04 l December 2013
www.psneurope.com news EUROPE MADI coming to Cat-5 in 2014
The New Year will bring an extension to the MADI communications standard that allows it to deliver 64 channels via Cat-5 cable, PSNEurope can exclusively reveal. David Davies speaks to the prime mover behind the extension, Optocore visionary Marc Brunke
AS THE 20-year-old MADI point-to-point communications technology continues to experience a renaissance across live and broadcast, PSNEurope has learnt that the AES standard that underpins MADI is to be extended to include CAT5 cable. First documented in AES10- 1991, and subsequently updated in 2003 and 2008, the MADI standard currently supports a maximum of 64 bi-directional channels over coaxial or fibre optic cable. Now, in an extension that is set to be published in the early months of 2014, the standard will also accommodate delivery over the ever-ubiquitous Cat-5. Several key developments
instigated by Optocore founder and technical director Marc Brunke have fed into the new standard extension: the development of a 64-channel Cat-5 link for Optocore in 2004, and then a further Cat-5 connection capable of carrying audio 100m in 2008. The decision to employ an Ethernet PHY chip was particularly fundamental. “The ‘trick’ was to realise than an Ethernet PHY can not only transmit Ethernet packages, but any package, including a MADI one,” says Brunke.
With 50,000 Cat-5 nodes sold
from Brunke’s licensees to date, it was but a small jump for him to initiate it as a regular extension to the AES10 standard – “a gift to the industry,” as he puts it – in mid-2012. “It remains true to the original idea of MADI in that it remains a simple-to-use interface, and since MADI was always piggy- backing on Ethernet PHYs – the BNC and fibre versions also use the same chips as Ethernet does – it fits completely with the ideas of the founding fathers of MADI when the standard first emerged during the last century,” he says. Currently the subject of a
Marc Brunke
“The ‘trick’ was to realise than an Ethernet PHY can not only transmit Ethernet packages, but any package, including a MADI one”
Marc Brunke, Optocore
public consultation, the new AES10 extension is expected to be published in its final version in early 2014. For Brunke, it will be the culmination of a decade of work aimed at making MADI more versatile and cost-effective to implement. And it is the price benefits of the new extension that Brunke expects to be particularly alluring. “Coax and fibre optic MADI can get expensive to implement, so I think this new update will make MADI even more accessible,” he concludes.
www.optocore.com
“I think I should take this up professionally,” joked Jeff Beck
UNITED KINGDOM
Jeff Beck joins the Sound Fellows
THE 7TH ANNUAL APRS Sound Fellowship Awards Lunch took place on 19 November, recognising individuals who made a “significant contribution to the art, science or business of sound recording”. This year’s recipients were guitarist/songwriter Jeff Beck, Livingston Studios’ Jerry Boys, EMI/Chrysalis A&R man Chris Briggs, AMS Neve founder Mark Crabtree, Landsdowne and CTS studio owner Adrian Kerridge and producer/composer Nile Rodgers. Legendary recording engineer and producer Phil Ramone was also honoured posthumously. The Harewood Toast was given by PPL chairman Fran Nevrkla, OBE. A highlight of this year’s
gathering was Briggs, who brought the house down with his reminiscence of days in the studio with the Sex Pistols producer Bill Price. “I remember Bill describing ‘second harmonic distortion’ – I didn’t understand a fucking word,” he said with perfect comic timing.
www.aprs.co.uk
For the latest news
www.psneurope.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60