AVL - Audio Visual Laboratories Multi-Image Slide Show Programming Computers

Bulletins: *Do you have a multi-image show, programmed on an AVL machine,* *in trays or sleeves, sitting on your shelf? Or know someone that might?* Please see this page! *I am looking for a working AVL Show Pro I, II, or V.* *Got one buried somewhere that you're willing to part with?* *Please* *email me*!
AVL Multi-Image Slide Show Computers
In the '70s and '80s, Audio Visual Laboratories (AVL) built a line of computerized multi-image slide show computers that were more or less the standard machines in use in the "A/V business" at that time. I myself made a living programming and staging shows with these from '84 to '96. Now, the multi-image slide show business is history, and all of the people who were involved in producing and staging these shows are now working with other technologies.		Several years ago, I unearthed my AVL gear: My Genesis from the garage, a couple of Doves out of the attic. I found a bunch of AVL manuals in the back of my office closet. I thought it would be amusing to scan in these things and make them available for those who can appreciate them (or, incredibly, make use of them). Print them out, dust off that machine and do some real programming for a change!

AVL's programming computers, from the beginning The earliest multi-image slideshow programmers built by AVL were not "computers" in the modern sense - no keyboard and screen. They were "computerized" devices with a variety of buttons and switches that each provided a single function. These machine are "old school" even for me - mercifully a few years before my time. Just thinking about programming a show with these is mind-bending to me. If you mastered these machines, my hat is (still) off to you. Some images of Show Pro computers courtesy of Mesney.com and Incredibleimages.com
	Here is the UAV Cuemaster, the first slide programmer designed and built by Chuck Kappenman, for United Audio Visuals. Chuck would eventually cut ties with UAV and start Audio Visual Laboratories (AVL) with Ed McTighe. This machine would then be re-branded as the “AVL Show Pro” (see below!)
	The AVL Show Pro: This machine drove as many as eight (someone correct me if I am wrong here) projectors. Instead of saving programs on floppy disc, or even on magnetic tape, this machine used a punched paper tape system! Quoting this site: "Everything was done by hand: timings with a stopwatch; code with holes; fixes with Scotch tape."
	The AVL Show Pro II: Similar to the original Show Pro, but could drive nine projectors. (Again, someone please correct me or elaborate on this as needed. I could also use a better photo...)
	The Show Pro and Show Pro II had punched paper tape readers only. To save or "write" a program for later use, this separate paper-punching machine was connected. (Yes I own this thing - now all I need is a Show Pro and a few Mark IV dissolve units!)
	The AVL Show Pro III: This is the first programmer that could save and load a program from magnetic tape (typically 1/4 inch reel to reel tape) - a vast improvement over punched paper tape! Got one and need to brush up? Here's the AVL ShowPro III Multi-Image AV Computer operator's manual
	The AVL Show Pro V: The last in this line of machines. It could drive 15 projectors.
	Here is the AVL Eagle I - the first "real" multi image computer. It could drive 30 projectors. Photo at left "borrowed" from Mesney.com Here is the manual for the AVL Eagle I, courtesy of Eagle owner Peter F in the Netherlands! Below is the back panel of the AVL Eagle I computer.

Here's the manual for the AVL Eagle I
	There was an "AVL Golden Eagle". I never used one, or even saw one, but here's a brochure for it and the AVL Eagle I.
	Here is the 144 page AVL Genesis Procall-X User Guide, the programming language used by the AVL Genesis computer from the mid '80s forward.
	If you have an AVL Genesis Board Set, here is the installation guide. Be aware that you'll need a mid-to-late-'80s-vintage PC with an 8-bit slot! This thing was designed to work with the computers of it's time - a faster machine won't do.
	Are you the last guy on the planet that is trying to repair an AVL Show Pro III or V? Here is the only place on the planet to find an AVL Show Pro 3 & 5 Service Manual! (Thanks to Harry in NYC, who sent me the pdf!)
	The AVL Road Runner, seen here complete with expander, external floppy drive and 5" monitor. Here is the Expanded Road Runner manual. This document includes testing procedures to try if yours isn't running like it's 1981. (manual courtesy of Peter K in the UK)
	Here is the manual for the Road Runner, used standing alone, without the expansion setup as seen above.
	Here is the manual for the AVL Show Pro V
	If you happen to have a memory self-test chip for the AVL Show Pro VB, here is are its instructions.
	The AVL "Super Dove" was a later offering from AVL and can do more tricks than I can even fathom. I bought one; I have the manual; maybe I will figure it all out someday. Here's the manual for the AVL Super Dove
	The AVL Chipmunk. This is a two projector programmer / dissolve unit, that apparently does many of the tricks of the "big" programming machines. My documentation suggests that I used this thing once for a show in Mexico 30 years ago. I surely can't recall. Here is the Chipmunk manual, in case you've got one!
	The AVL Fox. Here is the manual for the AVL Fox, a "unique real time programmer with a built-in dissolve unit for 3 projector shows", courtesy of Ken Kobylenski of kxcamera.com
	Here's the manual for Procall 5 for the Eagle II. Like many earlier AVL manuals, it's an all-text affair.
	Here is the manual for Procall X for the Eagle II.
	Here is the manual for the AVL Dove X2
	Here is the AVL Mark II Dissolve unit - a very early AVL device. It simply cuts or dissolves between two projectors, either manually from the front panel, using a Kodak remote, or controlled by another device like the AVL MP10.
	Here's the AVL MP10. It was a "budget" solution to programming slides in the era of the Show Pro III and V. You got 10 "EBY" connectors, into which you connect a combination of individual projectors (for "clunk" advancing) and AVL Mark II dissolve units, that in turn would drive a pair of projectors. With no positrak, one would need to reset to the top of the show every time you ran it, setting all the projectors back to the beginning manually. The upside was that for a mere $1000 (vs $5k or so for the more capable Show Pro machines) you could drive up to 20 projectors. Fingers crossed everything works...
	Here's the AVL MP10 manual
	AVL 1978 product line brochure - everything from the Show Pro V to the MP10, down to the backup battery...
	AVL Show Pro V brochure
	AVL QD3 brochure. This is the predecessor to the AVL Dove. I have been told that this machine was not as reliable as the Dove, so if you have the option of using a Dove, go for it!
	Here's a brochure for the extra-cool desktop form factor of the AVL Genesis. I am a fan of the cubby for tucking away the keyboard!
	Here's a brochure for the AVL Dove X2 dissolve unit.
	OK so this isn't AVL hardware, but it was an important device to have on your desk backstage along with your main and backup Genesis. The "Failsafe" by Sundance/Realtime allowed one to cue a main or backup computer, integrated with a main or backup tape deck with your showtapes, without having to re-patch anything at the worst possible moment. Don't go onsite without it! Here's the brochure for the Failsafe
	Here's something that no multi-image show can be without - slide mounts and masks! These were generally provided by Wess Plastic (though masks were often created in-house by many AV production companies) See the catalog from roughly 1990 here. Please note that this catalog is here as a reference only.
	Here is a thoughtful documentary on the end of an era - the year Kodak stopped building slide projectors. Watch Paige Sarlin's "The Last Slide Projector".
	Are you looking for information on ARION multi image hardware? I have a page for you!

If you don't have a copy of Procall X, hopefully you have Procall 5. Here is the AVL Genesis Procall 5 User Guide

Here's how to set up your Desktop Genesis.

Here's how to set up your Portable Genesis.

Pocket Procall. Originally produced as a little fold-out sheet, it's a list of all the Procall commands.
Here, it's 2 pages ready to print to keep nearby when programming your next extravaganza.

Enhanced Procall: If you have a copy of "Enhanced Procall", you're going to want the AVL Enhanced Procall Users Manual

Here is how to Program a Multi-Image Show with the AVL Genesis.

Here is a nice article about the rise of Audio Visual Laboratories.

If you have a Genesis but don't have a working copy of Procall X to program multi-image slide shows with, here it is!
Download this zip file with all the files needed to create a bootable floppy with Procall X1.27 on it.
Hopefully you have a PC new enough to get these files into, and old enough to include a 5 1/4" floppy drive!
I believe you will need a blank 360k floppy disk. The easiest method would be to unzip these files directly
onto the floppy. If you unzip them to a folder on your windows PC first, be sure your system is set
to "see hidden files". Otherwise, you won't see some of them!

What AVL Procall X looks like:

Here is a sample log-in and editing session using Procall X.

Run the video then click on the fullscreen

button for the complete early-'80s feeling!

Slide Programmers Challenge:
You can see that the example above executes a loop of six projectors, that doesn't end
until a cue is hit to stop it. When I built this, I missed entering one cue, consequently the loop is less than perfect.
Can you figure out what's missing? You may need to look at the cues again. What do you win if you figure it out?
You win the satisfaction of knowing that your long term memory is intact and you can recall tiny details about
obsolete technology and techniques. Can't figure it? Here's the answer. I did mention that it was obscure, right?

In the beginning:

Here I am in 1982, working as a slide mounter at the DuraSell Corp, 360 Lexington Ave, NYC. Maybe I was waiting for the lab....

And, working at my very last (?) multi-image job, in 2003. I suppose it wasn't exactly MULTI-image,
but it gave me the chance to rent my portable Genesis one last time. Thanks, Joe D.

November 2011 - A multi-image project!

This webpage led Renata Pedrosa, an artist in São Paulo, Brazil, to write and ask me "how to use a Dove to run a slideshow". She was building an exhibition and had in mind a 12 slide, 3 minute, looping slideshow - that would run for the 2 month duration of her event. After a bit of explaining about needing a programming device, positrak, and all the rest, I offered to program the show for her.

Here's how it worked: She sent me an .mp3 of the audio for her show. I built a simple program on my Genesis with 12 dissolves. I didn't have the slides, but set up a Dove and two empty projectors just to see the dissolves. I played her audio, analog, into one track of an analog/digital converter - and the output of the Genesis, looped through the Dove, into the other track (cueing the show in real time, to the audio), and captured them on my PC as a .wav file. I then emailed the file back.

She ran the file from an mp3 player, set to loop the track. One channel was audio for the speakers, the other, positrak for the Dove.
There was an appropriate pause and a HOME cue at the end of the track, to reset the two projectors. It ran great, for two months. Fun!

Here's her setup...

She was kind enough to include me on the wall leading into the exhibit!

Here's an image of the exhibition, from her website.

December 2011

Look what I went and bought for $10 on Ebay! It's an AVL Coyote. It looks brand new, and seems to work fine. I never used one of these things on a job (I think it was kind of low-end, relatively speaking). It can program a 3 projector slideshow, can "load" or "dump" cues to and from "mag tape", has a built-in Dove, and can input and output Positrak. It can't make use of Clocktrak, however.

The Coyote's interface - very '80s. Here is the next cue to be executed...

AVL Coyote LCD display

Here is the manual for the AVL Coyote! I recently found one!

A Cool Souvenir: December 2014

Bill Lewis of avtools.com presented me with this very cool coin, which apparently was a giveaway at the 1979 NAVA show.
Have a look!

AVL coin from NAVA event 1979

Another memento from the 1979 NAVA show
Here's something I found on ebay - a real .999 silver version of the coin shown above. The opposite side has the same logo as the bronze version. I am not sure why this version exists - maybe it was given out to AVL customers? If you were there and/or know what they were all about please write me.

AVL NAVA 1979 show silver coin

December 2014: Look what I found!

I bought a chief stacker complete with projectors, lenses, a dove, and a "Travler" cassette player. The really interesting part is not the gear, but what came with it! A 3 projector multi-image slide show, complete with it's cassete tape with positrak to run it. Even better, the focus of the show was the medium of multi-image itself, pitching it over film and video for use in presentations - and using AVL hardware to do it! Of course I wasted no time to capture it and post it to youtube, shot from a"programmers view" behind the projectors. Watch this fullscreen!

Here's another gift from a fellow multi-image person. Seen one of these lately?

wess plastic bubble level slide

How much is there to know about a Wess bubble level? Click here to find out.

Another AVL giveaway unearthed...

Bill Lewis of avtools.com turned up this cool AVL tie-tack!

AVL pin

What do you do when you have a bunch of multi-image gear to test, but no slides to test it with? This...

Sales Sheets!
Here is a promotional folder full of data sheets for various AVL products. You can see individual sheets by clicking on the
name of each product as shown below. Note: the sheets all include a phone number - don't call it! AVL is long gone.

Oct, 2017: An AVL Pro Travler III arrives.
I was contacted by an organization that had an AVL Pro Travler III sitting on their shelf. Rather than send it to the scrapyard,
they offered it to me for nothing more than the cost of shipping! How could I refuse?

2021-2022: This has been a banner year for my multi-image project!

15 projector multi image projection rig

In recent years I have been constructing a multi image projection rig in my garage. My intention was to find a producer that had (A) kept his multi image shows intact all these years, and (B) was prepared to let me have them, to restore and get back on the screen and capture to video. In true "if you build it, they will come" fashion, this has come to pass! Richard Shipps, who ran DD&B Studios in Detroit and worked as programmer, designer and producer, offered to let me take his collection of multi-image modules that he had kept tucked away in storage for decades. I have spent this past winter getting them running again. I have created a youtube channel specifically for these shows (and a couple of others that I had captured to VHS video in the '80s). Please take a look! Here's a link to the youtube channel. As they say, be sure to subscribe!

There will be more multi-image slide modules added to my youtube channel as time goes on...

I have been given a very large cache of shows from Paul Vershbow, who once upon a time was associated with Wilden Enterprises in New York City, and will be spending some quality time restoring and capturing them over the next several months.

Steven Walkowiak, who worked for "Spotlight Presents / The Image Bank" back in the day, recently helped to clear a cache of shows from a storage facility - he contacted me and now I am working through it all.

The wife of the late Stan Menscher, who worked for the Nikon School for decades and produced many multi image shows for them over the years, offered to give me stewardship of a cache of shows from his home studio to restore them as I can.

Where did all the gear come from?

99% of the multi-image hardware I have was given to me by various A/V rental houses that "just want it out of the warehouse". I've been invited to back up the truck more than once, to haul away multi-image hardware that otherwise would have landed in the dumpster.
One such rental house is Staging Techniques in Seattle, WA. Bryce Will, the General Manager of their Seattle office. I am very grateful for his support! Here is some of the hardware I've received.

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