Nestled in the Highlands of White Plains, New York the Bet Am Shalom Synagogue entertains a congregation from diverse backgrounds, bound by their belief in a ‘thoughtful and progressive approach to Judaism’.
In 2016, systems integrator Shadowbox Design Management installed a Prism 12x12 at Bet Am Shalom as the heart of a public address/reinforcement system with four main zones – the main synagogue, chapel, multifunction room, and library – which provided the soundtrack for hundreds of gatherings unit the spring of 2020, when the Covid-19 global pandemic brought about changes to common gathering spaces in line with strict social distancing.
This imposed new rules and restrictions on how the synagogue could use its floor space, and eventually in a mandatory halt in services and activities for congregants.
Leaders of Bet Am Shalom called on Shadowbox Design Management to find a way to upgrade the audio system throughout the facility so the synagogue could continue services while following CDC guidelines. They needed to expand the system’s ability to combine the spaces and route audio from anywhere on demand.
Although social distancing forced changes to the usage of the facility, the system designed by Shadowbox in 2016, and powered with a Symetrix Prism 12x12 DSP, was well-equipped to adapt to the synagogue’s evolving connectivity and system control needs.
The necessary functionality for additional audio routing within and between common spaces was already built into the system, and so relatively minor tweaks to the existing SymVue page simply needed to be harnessed, labelled, and written to a Windows touchscreen. SymVue by Symetrix is a system control GUI authoring tool available as part of the Symetrix Composer software package.
Leveraging the SymVue GUI authoring tool, buttons were added to the system control screen so that a user could easily recall presets for room combining, simplifying the task of adding or subtracting primary and overflow spaces for any type of service or function.
Shadowbox then automated certain routing options using the Remote Event Scheduler functionality in the Symetrix Composer software package. With the Event Scheduler, users can schedule changes in system settings – such as audio switching of one or more local microphones to Internet streaming services. This allows facility managers to concentrate on more immediate aspects of the production rather than recalling presets to start and stop webstream audio broadcasts. Once scheduled, these events happen on time and in the background.
‘They are still discovering how much capacity and functionality has been built into the system,’ says Shadowbox Design Management VP, Joseph Ondrek. ‘The improved sound and capabilities of the system is very appreciated by Bet Am Shalom.’
The Symetrix Prism, having run reliably over the past four years, easily incorporated the minor adjustments needed to accommodate the major changes in the practices and routines of the synagogue.
‘The high quality of the audio, at a great price point, is one of the reasons why we use Symetrix and the customer support has always been fantastic,’ Ondrek adds. ‘We are always looking for custom solutions for our clients’ needs, and the Symetrix staff have always been there to help out when we can’t figure out a solution on our own.’
