Calibre Helps MOTU Stand Out From the Crowd

Anyone who has had to organize his or her company's presence at a trade show knows that there are huge challenges involved. Not least of these is to stand out from the crowd -- and to get the company's message across in the face of competition from all the other exhibitors. Having to do so in the most professional manner possible goes without saying.

Take the winter NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show, for example, that was held in Anaheim earlier this year. The NAMM Show provides an enormous showcase for music, sound, and technology, where this year over 7,000 brands showed off their newest products to over 100,000 international visitors.

For a company like MOTU -- an engineering-driven music technology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts who develop audio software and computer hardware peripherals for audio and video production -- NAMM is a "must attend" show. But: how to ensure they got noticed? MOTU turned to Calibre.

"We had a theatre vibe to our booth using truss and scrim," says MOTU marketing director Jim Cooper. "In previous years, we used projection against a wall -- but it looked washed out. It was never enough contrast to look good. Plus, it was cumbersome to set up and align. We tried upgrading the projector a number of times."

"Then, at Prolight + Sound 2019, at the Calibre booth, I saw the Calibre AiO, and it struck me just how far LED display technology has advanced in recent years," he continues. "The cool thing was that the Calibre booth staff let us connect our laptop to the LEDFusion A130 AiO display, allowing us to see how MOTU's software would look at the AiO's native resolution. It looked fantastic!"

The AiO -- All-in-One -- family from Calibre can provide the best display solutions in many environments. The range of three displays includes the 120" LEDFusion A120 and 130" A130 and the most recent addition, the 163" LEDFusion A160.

"Not only do AiO displays feature the high brightness, high contrast images that are essential in a trade show environment -- they're specifically designed to be easy to maneuver into position and to be operational in less than 60 minutes," notes Calibre's Paul Wilson, who supported MOTU at NAMM. "That meant I was able to get MOTU up and running with the LEDFusion 130 so that, in almost no time, they were able to connect their Mac Pro and laptops and start running through their presentations."

The AiO family derives its name from the fact that each display ships as a complete, integrated unit that includes Calibre's high performance HQPro1000 scaler/switcher to deliver a truly plug "n" play solution. The HQPro 1000 delivers completely seamless switching -- transitions are ultra-fast -- as well as support for multiple sources and layers, and up to four program outputs.

"It's a self-contained unit," says Cooper, "more like a conventional display than a video wall. It was a good size for our booth, and the clarity and resolution effectively presented the fine detail of MOTU's flagship audio workstation software, Digital Performer."

Easy and comprehensive connectivity is also a feature of the AiO family, as Cooper testifies.

"We connected a Mac Pro with content," he says. "A lot of guest presenters brought in laptops that just connected and played. That was another thing that was cool -- it was like using an HDMI display: it just worked. We didn't have to do any more."

"Our guys loved the AiO," concludes Cooper. "It was a huge improvement on projection. I was talking to Paul, and next year we'll plan to use the 163" AiO screen to give us even more of a presence. I'm glad we were able to see just how good the AiO screen was at NAMM -- and we can't wait to work with Calibre again."