QM500-TD / QM500T (1989)
Avolites
QM500-TD
Theatre Desk version of the popular QM500 rock desk
The first QM500-TD (also known as QM500T) was used on Eurovision in Switzerland in May 1989.
From Richard Salzedo, May 2018: "We made 2 QM 500 T consoles which were basically a QM 180 without the faders, but with software allowing keypad editing. The T suffix stood for Theatre. We completely redesigned the computational electronics and rewrote the software. The electronic design used a DSP for the multiplier. Wayne Howell now of Artistic Licence but then working at Avolites designed this. The processing then consisted of a 68C09 running at 4Mhz for data management and UI, the DSP running at 40Mhz for output computation and a 68008 (unsure of the clock speed) to run the EL screen.
Everything was written in Assembly language by Shahid Anwar and bearing in mind that the memory model for a 6809 is 64K bytes the functionality was very impressive.
To create sufficient code and data space we bank switched a 16k block of memory and the operation system had to manage this and ensure a software call firstly switched in the correct memory bank.
In those early days Shahid had to write a debug system for the DSP and an assembler for it.
I think there is a hidden screen accessed by inputting 680932025
The first QM500 TD was used on Eurovision in Switzerland. (Possibly 1988).
The Diamond 1 was based on the technology, which subsequently led to the Pearl series of consoles, and although we no longer manufacture the Pearl, they are still counterfeited in China!
Anyway nice to see one still working nearly 30 years on....."
The touring company Opera North used a QM500-TD for many years (details to be confirmed)
Related Venues:
See also:
Documents
LSI - Opera North and Avolites (December 1987)
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From Lighting & Sound International
Opera North West Side Story launch (December 1987)
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From Lighting & Sound International
QM500-TD at Ephesus, Turkey in the Roman Amphitheatre with Jethro Tull (July 15 1991. Photo by Kevan Shaw) (July 1991)
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Exhibits in the Backstage Heritage Collection
Catalogue & Journal Entries for QM500-TD / QM500T in the Backstage Heritage Collection
Back to Control - Memory (Avolites)
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