MAINZ, Germany — Many years ago German musician Maurice Kzionska found his love for music expanding into love for good sound. So he migrated to sound engineering—firstly in a small club nearly two decades ago but more recently as an in-demand freelance and house engineer at Theatre of Rüsselsheim, near Mainz. To support his increasing workload he has invested in a new Harman Soundcraft Vi1 digital console, supplied by Cologne-based Toneheads, after being introduced to them by Jörg ter Veer of Harman’s German distributor Audio Pro Heilbronn.
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Maurice Kzionska, who also runs his own well-equipped post-production studio (under the name Moties), was clear about what he wanted, since a year ago he purchased a Riedel RockNet system for his portable rig—and the new sound desk needed to be compatible.
Having explored which RockNet-supporting digital desks local rental companies were favoring, he narrowed his choice further. “The brand I already knew well was Soundcraft,” he said. “I worked with the Si Compact for two weeks and loved both the sound and the handling. So when I attended the Prolight+Sound Show in Frankfurt, Jörg showed me the Vi1 and I was immediately enthusiastic about the features.”
The purchasing decision was taken after carefully evaluating the desk and its facilities.
Kzionska’s first experience was at the Theatre of Rüsselsheim which was operating in cinema mode, with two different types of PA (one for speech, one for cinema sound). This required a number of sends and returns, picking up signals from the video players and sending to the amps on stage as well as to the video crew for pre-listening to the signals. There were also three wireless microphones on stage for a Q/A session. “I was very happy with the routing features of the desk—without it the show would have crashed,” he stated. “I was using many analogue inputs and two RockNet stageboxes at different locations—but what really impressed me was the quality of the limiters.”
Add to this the perfect channel EQ’s and preamps, sensible desk ergonomics, easy learning curve and compact footprint, and he knew he had made the right decision.
But the Vi1 also needed to prove its flexibility in other modes. Apart from a wide and versatile programme in the theatre—including classic theatre, musicals, dance shows, comedy, and jazz—it has also been on duty at open air events such as the Phono Pop Festival. “I have been using 30 channels at the open air shows and around 20 in house,” he continued. “But we bought the console just before the theatre’s summer break; it will really come into its own at the start of the new season.”
For Maurice Kzionska this is the latest leg of a long journey with Soundcraft technology, which has included the Delta, Series 2, K2, K3, MH2, Sapphyre, and several others. Thus he is entirely comfortable with the Soundcraft architecture, and looks forward to a further upgrade path which will also enable him to multi-track his shows. “I knew we needed a high quality console and the Vi1 is certainly delivering,” he concluded.
