Arizona church adds Soundcraft Vi3000

Highlands Church in Scottsdale, Arizona has taken delivery of a Soundcraft Vi3000 digital console as part of a long-overdue audio overhaul.

As the previous system was constrained by its limited capacity, the Church now has been provided with a huge number of channels through its new Soundcraft 64×32 Stagebox, designed to enable a "more refined experience" in the 1,500-seat sanctuary.

As well as a house of worship, the sanctuary also serves as a rental venue for local nonprofit groups. To allow better access for volunteers and guest engineers from the nearby community, technical director Luke Taylor chose the Vi3000 for its high channel count, low total cost of ownership and ease of use, Soundcraft says.

“After the capabilities of the Vi3000 were announced, I became very interested in the console for its value and accessibility of controls,” said Taylor. “We were able to cut out a lot of analogue equipment and cables from our inventory, streamlining the whole operation. I especially like hooking up via Dante for multi-tracking, so that we can stream live events on our websites.”

According the manufacturer, the Soundcraft Vi3000 console stood out from other brands due to its straightforward, analogue-like design, enabling instant responses for operators.

“Since we have a lot of volunteer operators that rotate on a schedule, I really appreciate the fact that I don’t have to tweak settings that are five layers deep anymore like with some of the other boards that I’ve worked with,” explained Taylor. “Features like FaderGlow are great shortcuts for newer users and definitely help me train them to become comfortable quickly while using the board. We wanted to see as many channels at one single time in a clear layout, and the Vistonics II touchscreen also delivered.”

Taylor is also a fan of the desk’s SpiderCore DSP engine with onboard Lexicon FX processing. “It sounds great,” he confirmed. “I like the preamps and the EQ’s a lot more than some of the competitors. It takes a very short period of time to get everything dialed in and sounding the way I want it during rehearsals.”

For more on the console’s features, check out Andy Coules’ Vi3000 review from earlier this year.

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