The music plays on...

A slightly emptier control rack

It was a very sad today today as we were called in to rip out the interactive light and sound room at the Gordon Parry Centre in Leeds. Unfortunately the building has been condemned and the Centre, along with all the other arts tenants of the West Park Centre, were given just a few days to clear the site.

The room incorporated a lighting rig with various lighting effects; fixed sockets for wired sensors and switches; an effects unit and microphone; speakers; a PC with Apollo Ensemble; a large touch-screen monitor; black-out curtains; and a whole range of musical instruments.

Although the room equipment is now in storage, the Gordon Parry Centre's activities will continue.

• Music Therapy will be held at HEART, the Headingley community centre, until further notice.
• All three after school clubs will be rehoused at different venues, to be announced soon.
• Instruments from the instrument library will still be available by request.
• Bespoke projects will still be available to run in schools or other venues.

It is hoped that a new venue will be found in the new year and the equipment can be reinstalled. Until then the music keeps on playing with a more mobile offering.

Equipment awaiting shipping

You can read about the Gordon Parry Centre and see what the room looked like in our Customer Stories section of the Apollo Ensemble website. 

Article in Music Teacher Magazine

The Apollo Ensemble features in an article this month in Music Teacher Magazine. It includes pictures of the Ensemble and E-Scape in use at SKUG in Norway, plus comments from Diane Paterson and Joanna Winster from the Gordon Parry Centre.

You can read the full interview with Diane and Joanna on our Case Studies page on the Apollo Ensemble website.

Gordon Parry Updates

Developments at the Gordon Parry Centre in Leeds continue as they begin to explore more aspects of the Apollo Ensemble. Having fitted a small moving head light during my last visit, today I was adding extra features to the control block in the Ensemble software and providing some general software updates.

The Centre have been working with us as we develop the Ensemble system, contributing their expertise and feedback. The flexibility built into the software means that we have been able to implement many changes onsite. This includes adding lighting fixtures, simplifying the display and changing help text.

The Centre opens officially in October 2008.

Gordon Parry Centre Training

This afternoon I provided some training at the Gordon Parry Centre in Leeds on their ever expanding light and sound room. The room runs on the Apollo Ensemble system, with switches and sensors plugged into sockets spread around the room. The latest addition is a small LED moving head light that can be told to point anywhere in the room.

This project is providing us with vital feedback to refine the Apollo Ensemble software.

Gordon Parry Update

I visited the Gordon Parry Centre today to provide a software update to the Apollo Controller installed in the room. It also gave me the opportunity to provide some basic training to the staff at the Centre.

The gradual development of this space has allowed the staff to get use to each element, before adding another to the space.

Gordon Parry Centre Update

The latest version of the Apollo Controller went into the Gordon Parry Centre in Leeds today as part of the development of their Studio space. It is linked to socket panels around the room allowing users to plug in switches and sensors to control the lights and sounds.