The ability of Roland video products to adapt in a truly multi format live environment was recently put to the test at the cutting edge L.E.V Festival in Gijón, Spain. This unique, multi venue festival (L.E.V. stands for Laboratorio de Electrónica Visual or, in English, Laboratory of Visual Electronics) forms a part of the International Festival of Audiovisual Creation now in its ninth year. The festival is internationally renowned for pushing audiovisual boundaries based on four themes: the natural synergy between image and sound, the live presentation, the relationship established between audience, artist connection and public space, and the new artistic trends..

The Roland XS-84H multi format AV matrix switcher operated as the main ‘hub’ for the numerous visual configurations for live performances on the main stage in the Laboral Theatre throughout the festival. The XS-84H was used to control the main visual projection to a 15K HD projector at the front of the stage as well as three additional projectors to the left, centre and right of the stage. The HDBaseT outputs on the XS-84H provided the connection for the all-digital signal between FOH and stage, easily achieving a run of around 75metres using Cat5e cable with no loss of resolution. All of the artists used visuals from FOH for their performances with the XS-84H acting as the main brain to output all of the variables.

With a truly multi format design, the Roland XS Series features eight HDMI, RGB/Component/S-video/Composite inputs and up to four HDMI or HDBaseT outputs with built in scalers to enable picture-in-picture, resizing, rotating, and flipping. Audio can be embedded into outputs via 8 stereo audio inputs (2 mic) and/or HDMI audio as well as de-embedded on output. Additional features of the Roland XS Series include remote iPad control, EDID emulation for HDMI and RGB signal management and HDCP key master to maintain authentication information for each HDMI source.

Also in the Laboral Theatre a special production setup was required for the performance of Cabaret Voltaire. Making only their second live performance in twenty years, the line up for the Cabaret Voltaire show consisting of machines and multi-screen projections (and Richard H Kirk) also included VHS recordings. A solution was therefore required that could connect the analog VHS technology to the digital environment and the HD projectors. The Roland V-800HD and V-1600HD Multi Format Video Switchers were used for this task, their truly multi format design giving the freedom to connect any type of source whether it be digital or analog, computer or video format. With both the V-1600HD and the V-800HD switchers there is no need to match input sources to the output resolution as every input has its own broadcast quality scaler that can individually scale, stretch, crop and zoom each source as required to fit any output resolution chosen.

At a different venue, the Laboral Art Centre, a second Roland V-1600HD managed the visuals for the live performance stage using several RGB and DVI inputs and driving those to a 20K HD projector. The onboard screen made the video checks easy during the changeover of live bands.

Roland ProAV Product Manager Nico Suaréz, at the helm of the Roland setup throughout the festival, commented ‘to be a part of the L.E.V Festival we really had to offer something special that fitted the ‘cutting edge’ nature of the event, the performances and the production requirements’.

Festival Director Nacho de la Vega added ‘The festival showcases a massive variety of technologies and events across different venues – all to a tight production schedule. We can rely on the Roland products to perform whatever the event. Their multi format capability gives us the confidence that these products can deal with the unexpected in real time, keeping each production running smoothly.’