Following a two-year bid process, the contract for four Studer Vista digital mixing consoles has been awarded to BaSys Multimedia, Studer's distributor in Hungary. One Vista 7 and three Vista 8 digital desks will be delivered to the Palace of Arts within the next month, making this one of the biggest orders for a cultural center in Studer history.
Located on the shores of the Danube River, the Palace of Arts will be a major new institution for Hungary. Built with funding from public and private sources, the Palace will fulfill three important cultural purposes. It will be the new home for the National Philharmonic Orchestra, the new Museum of Modern Art, and the House of Traditions, a showcase for traditional Hungarian folklore and the National Folklore Dance Ensemble.
The Palace is scheduled to open in 2005. The 1,700-seat National Concert Hall aims to match the acoustical standards of the world's top concert halls. This building will be the home of the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Choir and Music Bibliotheca, and will also feature guest orchestras and choirs, with an adjoining studio for audio and video recordings. A mobile 52-fader Studer Vista 8 will be available for front-of-house mixing in the Concert Hall, but can be moved into the adjacent studio for recording sessions.
In the 500-seat House of Traditions theatre, another 52-fader Vista 8 digital console will be installed at front-of-house, with a 40-fader Vista 7 installed in the adjoining recording studio. A fourth console, a 32-fader Vista 8, will remain mobile to serve applications as they arise around the building.
"There are several excellent consoles in this category on the market," says Barnabas Kiss, the Palace's chief engineer of operations. "And we have checked out all of them. We found most of them to be very similar in technical parameters, features, and even in the way they are controlled. However, Vistonics makes Studer an unbeatable choice because it provides a uniquely 'human' interface."