Cascade

for 256 channel flat panel speaker array • 2018+

DEVELOPMENT

Cascade required the development of a system accommodating multiple channel outputs beyond the capabilities of most systems. Hardware for such multichannel capability is usually expensive—prohibitively so for all but institutions; thus a challenge was to accommodate such multichannel capability using affordable technology. The solution lay in aggregating Raspberry Pi computers and running these through cheap consumer 7.1 gaming interfaces, along with cheap speaker/speaker enclosure solutions.

Setup/Pulldown

30.09.18

The following footage documents the setup and pull down of the Cascade installation in PACE Studio 2 at De Montfort University, Leicester for the Bringing New Music to New Audiences international conference. Both were time-consuming processes, but condensed, here, to c.1m each.

(Footage by Peter Batchelor)

Construction

12.04.18

Small 8W speakers (derived from a job lot of portable speaker units for personal stereos) were housed in small plastic food containers, and the speaker cables themselves were used to suspend these from wooden frames in the ceiling.