Symetrix Scene E-zine Aug 2022

Inspired AV Processing & Control Solutions

Are you a fan of Symetrix products with a project that would make for an interesting case study? Do you have an idea for an article or industry related news story? We look forward to working with you on an article or news story in our magazine.

Email Vin Keane vkeane@symetrix.co to learn more.

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If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; ………………………………………………………

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; ………………………………………………………

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ ………………………………………………………

If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Excerpts from “If” by Rudyard Kipling, circa 1895

HEART

I grew up in the rural out-back of Arizona amidst cotton fields and copper mines. The summers were long, hot, and dusty with not all that much for energetic kids to do but go to the swimming pool and play baseball. In the late 70’s those activities occupied most of my time when I wasn’t bagging groceries for the local supermarket.

During my seventeenth summer an unexpected twist of fate cast me into the role of acting head coach for the Little League team that my brother and other neighborhood kids belonged to—the Tigers. But that’s just background. This story isn’t about me, it’s about Bee and the life-lesson she indelibly imprinted on me that summer.

During the late 70’s, and particularly at that time in rural Arizona, it was highly unusual to have a girl playing Little League with the boys. Bee joined the team a few days after we had begun initial workouts. A girl... head and shoulders taller than any boy on the team, glasses, possessed of very little athletic ability, and an utter dearth of baseball skills.

With an adolescent coach and abundant time on their collective hands, the team practiced every day. As the season progressed, the team grew and did well, but Bee struggled. She just couldn’t seem to cross the skills-gap to where the other players were. In early season games when Bee went to bat, and before I could put an end to the behavior, the boys on the team would groan audibly knowing that a strike-out was about to ensue.

Time progressed and the team continued to strengthen and even amass a long winning streak. Bee doggedly kept practicing. Though not a gifted athlete, she was gifted with good parents and a persevering work ethic. As a team, we drilled daily on baseball skills, and Bee dutifully went home and practiced with her parents. By the time the end-ofseason tournament arrived, the team was experienced, skilled, and they expected to win. Bee had grown from guaranteed strike-out to probably a ground-out, and her teammates grew to care for her and cheer for her instead of groan. (continued on next page)

This brings us to Bee’s moment: the finals. The Tigers had won every tournament game up to that point and this night they had to beat a tough team to advance on to the championship. A coin was flipped, teams took the field, and the first pitch was thrown. The game was close, pitchers on both teams had brought their A-games. And, just as you might expect from a story like this, the Tigers found themselves in the bottom of the ninth, two runners on base, behind in the score by one run... and Bee coming up to bat.

More than four decades later, I call still see Bee’s 12-year-old face. We’re standing close. I have my hand on her shoulder. Her face is framed by a navy-blue batting helmet, her thick dark hair exploding out around it. “Deep breath. Soft knees. Focus on the ball.” Bee didn’t say anything, but her eyes were clear. She nodded slightly to let me know she heard what was said, and calmly walked to the batter’s box.

I don’t remember the exact count when it happened, but I do remember the team in the dugout cheering for Bee at the top of their lungs. I could see and just barely hear her parents who were behind home plate cheering her on. I could see the coach across the diamond striking a confident pose, arms folded across his chest with a scorecard in his right hand. And then, it happened. Bee connected and sent the ball on the ground deep into the right field gap. Bee’s teammates exploded to their feet screaming “Run Bee!!!”—who didn’t need the direction and was making her way down the baseline. Miracles, guardian angel intervention, or good fortune I can’t say, but the ball went under the glove of the right fielder and rolled to the fence. By the time the fielders recovered the ball and threw it to the cutoff man, Bee was rounding third base. The catcher straddled home plate, the throw made, and Bee slid in. Safe! A three-run, in the park, home run.

Even all this time later I can’t think about that game, that moment, and Bee, without getting a lump in my throat. Bee arguably had the least natural athletic ability of anyone else playing that day. But what Bee had, perhaps more than anyone else was HEART. She showed up every day. She practiced every day. And, when the big moment arrived, she leaned into it.

Bee taught me a lesson that I will never forget. I can tell you, aside from the grace of God, if you look at my life and imagine you might see some successes in it, you can be sure that any such was not achieved by special skill or ability. Anything I’ve accomplished has had much more to do with following Bee’s example than anything else: Never quit. Show up and move forward every day. Lean into the challenges.

Rachelle and I have been with Symetrix a bit more than three and half years, and I can tell you with confidence that the team here is the strongest of any I have worked with. I am confident that they are going to continue the long winning streak and amass many more victories. But my confidence isn’t based on their skills and abilities, though they possess such in good measure. My confidence comes from their heart. Time and again I have seen them grind out a tough situation (parts shortages, pandemic fears, riots down the street, highly emotionally escalated customers, time running out to make a shipment cutoff, etc.) and they don’t quit. They don’t give up. They lean in, own it, and resolve to do their best. OH, do I want to be a part of that!

What cause would you push yourself to point of pain to serve? What puts a lump in your throat and resolve in your heart?

I know Bee’s story will resonate with many that read this. If that is you, my hand is outstretched. Let’s work together and change the world.

Mark Graham Symetrix Owner & CEO

EZPro Visionaries Launch New Interactive Training Room That Will Change How You View Corporate Conferencing

by Taylor Stanley, Symetrix Inside Sales Administrator

It was already 2020 when many audiovisual professionals recognized the rapid shift in digital conferencing from “desirable” to “necessity.” The Covid-19 pandemic forced people out of their corporate offices and classrooms and into the isolation of their own homes. While lockdowns exacerbated the need for new online conferencing formats, visionaries such as Kai-Fu Lee Ph.D. had already predicted a future with online-merge-offline (OMO)—the eventual seamless integration of our online and offline environments—as early as 2017. Grabbing onto the OMO concept, a team at EZPro International rapidly began development on an advanced training room in their Shenzhen headquarters. The team has focused on introducing an interactive conferencing solution, while creating a highly operable experience through intelligent features and automation.

In development for just under three years, the “telepresence training room” (as officially dubbed by the EZPro team) launched July 8, 2022. The launch event hosted over forty in-person guests, and more than two thousand participants joined the celebration and inaugural training remotely. These attendees included consultants, designers, system integrators, and end users, allowing an array of industry professionals to ask questions in real time and experience the conferencing advancements that have been made since pre-pandemic times. The system was demonstrated by Kane Zhang, EZPro’s CTO of Networked Audiovisual Applications.

The slogan “Don’t teach me, involve me!” heart of the event. Seeing the room launch in real time was a major accomplishment for the team, who view this as the beginning of a new standard for digital conferencing.

This new training environment transforms the traditional conference room into a technological marvel, featuring sound pickup, sound reproduction, video, automatic broadcasting, centralized control, standardized sound calibration, and intelligent AI algorithms. Despite the complex technologies at work behind the scenes, the room is designed for anyone to access, operate, and maintain regardless of their AV knowledge level.

When an instructor or presenter is ready to use the room, they first check in at a digital registration panel outside the entrance. After identifying the user with AI facial recognition, known preferences will automatically be adjusted within the room’s settings. Preferences range from adjusting the conference room temperature to changing the layout of the LED screens. Further, there are a set of automatic adjustments that get applied, such as balancing the presenter’s volume for local and remote audiences. The combination of pre-existing settings and real-time adjustments reduces the set-up time for the users and increases efficiency.

Kane Zhang, EZPro’s CTO of Networked Audiovisual Applications, presenting in the the telepresence training room at EZPro’s Shenzhen headquarters.

Powering the system is a Symetrix Radius NX 12x8 DSP. Gated automixers are used to identify who is talking into which mic while auto gain control and compressors are used to level the mic and balance the volume. Two Shure 910 ceiling mics seamlessly pick up audio regardless of the location in the room allowing the instructor the freedom to move, speak, and gesture in their natural style even though they are engaging with a dynamic audience.

Dotting the room are five cameras, four of which are pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ), and one AI camera tracks the presenter’s movements with ease. Two of the PTZ cameras are located alongside the 3840x1080 Absen LED in the front of the room, one is mounted in the ceiling, and one is in the back of the room. The AI camera is in the back and designed to track the lecturer while the PTZ camera next to it provides a wide angle shot. Symetrix Composer™-based Lua Scripting is leveraged to activate camera movements, filter out sudden noise, and avoid unnecessary camera switching. The PTZ cameras at the front of the room enable the online attendees to see the rest of the classroom as well as the front facing presenter view. The ceiling camera is specifically designed for the white board perspective.

The elegant OMO concept truly comes to life for the online audience in how EZPro leverages old-school

and new-school technology to enable the human factor missing in a usual video call. This is illustrated by a unique feature of the automated conference room, the standard whiteboard. The advanced camera switching follows the presenter as they move from the LED screen in the front of the room to the white board on the adjacent wall. Not only does the tracking seamlessly follow the presenter, but it also zooms in so the handwriting of the individual now at the white board can be clearly read by those online. The team at EZPro felt that it was important to design for simple things, like the scribbles on a whiteboard, as they noted keeping a human element in a world that is becoming more automated is key to effective communication.

Behind every mission there is a visionary blazing the path. For EZPro, that visionary is Kane. He has spent over thirty-five years working in the field. Starting at the age of sixteen, Kane’s tenure in the industry has provided him with a sophisticated perspective on the evolution of the pro-AV industry, but early in his career he faced many challenges trying to expand his knowledge.

“Many people did not want to teach me,” he said. “They had the mindset that their job was at risk if someone new learned their knowledge. They would not let me look over their shoulders to watch them. They told me I would not understand but made no effort to help me understand.”

Camera switching follows the presenter as they move from the LED screen in the front of the room to the white board on the adjacent wall.

As a result of these challenges, Kane is committed to taking a completely different approach to sharing the knowledge he has accumulated over his many years in the industry. He believes that knowledge is meant to be shared that no one mind is greater than the knowledge of two combined which is why he begins all his training sessions with the words: Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

Kane is committed to a method of leadership which uses the “inverted pyramid” model. This approach serves as his guidance when specifying projects and means putting the needs of his customers above all. This philosophy was of utmost importance when designing the training facility with the EZPro team.

“The user’s needs determine the application, the application determines the task, the task determines the function, the function is composed of modules, and various solutions are realized through different combinations of modules,” said Zhang. By putting customer needs at the forefront while designing the telepresence training room, the team created modules that are completely scalable to all applicable projects.

“The existing system is suitable for small and medium-sized halls under 300 square meters,” he said, “All modules can easily support larger projects; you only need to replace some specific designs.”

In the face of hardship opportunities inevitably emerge. The opportunity to script the future with a vision to blend high-tech with basic psychological need to be successful in a conference or classroom environment was not missed by EZPro. The resources that EZPro now provides via remote trainings, physical training rooms, and digital tools are not only changing the way that the industry will view corporate conferencing, but how we interact with one another. As our industry looks to the horizon, the OMO concept becomes more important and so does the need to eliminate the frustrating user experiences of traditional classrooms. Leveraging tools and technology to remove the fear of operating a complex system or having to worry about holding a microphone will soon be distractions of the past that allow us to make education more accessible and more humanistic to aspiring professionals and students.

Screen views of a control screen (top), camera switching (middle), and zoom (bottom).

Find out more about EZPro

“ The user’s needs determine the application, the application determines the task, the task determines the function, the function is composed of modules, and various solutions are realized through different combinations of modules.”

Kane Zhang EZPro CTO of Networked Audiovisual Applications

by Ty Hawley and Taylor Stanley

In the pro-AV industry, we often focus on our integrators, engineers, and project managers, and of course the beautiful photos of projects once they are complete. We rarely take the time to consider all the people behind these amazing projects. At Symetrix, one of our core values is “People” and we felt it would be a good time to recognize and salute the people, the unsung heroes, in every purchasing department across the industry. Individuals responsible for purchasing and logistics are behind the scenes quietly making sure that critical components reach their destination in a timely manner to ensure projects move along seamlessly. We spoke with seven purchasers across our industry to better understand their roles and how the Covid-19 pandemic and supply chain disruption have impacted their day-to-day and to showcase their heroic efforts to get the job done during these challenging times of procurement.

(continued on next page)

What is your name, title, and location?

Chris Sullivan Materials Coordinator for Symetrix Inc., Washington

Brady Carlson Logistics Coordinator, Vermont

Denise Bozza Procurement Manager, Illinois Michelle D’Auria Purchaser, Pennsylvania

Michael Lehotsky Logistics Manager, Pennsylvania

Patrick Kelly Project Manager, Vermont

Tammy Rossbach Materials Supervisor at Symetrix Inc., Washington

What does your day-to-day look like?

Brady: My day to day usually involves purchasing equipment for jobs and work orders until we receive our deliveries, then I switch to shipping parts out to customers.

Chris: Every morning when I get to work, I get caught up on emails from the previous day, or early that morning. I create and send purchase orders to acquire materials for our printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) kits. I help with the kitting of these materials that are sent to our contact manufacturers (CMs), respond to any shortage notifications, and update them on when they can expect materials to complete our orders.

Denise: The day starts with a quick team huddle to share good news with the team and then review ongoing project needs and address previous day’s service calls. We offer our clients ongoing service support! I am not aware of any other AV/IT custom integrator offering support service! Some days feel like barely controlled chaos! It is rarely dull, and it is always fast paced!

Michael: A solid, steady grind everyday :)

During the supply chain crisis, what have been some of the biggest challenges that you have faced?

Michelle: Items being canceled and discontinued the week before I’m due to receive them. Or items stuck on the water in cargo ships so I know it’s there and available I just can’t have it. With items being stuck on ships, we were not able to get ETAs, so it was an everyday cross our fingers and hope.

Patrick: Telling “lies” to clients regarding delivery dates ranks right up there with big challenges. I don’t do it on purpose, but things change halfway through a purchase cycle and boom, there you are, having made promises that you now can’t keep.

Tammy: The biggest challenges are when a single source component goes end-of-life or becomes factory allocated with no ship date available. A new component with specifications we approve needs to be sourced, prototyped, and tested into a new revision of the current design. All this needs to be done without disrupting revenue if possible.

How would you describe the importance of your role within your organization?

Brady: Making sure that I am on top of my responsibilities is critical, so our technicians and customers have the equipment they need to do their jobs.

Denise: We are a small company yet operate as a very big company in service as well as innovation and capabilities! We have nationwide presence and have just started serving in an international capacity. Everyone’s role is critical and vital to our success!

How are you solving problems for your team and for your customers? Why are you a hero?

Chris: I am constantly searching for the hard-to-get parts, researching our needs, and trying to find competitive pricing.

Michelle: The way we solve problems is with teamwork. We put our heads together and we find solutions. I am a hero because I still come to work with a smile and try not to let a bad day give me a bad outlook on my job because I love what I do.

Tammy: We currently try to solve some of our biggest issues by involving our engineering team. We rely on each other to be able to solve material shortage issues. If I’m a hero, it’s because of great teamwork.

When things get tough, how do you boost morale?

Denise: For me personally, I just try to keep moving forward! Laughing at myself (when I’m not crying, LOL!) always helps too! We are lucky to have ownership that is mindful of the pressures we all face at every level of our operation. We have regularly scheduled town hall meetings with plenty of food and fun mixed in with the more serious business reports and updates.

Michelle: Typically, we take a break from looking at our computers and being on the phone and we chat about literally anything else but work. We will order lunch together and just have a minute to decompress and enjoy something which can put things back into perspective.

What is one thing you want people to know about the purchasing department?

Michael: The amount of knowledge I’ve acquired over the time I’ve been in this position continues to keep this business interesting and engaging. As technology advances rapidly, it’s important to stay knowledgeable and up to date on what equipment will work the best for the customer!

Patrick: Certain things tend to roll down hill, if you get my meaning, and purchasing is firmly planted at the bottom of that hill. When the purchase of materials gets delayed by other departments, then deadlines get pushed.

Tammy: The team puts so much work into forecasting, planning, and managing logistics to keep the business running smoothly. The actual transaction is really a relatively easy part of the process.

How do you feel about unicorns?

Brady: They are like narwhals only cooler!

Chris: Unicorns are awesome! The more sparkly the better!!!

Denise: I can’t wait to meet one! They seem to be very good at staying under the radar!

Michelle: I love them!!! Anything colorful and magical is a win!

Michael: You’re only limited to your own imagination —Do what you love!

Patrick: Unicorns are lucky if you ask me. They have magical powers, are cute, and everybody loves them. Unfortunately, I do not suffer from any of those desirable attributes, not even one.

Tammy: They are stronger and more powerful than we think they are. Don’t let their pretty color and sparkle fool you!

A Perfect Custom AV Solution

by Quinn Klarer

Hi,

In case we have not met before, my name is Quinn, a Field Applications Engineer at Symetrix. I like audio, networks, and simplicity. I will attempt to discuss all three of them in the upcoming paragraphs.

In Composer™ 8.1 we introduced the idea of the Intelligent Module, a fully customizable module that is powered by a custom script written in the programming language Lua. Since that time, we have continued to update and improve the environment which programmers and designers use to create the solutions they know they want to create.

Although new to some, scripting has been a part of custom AV designs in some shape or form for a while now. This may be in Node-Red, proprietary languages, and wizards, or in open-develop environments coupled with modern lightweight languages like Lua. Regardless of the implementation, they all attempt to provide the same thing—a truly bespoke AV solution.

When I think about custom solutions, I am taken back to my first steps into an enterprise office setting. The amazing automation that reconfigured different signs and touch screens on meeting room doors provided a certain satisfaction that I had never experienced before. It was not until years later that I would learn how that automation and control was achieved.

As the cost for control devices has decreased and the demand for custom logic and drag-and-drop third-party control has increased, so has the necessity for simple, flexible, and powerful design environments.

Symetrix offers this solution in the form of our Intelligent Module Framework. A pre-configured code template provides a starting point and is essentially a blank canvas for designers and programmers to combine conditional logic and powerful network communication to create easyto-use interfaces for end users. While some modules are made internally at Symetrix, the same development tools

are bundled for free in Composer for anyone to use. Intelligent Modules can scale from a simple radio button that can be broken up and moved around, to more intricate modules that control third-party devices using standard network protocols and track usage over time. While one might be more feature-rich than the other, both have a place in the perfect custom AV solution.

One of the more powerful features of the Intelligent Module Framework is network control. Intelligent Modules uncover UDP, TCP, and HTTP and present them in a simple way. There is no need to build out and maintain complicated WebSockets from raw code when the Intelligent Modules have built-in APIs that will do a lot of the heavy lifting under the hood. Also, Intelligent Module creation is in a user-defined environment. We allow the programmer to use any text editor they choose. Visual Studio Code users can leverage power code snippets we provide to automatically construct the frameworks you will most commonly need to achieve control over most third-party devices.

In order to stay ahead in this ever-changing AV environment, you have to have a way to stand out from others. More advanced and adaptive solutions are not going away and Symetrix aims to make these solutions attainable for everyone through our user-defined Intelligent Modules.

“The Intelligent Module is essentially a blank canvas for designers and programmers to combine conditional logic and powerful network communication to create easy to use interfaces for end users.”

Quinn Klarer

Symetrix Field Applications Engineer

by Rachelle Graham

There’s nothing quite like welcoming new team members to the SymFamily. Bringing in new folks with their own unique styles, talents, and experience to the organizational dynamic is always exciting. By the time someone has gone through the hiring process to become a Symlandian, they’ve met most of the team already. They’ve chatted with the CEO, they’ve toured the manufacturing facility, they’ve met their team members and maybe even delivered a presentation or two. Finally, the day arrives and they are officially joining the SymFamily, learning what it’s all about to be a Symlandian. Heady stuff.

Stu Paterson (left), Symetrix Product Training Specialist and Don Zadunayski (right), Symetrix Regional Sales Manager Northern California, Rockies, and Canada.

Notably, the first thing a new Symlandian learns isn’t where the lunchroom is or how to find the restroom (Ok, that probably does come first). But the next thing is our SymFamily Values. Maybe they’ve already seen the T-shirts throughout the building that say “Deliver great products. Develop people. Be a force for good in the world.” But before we share anything else about the organization and how we operate, we want the foundation of shared values to inform everything that comes next for a new employee. We discuss exactly what our values are and how we live them out practically, daily, and most of all, why it matters. (continued on next page)

It matters because our values shape and transform everything we do in ways that we’re often not even aware of. They are the framework that helps us make decisions every day. You never know when you’ll be presented with choices on how to accomplish a goal or task, and each might have different risks and benefits. But which one best matches our values? If there’s ever a question, that’s the one we choose.

We talk a lot about P.I.E. at Symetrix because, well, who doesn’t love pie? But here P.I.E. stands for the values of People, Integrity, and Excellence. Caring for each other, doing the right thing and operating with best practices in everything we do.

Erika Morales, Symetrix Line Supervisor, building a DSP.

Engineering interns getting their Symetrix swag.

It all starts with People. People are the heart and soul of any organization, but especially at Symetrix. We have amazing people on our team! Each individual brings their own passions and talents to the table. The pop star turned regional sales manager who is an enthusiastic member of our Care Team. The information systems director who runs a charity in Uganda with his wife. The woodworking hobbyist who made individual wooden name plaques for everyone at Christmas. Delightful, interesting, fascinating people. One of our core values is to care for people and support their needs and aspirations. This includes resources to provide opportunities for growth

We also emphasize Integrity, the I in PIE. This means we operate with honesty, do the right thing and follow the Golden Rule. It means transparency, because when you operate with integrity, you have nothing to hide—your life bears up to scrutiny. By committing to live based on excellent principles, we provide an example for others to follow. Acting with integrity provides the glorious benefit of peace of mind in knowing we did the right thing regardless of the outcome. We all sleep better at night when we’re operating with Integrity.

Finally, Excellence. Being the best. Using best practices in everything we do. Excellence means striving for the highest standards. Good isn’t enough; we exceed expectations and continually raise the bar. Our commitment to excellence enables us to persevere when things get tough. We contribute our best, honor others as we move forward, and evoke excellence in others by mentoring, supporting, and giving back. You see this value reflected in the craftsmanship of our products, from design and production to logistics and technical support, and the loyal following they have in the marketplace.

These are the Values we live by at Symetrix and the exceptional people who join the SymFamily just naturally seem to embrace them. With an admittedly selective hiring process, candidates who value these things stand out from the crowd. It’s great to be part of the SymFamily!

OPENINGS AT SYMETRIX

Want to join the SymFamily? This role is currently open at Symetrix. You can see all our open positions and apply through Indeed at www.indeed.com/cmp/Symetrix/jobs

Job title Support Engineer Manager

Job Description Overview

The Support Engineer Manager is a key position impacting the growth and profitability of Symetrix by ensuring the technical support group has the resources required to provide information and technical support for Symetrix products to internal and external business partners at the highest possible level. The Support Engineer Manager coordinates departmental participation in product design, promotion and sustaining engineering, while continuously driving systemic improvements of the technical support department. The Support Engineer Manager reports to the Director of Sales & Marketing.

Job Knowledge/Skill Requirements

• Passion for audio and networking technology with strong technical ability in digital signal processing, networking, and conferencing.

• Minimum of five years of technical support, training, or customer service experience.

• Highly motivated, creative, problem-solver with strong desire to provide top-notch customer care.

• Ability to create and present strong training material with strong technical writing skills.

• Proven experience leveraging Microsoft 365, CRM, and other software to support departmental operations.

• Proven experience managing a team.

• Ability to create and maintain standard operating procedures, customer facing wiki/help information.

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree or other equivalent certification.

• Industry experience may be considered in lieu of a formal degree.

• Excellent work habits and professional demeanor with highly developed communication skills, both written and verbal.

• Ability to travel up to 15% for product training and demonstrations, onsite service, and tradeshow attendance.

• Audio industry experience preferred.

Salary Range $90K - $120K

by James Ling

The sight as you step through the main doors, TR88HOUSE is nothing short of breath-taking. Trees sprout from the floor in front of you, immediately taking your eye up three stories to the floating cocoon lights and treehouses nearly 40 feet above you. It feels like a completely different world from the one you left outside on Dubai’s Bluewaters island, and that is exactly the point. “TR88HOUSE is not a business venture or a theme park, it’s more so a dream,” explained Dr. James Kamyar, CEO and co-founder of 88ALPHA, the company behind the family-friendly entertainment complex. “A dream that grew when the whole world went into standstill due to the pandemic. It’s a collective effort of artists across the globe, where every detail in TR88HOUSE adds up to something, creating a dream for everyone to live in.

I call it a journey into a dream.”

Spread over three stories, approximately 100,000 square feet, the complex features a huge trampoline park, kids soft-play center, laser tag, glow-in-the-dark mini-golf and a substantial food hall offering flavors from all over the world, in addition to a rooftop lounge and club, 88 TERRACE, for an older clientele. While each zone is very different, there is an ethereal quality that connects it all, meaning that you never quite know what is around the next corner.

Creating this dreamscape has called upon a vast quantity of AV equipment, with control and processing from Symetrix vital to the success of the venue. The complex relies on three Prism 12x12 DSPs with 12 analog inputs and outputs, the Control Server web services platform for AV control, two xControl external control expanders to deliver control over all three floors and three ARC-3 wall control panels to provide backup control options for the user. Combined, this system manages the audio, video and lighting across multiple zones on every floor, all via an intuitive interface.

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Symetrix Control Server Symetrix xControl Symetrix Prism

Symetrix ARC-3

SYMETRIX

TR88HOUSE, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Dubai-based Symetrix specialists, Procom, were called in to assist with the project and provide on-site technical support to ensure the AV solution would meet the ambitions of the venue. “We suggested a large, multipurpose network in this venue because concepts change very quickly in the Middle East,” recalled Procom’s Anro Schroeder, Technical Sales Manager. “We recommended using Prisms running on every floor. The reason we did this was the size of the venue. Having one for each floor creates redundancy. Even though Symetrix is 100% reliable, running different entities and multiple floors on a single processor is more complex. We’ve got the redundancy built in by having multiple units running in different racks while sharing the processing power between floors as well.”

There is undoubtedly a large amount of processing power available to TR88HOUSE. And in addition to the redundancy, this has future-proofed the venue to be able to expand as more technology and features are added.

“The venues here are very fluid in concept and so we’ve allocated for future additional services in the venue that are already linked to the system,” explained Anro. “Additional projection mapping and screens – they don’t have them installed yet, but they want to do that in the future and the facility is ready for them.”

Inside the TR88HOUSE.

“We primarily use the xControls to do this because they’ve got the Logic Control I/O built in,” he continued. “Those facilities and cables are already in place so when the point comes when projection needs to be included, the Logic Control is ready, and we can execute the additional controls from the remote user interface.”

While the Prisms handle the signal-in, signal-out, processing, limiters, false alarm and other GPIOs on the massive system, it is Control Server that provides the front-end interface for the TR88HOUSE team. “Everything in terms of control runs off the Control Server,” said Anro. “We have individual logins for various staff members to access a selection of control pages. The managers on the ground floor only access the ground floor while the staff on the mid terrace only access that, but the venue manager has the ability to access the matrix and control the entire venue.”

Inside the TR88HOUSE.

Thanks to the flexibility of Control Server, everything has been customized for the different user groups. “There are custom user interfaces, custom buttons, different gain structures and limiters on all the areas, and different logins for various staff,” noted Anro, adding that further backup control options have also been added to provide more support. “We also have several ARC panels for each of the main control racks so in the event where the wireless control goes down, all of the control becomes immediately available on the ARC-3 panels, allowing the user to

continue operating the venue fully.” A further element of control that has proven to be beneficial is the automation. Citing the example of the 88 TERRACE rooftop, Anro described how the scheduling features are benefitting the venue. “We have screens in the rooftop entrance and ground floor that are all controlled via TCP/IP and ASCII through Symetrix,” he said. “Content changes based on a schedule of automatic presets and the system runs itself. It triggers the media servers to pull the content up on specific days and times, it adjusts the brightness depending on the day and the time, and it will turn the projectors on and off at specific times in the day depending on the season.”

The powerful solution running TR88HOUSE is clearly delivering the right result for the entertainment complex. “The purpose of the system was to control a massive entity from the click of a button and if staff or managers leave it should be a simple matter of getting them a new login and off they go,” explained Anro. “It’s not about re-training and having a technician on site. It runs on its own on a system that is user-friendly and straightforward to use. The scope was zero technicians and zero support teams and the client is incredibly happy with the result.”

“Considering the nature of our concept which has seven different zones with each offering tailor-made to different demographics, it was quite essential for us to be able to operate each zone separately and at the same time to be able to group them together and control them all at once when needed during our operational hours,” concluded James. “In addition to that, as we have different departments responsible for different zones, different levels of access were required for different departments. All that made our requirement quite complex and unachievable without a tailor-made solution which has been offered by the Procom team. Now we are running a system that addresses all our requirements, works absolutely flawlessly, and is extremely easy to operate as well.”

Find out more about Procom Find out more about TR88HOUSE

88 TERRACE rooftop.

It’s not about re-training and having a technician on site. It runs on its own on a system that is user-friendly and straightforward to use. The scope was zero technicians and zero support teams and the client is incredibly happy with the result.”

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Anro Schroeder Technical Sales Manager of Procom

Engineered in Seattle

www.symetrix.co

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