Product Introduction

Now that we’ve told you a little bit about ourselves as a company and what we stand for, let’s walk through some of our core product lines. Each product will have a separate video with details of what it is, how it works, but this video will give you a high-level introduction to the ecosystem of Alcorn McBride products and how they work together to make your shows come to life. First, we have our line of show control products. Starting with the original V16, we decided to build frame-accurate, ultra-reliable, show control. That meant starting with hardware that was not built on a personal computer. Sure, it’s easier – but it isn’t as reliable. Everyone’s seen the famous blue screen of death, and even as a Mac guy, I know about the spinning wheel of death. PCs are excellent tools of the trade, but they aren’t the ideal platform for building something that runs your shows 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for decades, often without a reboot. We love seeing pictures of V16s in attractions with uptime counters in the years!

Our current lineup of show controllers contains 4 products, divided into the X-series and S-series. The S series built on the history of the V16 and contained numerous improvements over the V16Pro, specifically a dramatically faster processor and a move to removable media for the show control files and firmware upgrades, a response to feedback from customers, and a demonstration of our commitment to having our customers’ backs.

For the X-series of controllers, our talented team of developers really turned it up another notch and gave our customers a suite of tools for developing the most technically innovative and deeply integrated attractions ever created. The new SyncCore gives the ability to synchronize other SyncCore products via PTP, NTP, GPS, Genlock or SMPTE LTC, including from onboard to offboard with a minimum of frame accuracy. With a high enough accuracy synch signal (largely dependent on the application and network), it’s possible to have sample level accuracy from device to device. Imagine a ride vehicle where you want to play an explosion sound. It’s difficult to really get the sonic impact on a ride vehicle’s sound system alone, but with appropriate wayside sound reinforcement, you can really make an impression on your guests – one they won’t soon forget (and that they’ll want to ride again and again).

Speaking of onboard, our RidePlayer takes all the power of the X-series controllers and puts it into a form factor designed and vibration tested for ride vehicles including roller coasters. In addition to the power of synchronization with the wayside and control of any other onboard devices, it has a built-in audio player with up to 64 layers of polyphony spread over 16 channels of output (in any combination), built-in 25W per channel amplification (bridgeable to 50W) and digital audio output over Dante or AES67.

Coming back to land for a moment, we have a range of audio and video players that support anything from a single channel of HD video playback for things like museums, kiosks, queue lines, and the like to 4K 120 frame per second 3D playback on the largest screens in themed entertainment. The Binloop series of playback carried forward the legacy of the analog tape-based binloop devices and improved on reliability, functionality and decreased their footprint considerably. Every generation has improved on these and the current A/V Binloop Uncompressed is no exception, offering 2K per card at 60 frames per second for truly uncompressed video 4:4:4 playback with unparalleled quality reproduction (supporting the Rec.2020 and Rec.709 colorspaces).

Rounding out the product line, we offer a suite of paging and intercom products that help communication between your employees/team/cast and guests happening, leveraging the power of AES67 and Q-Sys. We have HMI devices and software that allow for building dynamic user interfaces for control of the systems you build and I/O devices to extend the capabilities and reach of the show control into your attraction wherever it’s most convenient.

All of these devices are configured and shows developed using WinScript Live, our programming environment, made to be accessible to users and easy to learn. Most importantly, they’re free and available on our website. This course will walk you through the development of several simple attraction concepts using this software and by the end of the course, you should be comfortable branching out on your own. Of course, we’re ALWAYS here to offer you additional support should you need it – we stand by our products AND our customers.