Tech Focus: Audio Consoles, Part 2 - Remote Operation Continues To Grow

Tech Focus: Audio Consoles, Part 2 - Remote Operation Continues To Grow Diversity in size and functionality marks leading products By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Thursday, July 8, 2021 - 7:00 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 diversity within the group is increasing, thanks to growing demand for consoles of various sizes and functionality. Here's an overview of the leading contenders.

Click here for Tech Focus: Audio Consoles, Part 1 - Evolution of IP Connectivity, Remote Access Accelerates.

Calrec Both remote broadcasting and remote working have had accelerated learning curves. Many sports productions, for example, are being mixed remotely or via virtualized surfaces. Smaller consoles like Calrec's compact Brio have been used as remote work surfaces from mixers' homes to provide live on-air mixing, and Calrec's Assist web GUI has been implemented with Apollo, Artemis, and Type R work surfaces, as well as with virtual cores like VP2 and Calrec's ImPulse IP engine, to provide control on a web browser from remote locations. Meanwhile, the modular Type R IP console is increasingly used for virtualized production on dedicated hardware, along with the Assist web interface. Calrec's RP1 continues to provide comprehensive remote-broadcast capabilities and local IFBs at a remote venue from a centralized studio environment.

Calrec ImPulse audio processing and routing engine

As the industry continues to converge on IP workflows, Calrec has introduced more products to meet the need. Its IP ImPulse core has a native SMPTE 2110 backbone and is compatible with existing Apollo and Artemis control surfaces to provide an upgrade path to IP infrastructures. ImPulse is fully NMOS IS-04/05-compliant, which is critical to unifying IP workflows from different vendors, and features 3D immersive path widths and panning with full monitoring and metering and height and 3D-pan controls. Upgrading to IP infrastructures still requires careful planning; Calrec's Gateway products smooth the transition and allow more flexibility at multiple outside broadcast events where both proprietary and IP networks are used. Both H2-IP Gateway and the AoIP modular I/O controller card are SMPTE 2110-compatible and provide an interface between Calrec Hydra2 and IP networks to allow control data and audio labels to be passed in both directions. www.calrec.com/

DiGiCo DiGiCo Quantum 225

Launched in February, the Quantum225 is DiGiCo's newest digital audio-mixing console and includes 72 input channels with 36 busses plus a master bus and a 12 12 matrix. There are four MADI ports and dual DMI ports for added connectivity (Dante, Hydra, AES, Waves, etc.), as well as 8 8 analog and four AES channels for local I/O, built-in UB MADI, optional optics and Waves SoundGrid, plus dual PSU. The Quantum225 incorporates several Quantum features: Mustard processing-channel strips, Spice Rack plug-in-style native FPGA processing options, Nodal processing, and True Solo. When specified with the new 6RU DQ-Rack with integrated Dante, the system meets the demands of an AoIP networking environment. Other amenities include a 17-in., 1,000-nit TFT multitouch screen plus 41 additional mini TFTs, 25 100-mm touch-sensitive faders, and a custom-designed, multipurpose mounting bracket that can accommodate an additional channel or overview screen, laptop, KLANG:controller, or other device. www.digiconsoles.com/

Lawo Lawo consoles with new A__UHD Core technology are IP-based and 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, available with optional surfaces that provide 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 everything from mobiles and flypacks to large production systems.

Lawo also offers a full range of solutions for remote-production and automated-mix applications, including 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. Lawo's PowerCore 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. The smaller PowerCoreGateway is a powerful and adaptable 1RU IP I/O node, a modular audio stagebox for meeting all I/O requirements to serve professionals who may require additional DSP power later for further applications.

Lawo's new 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 processing density, with 1,024 mc fully featured DSP channels, can be either used by a single mc console or shared among up to four consoles.

Lawo mc 96 Grand Production Console

All of Lawo's consoles, cores, stageboxes, control software, and Nova Series routers offer multiple configuration options with protocols supported for automation and studio/remote management applications, including the multivendor-capable VSM Virtual Studio Manager IP broadcast-control system. Lawo's Mix Kitchen for remote operation comprises Lawo hardware, readily available off-the-shelf tools, a laptop, and the company's mxGUI software (inclu

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/07/08/tech-focus-audio-consoles-part-...
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