A holistic approach to the audiovisual experience
by Mark Mayfield, Director, Cinema & Entertainment Marketing, Q-SYS division of QSC, LLC.
Of the many options for out-of-home entertainment, theme parks have always been at the forefront of innovation. Over the years, they have evolved to offer immersive, multi- sensory experiences that transport visitors to fantastical worlds. Especially in the past 10 years or so, the bar has constantly been lifted to meet guest expectations and remain competitive.
“There’s intense competition from cinemas, sports venues, and big-name concert events,” says Scott Kalarchik, Business Development Manager, Entertainment & Hospitality, for the Q-SYS division of QSC, LLC, and a colleague of this writer. “Themed environment creators have responded with amazing, experiential destinations that allow patrons to truly escape into another world, even for just a little while.” Much of this depends on the use of audiovisual technology, and Q-SYS provides an extensive portfolio of solutions for storytellers and creators of all kinds of immersive experiences.
The heart of AV systems in theme parks
A truly immersive audiovisual experience requires that the sonic and visual elements are seamlessly delivered where and when they need to be heard and seen. Delivering these sound- and video-scapes relies on an entire system that works together with technologies from a variety of suppliers. Today, many theme park operators look to the Q-SYS platform and its expanding ecosystem of partners to provide that holistic experience.
Q-SYS, developed by leading audio manufacturer QSC, is a highly versatile audio, video, and control platform. Q-SYS has become the backbone of AV systems in many theme parks for several reasons:
It’s totally scalable: Theme parks come in all sizes, from small local parks to massive international attractions. Because it is software-based, Q-SYS scalability allows for tailored solutions, ensuring that audio remains clear and consistent, regardless of the park’s current size or plans for future expansion.
It can be used for a multitude of applications: Q-SYS is widely flexible, allowing designers to adapt audio systems to various environments within the park. Whether it’s an indoor dark ride, an outdoor roller coaster, or a live entertainment show, Q-SYS can be configured to provide a high-quality audio experience.
It enables centralized or distributed control: One of the key features of Q-SYS is its centralized control. Technical staff can manage and monitor audio and video systems from a single touchscreen controller in a central control room, or from anywhere with a network connection. And it’s not limited to Q-SYS components; the Q-SYS Platform includes an ever-expanding catalog of plugins to enable control of many other technologies that are essential to the patron experience (see below).
It’s networked: Q-SYS operates on a networked AV over IP platform, which means that audio and video can be sent and received across vast distances without signal degradation. This is crucial in theme parks where AV must cover large areas.
Integration with other systems: Q-SYS can seamlessly integrate with other systems and technologies within the park, including lighting, special effects, and ride and show control systems.
Gaming and eSports at Fortress Melbourne
In Melbourne, Australia, Fortress Melbourne, a games culture and entertainment venue, features a 200-seat arena and live broadcast studio purpose-built for esports tournaments. There’s also a huge theme-restaurant/ tavern, multiple party and event spaces, two licensed bars, VIP video game booths, and board game areas. Q-SYS enables a comprehensive control system that touches on every subsystem of the venue, including lighting and environmental as well as automating such elements as movie nights, corporate games, game state graphics, triggering and more.
Gaming and eSports are exploding categories for out-of-home entertainment, and patrons expect ever increasing new experiences and innovation. “Q-SYS allows us to deliver robust and scalable control solutions, with the ability to say ‘yes’ to pretty much anything the client asks of us,” explains Adrian Davis, Senior Business Development Manager of The Avit Group, the contractor who implemented the system expansion for their client. “Because Fortress likes to push the boundaries of technology for end-user and client experience, Q-SYS is a perfect fit.”
150-acre coverage at LEGOLAND Windsor
At LEGOLAND Windsor Resort in Berkshire, UK, the Q-SYS Platform handles all network audio and control for the park, including wide-area paging distribution, along with the background music for the retail shops, hotels and open areas, throughout the 150-acre site. “Our park is always evolving and growing, and it is important to have an AV solution that has the flexibility to scale along with it,” explains Mark Boyce, Innovations Manager at LEGOLAND Windsor Resort. “With Q-SYS, we’ve not only delivered well beyond what two systems were handling previously, but it has plenty of horsepower to continue growing alongside the park’s needs well into the future.”
In sync at GKTW Village
Give Kids The World Village is an 89-acre, storybook resort located in Kissimmee, Florida. It provides families of critically ill children with week-long, cost-free wish vacations. With 166 fairy-tale-themed guest rooms, accessible rides and attractions, the Q-SYS Platform controls automation, audio paths, critical timing sensors, and much more to help create an enchanting experience for families to bond and create new memories.
“We use a wide variety of Q-SYS products, including Core processors, NV Series video encoders/decoders, CX Series power amplifiers and a large number of Q-SYS loudspeakers,” says Ian Cole, chief innovation officer at Give Kids The World Village. “One of the ways that we use Q-SYS is to control automation. We have a number of rides and shows that have moments that are dependent on critical timing from sensors and other things. These sensors feed GPIO triggers back to the Q-SYS processor to play timed audio events.” The result? “It’s a bunch of technology working together, but it creates an emotional response that lets families bond and create a new memory,” he says.
Sophisticated solutions for Chimelong’s Journey of Lights
Every night on the island of Hengqin, in Zhuhai, China, visitors to the breathtaking Chimelong Ocean Kingdom theme park are treated to a spectacular night-time parade. Named “Journey of Lights,” the parade (honored in 2018 with a TEA Thea Award) represents a delicate meeting of art and technology. The Q-SYS Platform processes and routes every audio element from every float and triggers third-party visual controls while maintaining tight synchronization as each float crosses from one zone to the next.
The solution was devised by primary consultant Evan Hall, of Forward Thinking Designs, and utilizes Q-SYS to deliver audio and control for the individual floats as well as full integration with the parkwide audio system. As part of the show control system, Q-SYS enables show synchronization by supplying an overarching control function including an Alcorn McBride unit which is triggered by Q-SYS custom Lua scripting. “Q-SYS gives the team the flexibility to do whatever is needed, whenever it is needed. They didn’t have to go out and buy lots of music servers and control systems,” says Hall. •
Mark Mayfield is Director, Cinema & Entertainment Marketing for Q-SYS, a division of QSC, LLC. Mark has extensive experience in the Pro Audio, Cinema, and Pro AV industries, and is currently vice president of the International Cinema Technology Association.Visit www.qsys.com
Plugins–Keys to system flexibility
Q-SYS plugins enable simple integration of third- party software, services, and hardware from technology providers around the globe. All of these plugins are available directly from within Q-SYS Designer software, which is free. Here are just a few of the plug-ins available:
Digital Signage Control
Designed exclusively for digital signage, BrightSign’s purpose-built OS delivers complete signage capabilities and Full HD and true 4K HDR video quality with a dependable solid-state platform. The BrightSign Q-SYS Plugin offers Control Script Mode and Custom Mode. Control Script Mode provides the ability to see the list of files on the player, select from the files, and make use of transport controls that enable manually or automatically showing the correct signage content. Custom Mode allows for monitoring of the player and up to 100 custom UDP commands that can be sent directly to the player.
Lighting and Show Control
CueCore2 from Visual Productions is a compact form-factor lighting controller for semi-permanent installations and architectural lighting. Designed for nonstop operation, the CueCore2 has no moving parts; the unit is completely solid-state, which allows lighting engineers to ‘fit and forget.’ Although it is bundled with various supporting software tools, once programmed, the CueCore2 can operate completely standalone. It will play back lighting shows, static scenes and dynamic effects through its two DMX- 512 universes. The unit can be programmed to respond to a variety of incoming protocols or scheduled to time or day.
Several control plug-ins are available for ETC lighting products. The Q-SYS plugin package for Unison Mosaic consists of four .qplugx files and an example Q-SYS Designer file, which directly control Mosaic timelines, scenes and triggers. Each control plugin has the capacity to control up to 100 Mosaic objects. The Q-SYS ETC Unison Echo control plugin enables direct control of Echo presets, zones and sequences from a Q-SYS touch screen controller. With this plugin the user can control up to 16 Echo objects. The plugin for Unison Paradigm allows control of up to 100 Paradigm objects via UDP/IP or RS-232, including control of presets, channels, groups, macros and walls. It enables Q-SYS users to manage their lighting and AV controls from a single touchscreen.
Odd Harmonics Nexus brings Macros to Q-SYS, with no scripting required. The user may easily create timed sequences of Actions that allow automating the Core. Nexus has an extensive library of Actions, each asking for the precise info needed to get the job done. Nexus gives you the flexibility to program while remaining online, without skipping a beat. It is also possible to load a new Nexus database without the need to push a Core file or reload a script.
Forward Thinking Designs offers many plugins for the Q-SYS ecosystem, including FTD Onboard Player, an advanced GPS triggering and audio playback plugin. With support for circles, polygons, headings and multiple routes, it’s a recommended solution for parades, tour buses, shuttles, ride vehicles, and other location-based applications, both onboard and offboard. Also, FTD Ottomater is a cue-based show control plugin for Q-SYS. Ottomater quickly and easily gives users control of any named component within their Q-SYS design allowing for ease of programming and flexibility in show design. This is ideal for both operator-controlled live performances and timecode based automated shows.
