An Avolites Diamond 4 was used to run a Hippotizer digital media server controlling 10 standard G-LEC Video surfaces at the 2006 Montreux Jazz Festival. Held this month in Switzerland, it was the 40th anniversary of the event.

This major visual effect was available for use by all artists playing at the hall and was used extensively by most of the visiting and resident lighting designers throughout the two-week event. As with all the rest of the lighting equipment, the D4 was supplied by St. Gallen-based Stagelight, and was purchased specially for the festival.

The D4 was also used to run the TV lights, including a selection of profiles 2K fresnels and PC spots, plus 20 channels of house lighting. It was programmed and run by Peter Haeusler from IQ Unlimited, Avolites' Swiss distributor, who supplied the desk to Stagelight.

They created custom content on the Hippotizer for several performers including The Black Eyed Peas, Deep Purple, and Sean Paul. "We needed this element of the system to be flexible and easy to program," comments Haeusler. "That's why Diamond 4 was chosen."

Useful features on the desk, he says, include having direct access to 96 buttons on the front panel, an ideal scenario for media server work, plus the ability to patch fixtures into preset pages and then store them onto the live page. This gives access to 110 cues in one view, completely bypassing the need to change pages. "The live operational elements are just so powerful and very easy," he concludes.

This is the first year that Stagelight has supplied lighting production for the Montreux Jazz Festival. In addition to the Stravinsky Hall, they also supplied a complete rig to the Miles Davies Hall on a lower floor of the same building. The overall design for both venues was created by Marco Bossi.

Across town in the Casino de Barrière, the third, and also the original, Montreux venue, lighting rental company Skylight from Geneva supplied another Diamond 4 console and a Pearl 2004. This was operated by Morret Charles and Marie Du Catez.

Dimming for the Stravinsky and Miles Davies Halls, and in the Casino was all Avo ART 2000.