FEATURE CONSOLES
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Saxon recently toured with an Allen & Heath system. A GLD-80 mixer is at FOH, accompanied by an AR2412 rack to manage I/O, such as L+R, Sub, Fills. The mixer takes inputs via Dante from the iLive monitor system, comprising an iLive-T112 surface and iDR-48 MixRack
In the pro-audio world, however, Dante still has the edge with regard to affordability and accessibility as Kennedy insists, with off-the-shelf switches and the ability to stream Layer 3 audio being two prime examples. “Because of these capabilities, Dante is a complete plug ’n’ play solution, which is extremely attractive to us,” he says. “And because AVB hasn’t got that off-the-shelf advantage, it becomes very expensive to buy the switches; I’m not saying this will always be the case, and I think it still has a great potential future, but for me, it’s still three or four years away.”
Kennedy admits that although
AVB is audio and video compatible, he has some real fears that there hasn’t been enough profile generated in the video world. “If you talk to audio guys about
AVB, they all know what it is; if you talk to many of the video guys, they’ll look at you blank; the audio market is educated and aware, but that isn’t the case in terms of video. That makes me ask myself ‘how important really is
24 November 2013
AVB in the video world?’” On the other hand, a real potential that Kennedy sees in AVB is the WiFi element – or should that be WiGig? “The problem with wireless
communications is timing, but because the AVB timing is so tight, wireless becomes very much a possibility – and that could be a game-changer,” he says. “WiGig was a trade association that has developed multi-gigabyte speed wireless communications – it’s an 802.1AD new standard and it’s bloody quick! It’s in the EHF (Extreme High Frequency) band and allows 60GB bandwidth, which gives you so much more on the wireless network. “AVB will ride on that, and it
would make it the first viable wireless audio protocol; you can’t do Dante or CobraNet on wireless, but with AVB it’s possible – that for me is the really interesting bit.” Avid recently pledged its loyalty to
AVB with the release of the much- talked-about S3L console. An Avid S3L system is made up of an S3 control surface, an E3 engine, up to
“Look at your MacBook – those Ethernet ports are
AVB-enabled already; all Apple has to do in theory is update the firmware, and you’re good to go. Really, the potential is massive.” Sean Karpowicz
four Stage 16 remote I/O boxes, and (if the user desires record and playback functionality) a computer running Pro Tools. The E3 engine is the central point of processing of the system, connecting to the other S3L devices with Cat5e cables transmitting audio data via Ethernet AVB. “A few years ago, most audio
connections in a live sound system were analogue, one-way, and point-to- point. In applications with high- channel counts, this point-to-point serialised connection model resulted in crazy spaghetti-like cable jungles closely resembling a roadie’s bad hair day,” smiles Avid’s product manager, Al McKinna. “You would imagine that with this progress in Ethernet technology, it would fast become adopted as an audio transfer protocol
by the live sound industry, removing costly analogue cabling and drastically simplifying connectivity. This, however, was not the case, as its widespread adoption was blocked primarily by the cost-per-node expense and the technical expertise required to deploy a networked system. This is until Ethernet AVB emerged onto the scene. “When the Stage 48 remote I/O unit was released as an accompaniment to the SC48 console, Avid became the first manufacturer in the world to incorporate Ethernet AVB into an audio console. Subsequently, Avid S3L is the first console in the world to be designed from the ground up utilising AVB as its audio transfer protocol. The implementation of this networking
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