design. The ability to run snapshots of preset scenes remotely – from within the building, from outside, or from home –was very important. While not currently tied into the building’s distributed audio system, ongoing expansion was another consideration in the choice of the system. Edel explains, “It’s not about selling product. It’s about selling integration.”

System Integration