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UI (User Interface) is all about the look and feel of a product from typography and color schemes to layouts making it visually appealing and intuitive for users like you. UX (User Experience) focuses on your overall journey, ensuring the product is functional, user-friendly, and accessible. While UI brings beauty, UX ensures it meets your needs and solves real problems together, they create products that truly resonate with people. The UI/UX at Cross and Crown worked well, but over time and usage, the church staff saw ways they wanted to use the control system differently based on their use case. So, when Cross and Crown reached out to us and asked to help enhance the user friendliness for their space, we were ready! We focused on adjusting UX while leaving UI the same. Cross and Crown was using a Symetrix Control system that would progress through presets on a dial wall plate. The sequential dial mechanism immediately switched presets with a turn, which presented challenges in precision and ease of use. Their goal was to streamline the process of selecting room modes, such as switching audio and video inputs or combining rooms, while reducing the risk of user errors.  To address these concerns, we reimagined the system to prioritize user-friendliness and adaptability. We pivoted from a sequential dial, only to be turned clockwise, to a system that would allow turning the dial both directions to pick the preset desired. We also added slight delays into the dial so no preset would be triggered unless a position was held for a couple seconds. Along with this we added a room reset position that only triggered after 5 seconds of selection to prevent accidental room resets. Another feature we added was an additional room reset that triggers on a schedule every night in case the system was left on overnight. This way the room would be reset to a standard and ensured the system was always ready for use each day!
These UX improvements transformed the Symetrix control system into a more user-friendly solution tailored to Cross and Crown’s needs. The revamped dial, with its added delays and bidirectional functionality, minimized accidental preset changes and simplified operation. These small changes delivered a seamless and efficient control experience that aligned perfectly with Cross and Crown’s vision for their space.
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 A user interface (UI) is the interaction between a human and machines. Think of the screen on your phone. It includes the visual elements, controls, and layout that allow users to use a device or software. A well-designed UI simplifies tasks by making it easy for users to navigate. UI should be a pleasant and efficient user experience. For Lambda AV a UI is an important part of our system design process. We build specific and custom UI for AV control systems including all the elements in the AV system to create a streamlined, easy to use application. So, if these are built custom for each client, why would you want to redesign a UI?
 Have you considered adding Waves but have concerns about practically doing so for your system? SuperRack Performer can be a great option to add low latency Waves plugins to your audio system at a low cost! It’s not a solution that will work for every setup, but if you are interested in looking into it, let us know. Lambda offers free site specs and could help you see if this would work in your setup! What is SuperRack Performer? This software from Waves is a simple addition to your existing laptop and natural extension to a mixing console. Add in your desired plugins for the absolute best sound no matter where you go!
 Recently we were able to partner with Foothills Bible Church (FBC) in adding a Waves audio setup to their Main Auditorium. Seth, the Technical Director at FBC, reached out asking about the possibility of adding a Waves server and controller to their Yamaha CL5. After chatting with Seth, we were able to put together a system for the functionality they wanted to add to their setup. We started with a Waves Server, 2 Yamaha Waves cards, and the Waves Control software. This would give them 32 Waves channels to use with their Yamaha CL5.  The obvious powerhouse of the system is the Waves Extreme Server C. This server gave FBC the ability to fully use all 32 channels of Waves we provided, while also giving them plenty of headroom to expand in the future. FBC had an existing M2 Mac Mini, so we were able to utilize that to run SuperRack SoundGrid. To add in functionality for the Mac Mini, we added a 27 inch Planar touchscreen on a monitor arm so that Waves control could literally be at their fingertips!  Paired with the hardware, Lambda completed the upgrade with Waves Ultimate plugin collection. This gave FBC access to every Waves plugin currently available and any new ones that are released. Once the system was up and running, we walked through the new setup with Seth, and patched his whole show into waves from the CL5. It's always important to Lambda that you get a chance to play with a new piece of equipment, gear or software before “Show Day”. In this case they had a band rehearsal the same night of the install, which gave Seth plenty of time to get everything dialed in before Sunday.
We were excited to partner with FBC to upgrade their audio system and take what they are doing on a weekly basis to a new level!  Children's Hospital Nebraska reached out about building out their new collaboration space's. They had several areas that needed flexible use. They needed capabilities with touch screens, zoom rooms, and wanted to know what our recommendation would be. Right now is a great time to be looking for solutions for spaces like this as the technology is really advanced. When picking a solution we like to know how the space will be used and who will be using it as much as possible. This helps us to narrow the selection of technology that should be used in the space and bring focus to the design. The areas in this new center needed to be used by a large variety of people with a large variety of use cases and usually a complete lack of training. With this in mind we choose a solution using a common interface, zoom rooms. Zoom as a platform provides a common interface that most in the working world are familiar with. Children's Nebraska already had Zoom licensing and was using Zoom for the organization so this provided another natural point of tie in. Zoom rooms are flexible and allow collaboration, easy device sharing, and white board functionality in spaces.
 Here at Lambda we custom build systems that meet our client’s space and fit what they are trying to accomplish for the long term. One of our long-time clients, First Presbyterian Church in Salida came to us, asking about a new audio system. Their old system was a set of hanging powered speakers and an over 10 year old soundboard. We wanted to design a system that would be able to provide even coverage, high intelligibility, and was cost effective and able to fit into their budget. Our favorite speaker manufacturer, Danley Sound Labs, recently released some new speaker offerings including the SH-110. The SH-110 is a 2-way, passive loudspeaker with 2 x 8″ low-frequency drivers and a 1.4″ exit high frequency compression driver, all mounted within a single 110° x 60° horn. After building a CAD of the room in Salida and modeling the room in Danley’s software, we chose the SH110 paired with a set of Danley Cubes and subwoofer, the THMini.
 As a student, a teacher, and now an AV professional working in schools, I have used many school AV systems. These systems typically were installed when the schools were built and lasted 15 or more years, untouched and unmaintained, before failing or exhibiting some signs of ending their functional lives. School budgets are tight and can’t be used to refresh a major room audio-visual system every five years. Lasting reliability is how we approached a new AV system in the natatorium for Pine Creek High School in District 20. The primary requirement, and place we started, was audio coverage. First, all speakers needed to be weather-tight with sealed connections for the highly corrosive pool environment. Second, school pool is a highly reverberant and ample open space. The sound echoes a lot, and by the time you add cheering parents, it can be a nightmare to hear what’s going on clearly. To address the clarity issue, we used higher-power speakers to get audio above room noise-level. We added more speakers to ensure each audience area around the pool had direct coverage rather than reflected coverage.
 The new BirdDog Keyboard has arrived! This control is an ideal tool for PTZ camera operators. It is designed with an ergonomic build and large screen displaying up to four cameras at once. The streamlined menu provides direct access to essentials like camera pairing. It easily integrates with any setup you might have and is packed with enhanced features to provide affordable solution for greater control and reliability.
An added feature includes a super-fine control mode. When it's time to fine-tune, just shift the camera joystick into 'fine-tune' mode, increasing the sensitivity of the joystick by 10x, making reframing shots on air more artistic flair than nail-biting scare. We have used BirdDog as a go to for PTZ cameras for years now, and we continue to be impressed by their dependability and control. Looking for a demo? Lambda loves showing off gear and systems! Reach out to [email protected] for a demo.  At Lambda Audio Visual we always want to make sure we spec the right tool for the job. As AV integrators it’s our job to take multiple tools and combine them into one functional, practical system. We love it when we find one great product suited for a specific task. This time that product was the Maxhub IFP or Integrated Flat Panel. This is a unique piece of equipment that we installed in a workspace and will continue to become very popular option for many businesses and collaborative community spaces!
When NAMI or the National Association On Mental Illness was moving into their new space they reached out to us for technical recommendations. They had a double meeting room with collapsible divider in the middle. They wanted this space to be functional for just about every type of meeting. Nami’s needs were a Zoom room, Microsoft teams, a white board, PowerPoint presentations, music, the list goes on and on. "Don't cross the streams. That would be bad." |
AuthorsAll of the Lambda Staff contribute to the Blog. If you have any questions about the info we provide, please don't hesitate to ask! ResourcesCheck out our resources page for FREE checklists and tools we mention in articles! We are here to help you improve and maintain your Audio Visual Systems!
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