FEATURE: AUDIO NETWORKING
MADI open standard was originally documented by the Audio Engineering Society in 1991. Today, manufacturers offer varying levels of support for MADI, but most are generally united about its primary benefits, which fall into five categories:
Open Standard: MADI was
formalised as AES10-1991 and subsequently updated 12 years later to AES10- 2003. Hence Felix Krückels, senior product manager for Lawo’s mc2 series, observes that one of MADI’s strengths is that “it is a standard which manufacturers can implement without any problems due to its open protocol [nature] and common understanding”. Nils Quak, who handles marketing & communications for Riedel, confirms that “the fact that it is a standard has made it very popular. MADI is a common denominator, [allowing] easy interfacing between manufacturers.”
Cable or Fibre Optic Implementation: Making it adept for both legacy and new installations, MADI can be sent down both single coaxial cable and fibre optic at distances of up to 1.3 miles (2km). But it was the format’s suitability for the former that helped it to achieve take-off. “Although AES10-2003 specifies fibre optic as an option, coaxial cables are by far the most popular transmission format for MADI. They made long runs possible way before the advent of low-latency Ethernet alternatives,” says Nicola Beretta, digital product specialist, Allen & Heath.
Channel Count: The technology’s support of serial digital transmission of 28, 56 or 64 channels (and sampling rates of up to 96kHz with resolution of up to 24 bits per channel), along with a limited amount of control data, ensures that it remains eminently viable for a host of applications. Accordingly, and alongside its open standard status, Dan Duffell, head of marketing at one of MADI’s co-devisers, Solid State Logic, highlights the format’s enduring popularity as a “high channel count lossless digital audio format”.
Ease of Installation: Single-coaxial or narrow- gauge optical
MADI lends itself to restrictive installation spaces. “MADI is an excellent format for installers,” says Duffell, “particularly with optical MADI [which involves] a narrow-gauge cable that can easily sustain long cable runs.”
The need to send audio to multiple spaces has seen it enjoy a particularly exalted status in broadcast. Duffell notes: “Most of our broadcast clients install some form of audio routing system which needs to distribute and share audio between multiple production spaces and control rooms which house different types of equipment. Many of our clients also need to exchange data with SDI- based video distribution systems. MADI works incredibly well for combining systems and passing control data specifically because it is an open standard.”
protocol”. Beretta remarks that MADI is “standing up well over fast-changing technology” and alludes to the ongoing popularity of the M-MADI interface for use with Allen & Heath’s iLive digital mixing system.
MADI: THE LIMITATIONS Most manufacturers approached by Installation were able to cite support accommodation of MADI – from Bosch with its RTS Intercom products, to Klark Teknik’s DN9652 Dual Network Bridge that allows two different protocols from a range including MADI to interface.
The second half of 2010, in particular, saw a cluster of new solutions hit the market, including SSL’s SDI-MADI de-embedder interface and Avid’s HD MADI interface, among others, prompting Installationsister title PSNEuropeto wonder at the time whether the technology was witnessing ‘a second coming’. Two years later, there is no indication of any imminent drop-off in interest... but that’s not to say that MADI doesn’t have its limitations, especially with channel count demands rising all the time.
Channel Count, Sampling
‘MADI is a common
denominator, allowing easy interfacing between
manufacturers’ Nils Quak, Riedel
Manuel Brico, RTS sales
manager GAS & Balkan, highlights MADI’s suitability for exchanging audio signals between a venue’s audio router and/or mixing console and intercom system. “With one fibre cable, up to 64 high-quality real-time audio signals can be [distributed] between the two systems,” he says.
Reliability: If it’s not too
implementations mean that
www.installation-international.com
facile a point, MADI simply works. Its 20-plus-year success story owes much to the fact that, as Midas/Klark Teknik brand development manager Richard Ferriday remarks, it is “a very popular
Rate and Mono- Directionality: In 2013, MADI’s 64-channel maximum no longer seems particularly incredible. “The 64 channels are no longer the adequate performance level for modern productions with the requirements of a multitude of channels beyond MADI capacity,” says Krückels. This goes hand-in-hand with the sampling rate issue. “As soon as the sampling rate is doubled, the channel count is halved,” he adds. While Midas/KT offers
interfacing capability with MADI, Ferriday remarks: “All our digital mixing systems run 96K, so with MADI we could only have 32 channels down an AC connection at 96K, [which is rather limiting]. Consequently, we use [the subsequent AES-50 standard], which gives us 48 channels of audio at 96K down a single Cat5 cable. Plus, significantly, AES-50 is bidirectional, whereas MADI is mono-directional. To get a two-way MADI connection, you would have to run a pair (send and return) of cables.”
Routing, Distribution and
Control: Although keenly acknowledging MADI’s
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The Video Processing Specialists
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sales.europe@
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www.tvone.eu E&OE. All Copyrights and Trademarks are acknowledged February 2013 23
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