RockNet At Bread & Butter With Lleyendecker

The Wuppertal-based rental company Lleyendecker has expanded its stock of equipment with Riedel RockNet.
Riedel, one of the leading manufacturers of intercom, audio network and fiber technology, delivered a comprehensive RockNet system, Lleyendecker has already used the equipment at the fashion exhibition Bread & Butter in Berlin, as well as at various concerts and events such as the T-Mobile Street Gigs.
A total of 17 RN.302.LO line out and 12 RN.302.MI microphone/line input interfaces expanded Lleyendecker's equipment portfolio with a versatile audio network solution. Furthermore, three pairs of RN.351.FI and RN.352.FO fiber converters, six RN.362.IR repeaters and four RN.314.MY expansion cards for digital Yamaha consoles completed the new RockNet system at the rental company.
The first use of the new RockNet equipment was at the Bread & Butter fashion exhibition held at the compound of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin. The task was to integrate three DJs at different locations, two mixing consoles, as well as speakers in two hangars and on the airfield. It was crucial that the output of any DJ could be routed to any location on the exhibition grounds.
Approximately two miles of CAT-7 and 4 x 1.5 miles of fiber links bridged the distance between the speakers, the consoles and the DJs. Two additional repeaters were utilised for the long distance link.
The repeaters expanded the range of copper links by 500 feet. RockNet line in and line out modules provided connections for the amp towns, the DJs and additional speakers. RockNet's flexible routing allowed the DJs to patch to any speaker location.
Two RN.341.MY expansion cards integrated two digital Yamaha 01V mixing consoles into the audio network. Another great advantage of RockNet is the consistently high audio quality, even over long distances like the ones at the Bread & Butter show. A total of eleven Yamaha mixing consoles were used in this setup.
Oliver Tschotow from Lleyendecker said: "For the installation at Bread & Butter we wanted to have the possibility of routing single channels within the RockNet network. Riedel provided us with a beta version of firmware that included this feature. It worked flawlessly, just like any regular firmware for RockNet."
The firmware version 1.4 is now available as a free update for all RockNet users. It offers single channel routing. In previous versions routing was only possible in "quads" - groups of four channels. Lleyendecker utilised 98 channels for the PA system.
RockNet's redundant ring topology offers maximum stability and secured the audio network against single points of failure. To maximise its reliability the installation's setup was completely redundant.
In addition, fire and emergency announcements were implemented via the RockNet installation. In case of an emergency, the music would have been automatically muted and the announcement would have been broadcast throughout the event or in selected areas.
Tschotow said: "We are really happy with our decision to choose Riedel. The flexibility and the ease of use are major advantages, especially with big installations.
"In the past, installations demanded a lot of cabling; RockNet changed this. RockNet's network structure is a major advantage, especially for events like Bread & Butter, where RockNet modules are set up in groups of two or three and spread out over a large areas. Moreover, the pristine digital audio quality is another point where RockNet truly shines," he said.
Lleyendecker is a Wuppertal-based rental company specialising in lighting and sound for events, exhibitions and concerts.
(KMcA/BMcc)