One of the most serious failings of commercial rollable shells and towers is that they provide only one acoustical motif — they only reflect sound. In addition, the reflective surfaces are usually diaphragmatic, which causes sound absorption at certain frequencies that colors the sound and minimizes sound projection.

The Rollable VAMPS™ is a no compromise rollable shell segment. The sturdy counter weighted frame contains up to six modular 2' x 2' openings that accept RPG®’s palette of replaceable acoustical reflecting, absorbing, and diffusing inserts. This feature provides unlimited acoustical flexibility for any musical format. Changeovers are quick. Also, the Rollable VAMPS™ easily folds for egress through doorways and nests for compact storage.

No other commercial shell offers the documented psychoacoustical performance, unlimited versatility, meticulous design, and aesthetic appearance of the Rollable VAMPS™.

Problem
The acoustical requirements of the percussion section and those of the strings are very different, yet all commercial shells offer only one acoustical surface for all musical formats: reflection. If this does not satisfy your requirements, you must compromise. There is no way to modify the shell to suit your needs.

Solution
The Rollable VAMPS™ offers unlimited acoustical flexibility by simply interchanging or reversing acoustical inserts. Now everyone in the ensemble can have their cake and eat it too. High intensity instruments can be subdued by using absorption or 2D diffusion, while softer voices can use diffusion and reflection.

Variable format acoustical shells were not available commercially until 1991 when Dr. Peter D’Antonio patented VAMPS™. Conventional shells have a fixed format of reflecting panels. If your performance needs change, you previously had no way to alter the shell.

Acoustics offers a palette of three ingredients to design shells: absorption, reflection, and diffusion. Conventional shells relied solely on reflection until 1983, when RPG® Diffusor Systems introduced the missing ingredient of sound diffusion in a novel surface based on mathematical number theory sequences.

Modular replaceable acoustical inserts were introduced by RPG® to allow the shell to be "tuned" for each performance, musician, audience, and conductor. VAMPS™ is the shell for all seasons and all reasons.

Performance is bottom line. That is why RPG® solicited the opinion of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mr. David Zinman. Their subjective responses to a VAMPS™ shell indicated an average of 85% improvement with a high of 144% for some sections. This test verifies that VAMPS™ provides exceptional performance.

Shell design has relied solely on reflective surfaces. Research indicates these surfaces are not sufficient to suit the needs of musicians. Specify VAMPS™ to obtain a shell that will satisfy all of the musicians and never be obsolete!