www.psneurope.com
May 2014 l 33
broadcastfeature WORLDWIDE
Virtual — the next reality for radio studios?
The hardware fader has long been a comforting tool for radio presenters and engineers, but new touchscreen technologies are challenging its dominance. Kevin Hilton reports on whether a minority area might become the norm
THE CONSTANT factor in the development of radio studios is the mixing desk: the control panel for all incoming and outgoing audio sources and the badge of power for presenters and technical operators alike. While these have become less electro-mechanical and more data-based – with the control surface driving a DSP engine increasingly located in an apparatus room away from the presentation booth – the front- end would still be recognisable to radio types from the past because of the channel strips with faders, equalisation, panning and input selectors. In 20 years from now, some on-air consoles may be completely unrecognisable to not just announcers from the days of “steam radio” (were they to somehow jump forward in time) but also to many working in the medium today. The aim of some manufacturers and developers is to produce
Virtual technology in the context of radio studios has a fairly broad definition, ranging from touchscreen- controlled mixing systems to remote studio operation.
North America has embraced the former through Wheatstone’s Glass-E virtual mixer package. The Corus Entertainment radio group in Toronto has 10 news desks each using the system to control the manufacturer’s 1RU VMI (virtual mixer interface) rack unit. Phil Owens, who runs Wheatstone’s eastern US sales, explains there is no physical console associated with this operation – all mixing for incoming news and uploading of finished clips to the server is done through Glass-E/VMI.
a virtual presentation desk, with all mic and line fader functions, including switching and processing, run from a touchscreen that in turn controls a PC or server for play-out and distribution to the studio centre or transmitter.
Among those attempting to redesign the radio studio in this way is Lawo, which claimed a world first when it launched its crystalCLEAR virtual radio- mixing console at NAB in April. This eight-fader radio “desk” has two main components: a 1RU DSP engine; and a multi- touch Windows application for control, which offers features such as AutoMix and AutoGain. Lawo spokesman Wolfgang Huber explains that the thinking behind the new product was to offer something that was simple and could “achieve more efficient workflows.”
Huber acknowledges that, in general, radio studios “have not changed in the last two
The crystalCLEAR virtual console by Lawo: the key to a more efficient workflow?
decades.” While the thought of replacing physical equipment with a less tactile, computer- based controller might concern some presenters and even engineers, Huber does not see this as making things more
with less training required for operators and saving time and money overall.” Lawo used NAB to gauge reaction to the crystalCLEAR, and Huber says the company will now watch how this market develops.
“The increasing use of gesture-based IT products will be the main driver for the acceptance of more IT-like console user interfaces” Andrew Hills, Studer
difficult: “Nothing needs to be more complex than it needs to be. By simplifying things, there is the opportunity to create workflows that help people be more efficient. For radio stations it could mean fewer technical staff are needed,
THE SLOW MOVE TO VIRTUAL RADIO STUDIOS The newsroom at Corus Toronto
In Europe, AVIT Radio in Denmark is using Glass-E in an OB truck to control studio operations, while Radio 1 in Zurich uses it to remotely control the LX-24 Series Control Surface. The BBC is currently refurbishing its local stations under the ViLOR (virtualised local radio) project. The object is to maintain dedicated studios in each town or city on the network while establishing a centralised networking and distribution centre. Stations are gradually being re-equipped with Axia digital consoles, Glensound Electronics analogue interfaces, Scisys (VCS) automation and Broadcast Bionic’s PhoneBOX call handling system, with processing at the BBC Mailbox facility in Birmingham.
HIP TO P SQUARED Despite claiming a “world first”, the NAB showing of crystalCLEAR came six months after British radio automation specialist P Squared, known for its Myriad play-out system, showed a prototype
touchscreen console at the Radio Academy TechCon in Salford. Commercial director Liam Burke acknowledges that Lawo had probably been working on its offering for “a long time,” while the VRM (virtual radio mixer) came out of a project last summer for a university intern working with P Squared. “The basic idea was to prove, conceptually, whether you could use standard PC equipment to run a broadcast radio mixer,” Burke explains. “There are lots of virtual consoles and mixers, but they tend to be aimed at production and so lack many broadcast features. We also wanted to test the concept of a multi-touch interface as we have seen a steady growth in enthusiasm for touch as a control method in general, and we believe that we are now at a tipping point where multi- touch interfaces, and low-cost but reliable hardware, means that we will be using technology differently in the next few years.” Burke says that, in theory, the VRM is split between two separate elements: the user interface (UI) and the processing engine, which can work independently of each other. “So it is entirely possible that the VRM UI could control a different mix engine, or indeed a third- party control surface connecting to the VRM engine,” he comments. “Certainly I suspect there will be studio/source switching applications controlled directly from Myriad now we have the core technology.” Since TechCon, P Squared has continued to develop the VRM, partly because it had a “fundamental design flaw” in
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