Attraction audio question.

[Murphy]

Does anyone know the name of the company that makes a rackmount mp3 player with 8 separate players in one unit? I had some info on the company and product, but it got misplaced and I am planning to invest in one for next year. Thanks for any help!!! :twisted:

[FrightProps]

Alcorn McBride

http://www.alcorn.com/products/8traxx/index.html

[Murphy]

Thanks so much!!!!! This is why I love this forum.

[MDKing]

Speaking of haunt audio, what do you all use out there for your audio needs? I'd love to hear how you handle the many sounds and tracks distributed through your shows and what equipment you use.

Thanks,
Allan

[lurker]

We use everything from BooBoxes to boom boxes depending on the room or prop. I would like to get it more centralized for next year. I contacted Alcorn McBride about their products, but they are a little on the high end of things price wise. I'm hoping to come up with a better plan for a centralized audio system.

[steve]

We have a centralized ambient audio system. We use a high-power, multiple output Amp which sends 8 different tracks to multiple regions of the attraction. Props and other effects are done with in-room triggering, most of which includes a big, single input amp, and a cassette player.

[Jim Warfield]

Here we have a few old Wal-Mart cassette players with loop tapes, muttering and proclaiming silly stuff and ambient old house sounds that sometimes really disturb some people along with an ocassional unexplainable voice twelve feet off the floor of the wine celar going "OOOOAAAAHAHAHAH!"
Sometimes my cheap help that came with this 130 yr. old house is fairly incredible, and they work so cheap too!
(I ain't kidding!)

[Karl Fields]

We also use a centralized approach to ambient sounds.

I have 10 good sized, rack mounted amps providing mono sounds to 20 zones. These are fed signal from a single rack mounted computer using a Delta 1010lt and a pair of Delta 410s midi cards powered by a CuBase SX program.

The midi is also used to control some of our large, complicated props via a Delusional Prop Interface midi converter to get 24vdc. Using an Oxygen 8 midi keyboard to program the props has greatly reduced the setup time needed to coordinate the movements.

This has worked very well for us, however it does have the single point of failure issue to worry about. Pluses include limited access to the controls, all adjustments done from one location, CuBase takes just about any source sounds; mp3, wav and what-not, and a master sound output kill switch (for emergencies) is easy to incorporate.

All of our non-midi controlled prop specific sounds are local to the prop. Most using an MP3 or IC player through powered Gorilla GG-20 guitar practice speakers.
Karl



Delta 1010lt: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...10LT-main.html
Tapco j1400 amps: http://www.northernsound.net/Sales/P...poweramps.html
CuBase SX: http://www.steinberg.net/35_1.html
Oxygen 8 keyboard: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...n8v2-main.html
Sprawling Delusions: http://storea.sprawlingdelusions.com...bf2bb0d45ab0bf
Gorilla speakers: http://www.pignose.com/gorilla/goril...orilla%20Photo

[SomeThingInTheIce]

We use 4 200 watt stereos, burn what we we want on to a cd adding sounds with background music (Midnight Syndicate) and then use boom boxes for sound FX. Not high tech but it works. What I like about the stereos is they have a repeat button, push it and they will play the cd over and over untill you stop it.

[Greg Chrise]

Are these 4 stereos all playing the same thing? Like hooked to aux and all being used like amplifiers or are they all playing a different tune?

[Murphy]

We have a very nice set up including Crown and QSC amps and this year I invested in a Matrix 8 zone mixer and 34 Yorkville outdoor speakers. The mixer is ideal because it can play tracks from 8 separate sources and in case of cd player malfunction you can take any track and change it to one or more zones at the push of a button. It also has separate levels, bass, and treble for each channel and can allow you to page over all the channels and you can also hook up a fire alarm system through it. The Alcorn Mcbride 8 traxx mp3 player would be great but it is very expensive. I really would like to move to all mp3 digital sound just to have something more reliable than 8 or 9 cd players. I have a friend that owns Direct Pro Audio in Council Bluffs, IA and he is checking on a different alternative to the AM 8 traxx. If he finds anything comparable at a better price, I will post it. If you are interested in upgrading your audio gear check out www.directproaudio.com. Thanks again :twisted:

[SomeThingInTheIce]

Are these 4 stereos all playing the same thing? Like hooked to aux and all being used like amplifiers or are they all playing a different tune?

All playing something different, our haunt brakes down into four areas, Pine Blood Forest, Old Mill, Farmers Cemetery and the Farmers Market. Each cd has sounds and music that would go with that area. The boom boxes have cds playing like Pig Pit from Gore Galore.