MIDAS SEES SALES OF LARGE FORMAT ANALOGUE CONSOLES DOUBLE IN A YEAR
Evidence that demand for Midas large format analogue consoles is flourishing has been borne out by the latest sales figures, which have doubled in volume over this time last year. Part of the boom in worldwide sales is represented by a strong contingent of European PA companies who continue to bolster their inventories with the industry’s favourite live consoles for leading summer events.
“Our analogue sales dispute the general impression that digital consoles appear to have conquered the live performance market,” says Midas and Klark Teknik sales and marketing director David Cooper. “The ease of use, sonic quality, long-term reliability and safe return on investment offered by Midas consoles are still proving the all-important factors for many live applications. It’s also apparent that the recent release of our XL8 live performance system, rather than shifting emphasis from our analogue range, has reinforced traditional Midas values.”
Leading Belgian rental company ARTO has bought H2000 and H3000 consoles from Belgian distributor Ampco, finding that high profile analogue consoles are still heavily in demand with its national and international client base. “With a very large portfolio of customers demanding the highest possible standard in live analogue mixing, the decision was made to buy the best on the market, this being the Midas Heritage 2000 and 3000 consoles,” explains Vincent Tempels, founder and owner of ARTO. “Given all the European tours, summer festivals and large events we do year in year out it was the obvious decision to expand our existing Midas stock.”
Meanwhile, the Dutch branch of pan-European dry rental company AED has purchased two Midas Heritage 4000 consoles from Midas Consoles Holland. The consoles were purchased primarily to supply its clients that specialise in large-scale musical productions starting with a touring production of Aida with Racks and Stacks in September. Prior to that, H4000s will be doing the rounds of European summer festivals and concerts, accompanied by 16 channels of Klark Teknik DN370 equalisers for use with the monitor desk.
Further north, Midas’ Danish distributor Ascon Trading has sold two H3000s to rental companies All Round Lyd & Lys and Moto ApS.
“It was clear that the demand for the H3000 in particular, as the most flexible FOH and monitor console made it the first priority, even in a time where more and more digital consoles are entering the market,” says Ascon’s Ib Sigismund.
Both consoles will join the Midas inventory at this year’s Roskilde Festival, of which eight out of 12 FOH and five out of six monitor consoles are Midas.
In Norway, distributor AVAB CAC has sold a Heritage 2000 to Audionor for concerts and festivals around the northern part of the country this summer. “We bought it because it is THE Industry standard large format analogue console,” says Trond Mikalsen from Audionor. AVAB CAC has also sold a H2000 to rental company Lydpartner.
Among many other recent large format sales were a further three Heritage 3000s sold into the Greek market by distributor Omikron for a range of summer events.
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Editors' information:
Midas live performance mixing consoles have been used by the world's most demanding sound engineers, performers and rental companies for three decades. The company strives to raise the standards of sonic quality through its programme of continual research and development, implementing new control functionality and user-friendly desk operation to anticipate and accommodate the ever-evolving needs of audio professionals who specify Midas consoles for their major tours, festivals, international events, broadcast projects and prestigious fixed installations.
Klark Teknik was founded in 1974 and in the years immediately following, their innovative approach to design and development allowed them to introduce some truly groundbreaking designs. Klark Teknik was responsible for the world’s first digital delay and digital reverb units, however it was their concepts for equalisation devices that really changed the world of professional audio resulting in the DN370 and the famous DN360. Today Klark Teknik continues to bring innovation in design and dedication to engineering and sonic quality in both the analogue and digital realm of signal processing.
Pic cap: Monitor engineer Peter Albert with Danish rental company Moto’s new Midas Heritage 3000 console at the Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen
Pic cap: AED’s new Midas Heritage Heritage 4000 at the Greenfield Festival, Interlaken, Switzerland
Pic cap: Belgian rental company ARTO’s Vincent Tempels (left) and Bernard Viellevoye with their new Midas Heritage console