Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures Performing Arts Venue: GigaCore Ethernet Switches Facilitate AV and Lighting

A single backbone fibre ring of Luminex GigaCore Ethernet switches unifies and simplifies all the AV and lighting functions at Desjardins Hall, a performing arts venue in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Quebec.Located in the Jean-Marie Roy Community Centre, Desjardins Hall is part of a multi-use facility on the site of a former college. It will be used for community theatrical and musical performances as well as for visiting artists and troupes.

Trizart Alliance, a globally-recognized theatre and design consulting firm based in Montreal, designed and specified the Luminex fibre ring installed by Solotech Quebec. “We’ve been specifying Luminex products for close to a year now” for amphitheatres, casinos, performing arts venues and more, says Luc Gelinas, an associate at Trizart’s Design Group.“We decided LUMINEX would be a good fit for Desjardins Hall.”

Trizart designed a single Luminex backbone fibre ring for all AV, lighting and network integration.The ring consists of four GigaCore 16Xt PoE switches, which route signals to and from audio, control, an IP TV and a lighting network.A GigaCore 12 managed Gigabit Ethernet switch, with a primary and secondary connection to the control room, handles all FOH networking needs from the main mix position.

“It is usual to have a number of dedicated networks and switches in small facilities but in this case we were able to handle all the needs with one Luminex GigaCore switche network ring,” says Gelinas.The flexibility of the LUMINEX 16Xt PoE switches enable the ring to support many segments: 

• ETCNet3/sACN lighting;Dante™primary/secondary audio

• Biamp DSP and D&B speaker and amplifier control

• SVSI Video over IP distribution for the green rooms and backstage

• a signage processor

• the central Crestron control system

“We chose Luminex for its ease of use and easy integration,” says Gelinas.“The interface inside the boxes is simple to use and program – IT people don’t need to get involved in the process, and that’s not the case with some other systems.The user interface is very easy to manage, too.We had to consider that some system operators might have limited IT knowledge.”

Four Luminex DMX2-truss PoE nodes are used on the lighting network to provide sACN lighting data distribution from an ETC ION 2000 console.ETC Remote Focus RFR and ETC Paradigm boxes handle control and processing 

On the audio side, the Dante network consists of a Yamaha CL5 console, Rio stage boxes and Shure ULXD4Q devices.The BiampNexia DSP system and D&B loudspeaker and amp monitoring forms the audio control network.

The SVSI Video over IP network consists of video distribution to the green rooms’ and backstage’s LCD screens so performers can watch live camera stage feeds.

“The Luminex system is working quite well,” says Desjardins Hall technical director Eric Lagotte.“It is very stable, and we’re very satisfied with it.We haven’t had to touch the system parameters.Everything is programmed and works wonderfully.”

Lagotte notes that the new venue has staged only several community programs so far.“But we’re currently working on a schedule of professional programs to begin in the Fall/Winter 2015-2016 season” when the LUMINEX system will see increased activity.

“It’s great to see Luminex used in such a mission-critical application at Desjardins Hall,” says Hugo Larin, director for Luminex in America.“Our integrator managed to deal with everything in a very simple and cost-efficient way.”

Larin echoes Gelinas when he says, “No IT staff was involved so installation cost and time were reduced.An easy assignment of Ethernet switch ports in preconfigured groups serving different segments/protocols on the system was pretty much all that was required by the technician on site.All the AV and lighting network requirements were already in the intelligence of GigaCore.”

At Solotech, Jean-Pierre Toussaint was the project manager; Jean-Francois Huot, the senior sales representative.

Luminex Network Intelligence is a Belgium-based developer of lighting control, pro audio, and video data distribution equipment for the pro industry. It was formed by Bart Swinnen and Jan Renckens. Their complete DMX and Ethernet solutions range debuted at the Paralympics 2004 in Athens. Most recently, the GigaCore switch family opened the doors to the Pro Audio and AV markets for the company and broadened their commitment to the industry. For more information visit www.luminex.be.