Tech Focus: Audio Consoles, Part 2 - Remote Products Wrap-Up A small category expands with demand for more sizes, functions By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, July 16, 2020 - 7:01 am
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Remote audio-mixing consoles for broadcast are still a relatively rarefied category at the high end of the market, but there's increasing diversity within the group, thanks to demand for more consoles of various sizes and functionality. Here's an overview of the leading contenders.
Click here for Tech Focus: Audio Consoles, Part 1 - An IP Future and a Pandemic Present.
Calrec
Both remote broadcasting and remote working have seen accelerated learning curves, with many sports now being mixed remotely or via virtualized surfaces. Calrec's Assist web GUI has been implemented with several work surfaces - including the Apollo, Artemis, and Type R consoles - providing control from a remote location, and the company's RP1 continues to feature remote-broadcast capabilities, allowing full mixing capabilities of a remote venue from an established studio environment. Meanwhile, smaller consoles like Calrec's compact Brio console are being used as remote work surfaces from mixers' homes to provide live on-air mixing.
Calrec ImPulse core
As the industry continues to converge on IP workflows, Calrec has introduced more products to flatten the curve. Its IP-based ImPulse core has a native-IP AES67 and SMPTE 2110 backbone and a defined upgrade path to transfer to IP infrastructures. ImPulse is compatible with existing Apollo and Artemis control surfaces and is fully NMOS-compliant and IS-04/05-compliant, which is critical to the unified IP workflow of products from different manufacturers. For broadcasters already producing live content in immersive formats over such platforms as MPEG-H and Dolby Atmos, ImPulse provides 3D immersive path widths and panning, with full monitoring and metering, height and 3D-pan controls.
Upgrading to IP infrastructures still requires careful planning; Calrec's range of Gateway products are designed to make the transition smoother and allow more flexibility for multiple productions where proprietary and IP networks are used together. Both the H2-IP Gateway and AoIP modular I/O controller card are SMPTE 2110/AES67-compatible and are designed to connect proprietary and IP workflows. They provide an interface between Calrec Hydra2 and IP networks and allow control data and audio labels to be passed in both directions. These networks can also be configured remotely; during the first half of 2020, the company's support team has configured a number of such networks from remote locations.
Calrec's modular Type R console is increasingly being used for virtualized production, and Calrec's VP2 virtual console and RP1 Remote Production core are helping broadcasters streamline workflows, improve cost-efficiency, and safely expand variety of coverage. www.calrec.com/
DiGiCo 4REA4
DiGiCo
The 4REA4 is a new type of system processor. Leveraging the power of FPGA technology, the console-based software provides a 96-kHz sample rate, is intuitive, and is designed to enable superior-performance networked audio. The mainframe can process 128 input channels and 56 outputs with on-board connectivity via a range of network ports, SD-card slots (up to three), and DMI card slots (up to four). In addition to processing channels, 4REA4 can serve as a point-to-point router for up to 512 channels, so any channel from any device on the network can be routed directly to any other device on the network without affecting processing capacity. The 4REA4 has bidirectional audio connectivity with any device on the network in both its proprietary format and a range of other standards (Dante, MADI, Avoim, Waves SoundGrid, Optocore, ME-1, AES/EBU). The system can also interface with external control devices using TCP/IP, GPIO, MIDI, and AMX/Crestron. www.digiconsoles.com/
Lawo
Lawo IP-based consoles support current and evolving industry standards for audio, video, control, and data format interoperability. The mc Series mixing consoles - mc 96 Grand Production Console, optimized for IP production environments; mc 56, also available with optional surfaces providing extra free controls or dual faders; all-in-one mc 36 - are offered in multiple configurations with physical console surfaces, channel capacity, and frames optimized for applications ranging from mobiles and flypacks to large production complexes.
Lawo mc2
Lawo also offers a full range of solutions for remote-production and automated-mix applications. Among standalone cores, the mc Micro Core universal networked audio engine, the Compact Engine AES67 audio node with on-board DSP, and the Power Core 1RU IP-based mix engine with modular I/O options can perform all audio-mixing and -routing functions under remote control of mixers or third-party automation systems.
PowerCoreRP is a fully featured remote-production solution for mc audio consoles with integrated modular I/O, DSP, and IP streaming capabilities. The 1RU device combines modular audio I/O and high-density DSP functionality in a WAN-capable IP node. Its little brother PowerCoreGateway is a powerful and adaptable 1RU IP I/O node, a modular audio stagebox for meeting all I/O requirements to serve professionals that may require additional DSP power later for further applications.
Lawo's A__UHD Core ultra-high-density IP DSP Engine for mc consoles uses the IP network as an extension of the console core's backplane and thus can be located anywhere on the network. Its ultra-high processing density with >1,000 mc fully featured DSP channels can be either used by a single mc console or shared among up to four consoles. All of Lawo's consoles, cores, stageboxes, control software, and Nova Series rou
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Tech Focus: Audio Consoles, Part 2 - Remote Products Wrap-Up A small category expands with demand for more sizes, functions By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
