I have heard, via a credible source, that next week's show from Atlas will break the record for the most number of cues ever fired in Montreal. Watch this space for more details as they emerge!

Paul.

Wow, most certainly sounds like a must-see! Please keep us informed, Paul!

Thank you very much for this news!

Trav.

The previous cue-count record was 6600 by Pyrotechnico in 2008: http://montreal-fireworks.com/cgi-bin/rep.cgi?head2008,usa2008,tail200 8

More information later this weekend

Paul.

Ok ... here's the scoop:

Atlas's display will use 7500 cues, with 6000 one-shots.

More to follow when I interview Team Atlas tomorrow!

Paul.

There is so many mines, comets, and bombettes in this show. I helped them ematch for a few hours a couple of weeks ago. It is going to be a great show. I have never been to this fireworks competition before but I am leaving tomorow to come up and cheer on the company I work for.

Humm... I don't want to ruin the party, Paul, but I remain skeptical. While I understand the awesome work needed to set so many cues, I'm not convinced there's a positive correlation with the number of cues and the overall quality of a display. It may be interesting to run a statistical analysis about this!

Obviously, I don't have systematic evidence to support my claim, but I want to remind that Aoki's show was, according to your report, "one of the most complex displays, based on cue count, in the history of the competition". To my knowledge, few people now expect to see Aoki on the podium next Friday. The latest Italian show you enjoyed so much had "only" 3000 cues. Pirotécnia Morsani had 3400 pieces (so less cues) and won the Gold Jupiter in 2011. Göteberg had less than 2600 cues in 2010 and won the Silver Jupiter for a complex and perfectly synchronized show...

And to those who believe that USA teams are always on the podium anyway, it's a mistake. Over the last 10 editions with an American entrant (2001 to 2011, but 2004), the American contestants were on the podium five times (Silver in 2005, Gold in 2006, Bronze in 2007, Gold in 2008 and Bronze in 2009) and were not on the podium the five remaining years.

It's true, however, that latest contestants to be scheduled in a line-up are often on the podium (9 times over the 11 editions from 2001 to 2011).

Fred

Just saw videos on youtube of their pyro fantasia show back in 2010... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRtSwZ1RvPM&feature=relmfu should be good if they perfect all the one shots!

Vander

That was our Jaffrey Festival of Fireworks. It has been changed up some from that show.
PJ

That was our Jaffrey Festival of Fireworks. It has been changed up some from that show.

I was at that show - it was good, but at least one position was mis-wired. I know Steve and Matt were none too happy about that! Still a good show, though. Pity the site limits the calibre to 6" - can't wait to see what you guys can do with a site that can go up to 12".

Paul

While I understand the awesome work needed to set so many cues, I'm not convinced there's a positive correlation with the number of cues and the overall quality of a display. It may be interesting to run a statistical analysis about this!

Perhaps interesting enough to even conduct a Master's thesis?

Trav.

Perhaps interesting enough to even conduct a Master's thesis?

Which program would allow one to do such a Master's thesis so I can sign up ? Contemporary Arts ?

I still think that less is more regarding cue counts. Just check what Martin Hildeberg did with 2600 cues, and what previous companies didn't do with 6000+.

I don't remember much from China 2011 or Japan 2012 with regards to the impressive cue counts their respective shows had, but I'm still talking very often of Sweden 2010 as the display which raised the bar in terms of impressive synchronization work.

Bring on the Pyro-Clocks (delay lines), fellows !

Just to level the opinions.. Anyone remember what pyrotecnico did with 6600 cues? And I will forever remember the show Ricasa did in 2005. I guess i'm just too much of a one shots/product quality whore category and I hate delay chains

Vander

Your points are quite valid, Vander.

Yet, well-used delay chains tend to be almost unnoticeable in my opinion. I'm somewhat of a product quality whore too, but let's just say I'm not found of the exhibition style with one launch per cue either. The same style of firing could be achieved with delay chains if the ones they are using are precise enough and do not tend to break in the middle very often.

Also, I just remembered that Sweden 2010 used many cake slices in place of formal fans. This also helps lowering the cue count while maximizing the actual number of effects. It's not quite the same than an actual fan of single-shots, but it doesn't preclude their use in some specific places either, just like they did (remember the chorus of Hot Stuff, with fans being fired one shot at the time to the music).

I'm also fond of large fans of small roman candles bundles on ramp #4, even though the firing becomes rapidly disorganized as the candles become depleted. This takes a lot of cues to fire (if no quick match "trunk-line" is used to hopefully group some candles together), but we don't see it more than a few times in the same display.

Due to firing current constraints, it's also not rare to see a full 16-cue module or half of a 32-cue one to be used to fire a single fan. The complex shapes of one-shots used in the Japanese display also contributed to raise the cue count by a large amount in this case.

I'm very curious to see what the US team will do with their astonishing 7500 cues tomorrow, though. I predict a lot of sore fingers to the home team for pushing on so many spring-loaded firing modules connectors in such a small amount of time !

They'll hopefully get a break for the closing display, as Panzera normally has a very low cue count due to their cue-reducing traditional techniques (roman candles and delay chains).