So another year, another Frankfurt. Or not in the case this year as it was all change for us – the only thing that stayed the same was our position in hall 8.0 at trusty F60. With a change of German distribution from Atlantic Audio to the newly formed company United Brands, they did exactly as it said on the tin: United Brands.
Ourselves and MC2, Martin Audio and DiGiCo, plus of course UB, created (over about 6 months and not without some moments of tension along the way!) a new megastand which allowed all the brands to maintain their identity whilst still feeling part of a group of British companies, complementing each other.
Of the four brands represented by UB, XTA and MC2 probably had the biggest change compared to Martin and DiGiCo, and it was oft remarked that we had stepped up and looked great! Judge for yourselves – there’s a gallery on Facebook.
It was a great show and the new DP544 went down well, adding to it’s stablemate the DP548 to form the 5 Series.
As you’ll see from the photos, the Becks also went down rather well! 🙂
Following on for the success of our flagship DP548 dynamic management system, and after many requests for a different format of this winning formula, we are expanding the DP548 into the 5 Series and introduce its newest family member, the DP544.
The DP544 includes all the features of the DP548 but now comes in a 4 input – 4 output format.
For all those applications where the main focus is the dynamic EQ, changing the I-O count to four inputs and four outputs makes sense – the DP544 will then fit in perfectly when considered as an in-line processor or insert processor. Imagine the top quality power available when two units are combined with a DS8000D running digitally at 96k directly into a pair of DP544s – superb mic preamps, and a digital signal chain of top quality equalisation and dynamics with remote control!
Coupled with this release, there’s a minor bump up of AudioCore to version 8.85, and an update of all 4 Series firmware to version 2.30 across the board. We’d recommend you update your units if you download the new AudioCore just to ensure you don’t get any comms errors.
Bass bins roasting on an open fire, headphones nipping at your ears…oh yes, it’s the most wonderful time of the year again – it’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Well, when you have finished buying all your presents on-line from the comfort of your sofa, here are a couple of free gifts from us. Whether your nearest and dearest would be impressed with unwrapping these on the 25th is your call 😉
New DC1048 Firmware
We’ve have had a few instances recently where calls have come in about 1048 units that are not producing any sound. Meters working, all seems well but no audio. What might cause this? Mutes on perhaps? Bongo! As these units have no visible indication that mutes are enabled and the meters are pre-mute point, if you’ve pressed the System Mute button in iCore and then disconnected the computer there was no way of knowing it was enabled on the unit.
As the system mute is retained on power-down and cannot be switched off by recalling a memory/preset, you could have reasonably been confused.
Well, no longer – turning the System Mute on will now display a message on the default screen in place of the clock/date and if you power up a unit with the system mute on, you get the opportunity to turn it off locally on the unit by pressing OK – no need to plug a computer back in.
We have also added a new GPI mode – ALARM mode. This changes the functionality of the GPI port slightly as follows. In ALARM mode, the port is read at power up, to ensure any remotely enabled memory setting is recalled, and if no connections are applied to the port, memory 1 will recall.
This is to allow for situations where the unit not only has to select between possible mute/unmute scenarios for voice EVAC systems, but also perform another (different) recall if the GPI plug is disconnected.
This firmware is available for both DC1048 and Ti1048 online in the zip file, along with the loader program – remember it’s a single version for both Ti and DC versions. Get it here.
DP548 Live Presets
Meanwhile, XTATV Studios have been busy preparing the first of the Live Presets, showing you some of the more interesting uses for the Dynamic EQ bands that are available in the DP548.
Mention “Dynamic EQ” and what springs to mind initially is quite traditional “corrective” uses such as De-Essing or De-Popping, which can, of course, be accomplished very easily.
However, as the DEQ available in the unit have a few more tricks up their sleeve, other dynamic control that you might not have thought of can be achieved.
For example – used on inserts – a couple of bands can be pressed into full range service, one in boost below more and one in cut above mode to create a window of gain control and so a “levelling” function.
As the bands can also work as shelving filters, you can set two as high and low shelving EQ , and make them boost below a threshold – instant (but dynamically adapting) loudness compensation.
There are more to come, but have a look and listen to these two – and don’t say we never give you anything!
You made the right choice – be informed as well as entertained, and spend a few minutes watching XTATV’s latest output all about the DP548 Dynamic Audio Management what makes it much more than a DP448 with purple buttons.
If any of you have wanted to get hold of a Series 2 Dynamic EQ or Comp, and feel like you missed the boat (well, you did – that ship sailed some time ago – and finding one second hand is not an easy task!), all is not lost.
There are 4 channels’ worth of D2 multiband dynamics, and 8 channels’ worth of C2 compression added to the already extensive DP448 lineup, AND your DP448 presets will work in this too…
Watch the video and look forward to our DEQ in action clips coming along shortly…
Just a quick note to address an issue that has already come to light about Windows 8 (and Windows 7 as it turns out)…
Some of you may have experienced an error after installation of the latest release due to the file structure changing from Windows XP through Vista and into W7 causing a message to appear when you run this latest release of iCore:
“Error: cold not create new Image library file, GetLast error = 5”
This is due to a folder no longer existing within the Windows file structure. We have fixed this by moving this to the local program folder so you can now get the new version, 2.31, here.
Sorry about the inconvenience of having to download and reinstall – we hope the new features make up for it!
The latest version of iCore is now on-line with lots of tweaks and performance enhancements to make it quicker and easier to use.
Let’s start with the essential and inevitable bug fixes:
Firstly the off-line editing and then send settings bug has been fixed. Now, any off-line editing you do will be correctly applied to connected unit when you go back on-line. Remember how powerful this feature is, especially when configuring a system which includes DSP (be that 4 Series or DC/Ti1048s). You can commission the system at home and then connect to the devices on site, and download all the settings, including memories, preset scheduling (1048s only) and current system settings in a single dump, AND have a copy of this as an iCore .icd file as backup.
Secondly, if you have ever copied and pasted presets from a DP448 to a Ti or DC1048, with output level trim enabled in the preset, you may have discovered that the trim range was incorrect – the trim of output levels should be restricted to6dB around the preset value, but this range was being pasted in at 12dB around the preset value. Remember that if the gain trim is enabled when a preset is designed, this 6dB window is not adjustable (so you can’t select a 3dB window for example) .
So that’s the fixes done – now on to the nice stuff – the additions:
Reset to default option for 4 Series and Ti/DC1048 devices:
Remember – this leaves all outputs set to FULL RANGE – that’s why the mutes are ON by default!
You can now right click on a device in the device view and choose to “Reset to defaults”. This works with all 4 Series, and Ti and DC1048s. A word of warning – use with caution! Whilst this only affects the current settings (so this deosn’t delete preset/memories or anything else), it does open all crossover filters and flatten all EQ, setting gains to 0dB and on 1048s routes all inputs to all outputs (so each mix of the matrix is set to 0dB too). On 4 Series, all outputs are routed to input A only. Mutes are enabled on ins and outs to try and stop you making any expensive mistakes!
Move to zone option for easier large system management:
This augments the dragging and dropping functionality and works much better when there are devices off the bottom of the view list…
A right click on any device allows you to move it to another zone (assuming you have defined multiple zones). In a system with more than about 30 devices, the list of units can scroll off the end of the screen, and when there are zones included in this, it can become quite difficult to drag and drop units into the correct zones.
Skip button when scanning system added:
Got no DSP? Then skip past the search!
Pretty self explanatory (with the explanatory comment!). If you are using only Ti amps and network components, you can now skip the DSP ID searches (the ones where you specify the ID number via the individual units’ front panels) and jump straight to the fixed ID search (that uses the serial number chips built into every amp/breakout box).
Status display on bottom toolbar:
Anything that you need to know will show up as a blue bar here.
In combination with the addition of the zone collapse/expand arrows, there is new status bar notification of any problems with the system, such as a device going offline or an amplifier reaching a temperature threshold. Remember, if you want a device to stay as part of your system, but don’t want the warnings about it, you can right click on it in the device view and set it to be ignored.
Zone collapse/expand controls now also warning triangles:
Arrow will flash yellow to highlight if there is a problem in the zone, even when zone is collapsed.
This is pretty self explanatory – any device in a zone that requires attention will change its status indicator from green to yellow or red and the zone’s arrow will start to flash – the status bar notification will also change to blue and describe the problem as explained in the previous section.
Other improvements…
There are a variety of other little tweaks here and there, such as a bigger and clearer System Mute button (remember that enabling System Mute on a DC1048 or Ti1048 won’t show up on the front as there are no mute buttons or indicators, so if there’s no signal through them, perform a System Mute/Unmute operation!).
The zone collapse and expand animations have been sped up to help performance on older machines, and the comms system has been overhauled to reduce traffic in large systems – all devices only receive a “heartbeat” unless they are “in focus” now so large systems can be monitored at a faster rate.
One final thing – the integrated firmware updater for Ti amplifiers and breakout boxes has been replaced by a firmware checking tool in Tools > Show Device Firmware Status. Firmware updates will now be handled by the standard xta flashloader program and bundled in the zip file along with the firmware files, available on the website.
Another year, another Plasa…but not quite so this year. Oh no – this year it was all change at Plasa HQ with the imminent demise of Earls Court calling for a change of venue, and ExCel is where it’s at, post Olympics.
[Apparently the requested listed status was overturned by an “structurally unsound” report – don’t let progress get in the way of preservation of iconic buildings, developers of London…]
The regular readers amongst you will have read the ExCel reconnaissance post about the trip we undertook late last year as the Plasa marketing department started their campaign in earnest to debunk as many ExCel myths as possible and get companies on-side for the new show location in 2013.
We were suitably impressed with the presentation, and decided to give the show a go and see how the new site would work out.
BANNERS: Not the Miley Cyrus album misprint – the very smart Polar Audio stand ready for action!
In these austere times, and as we were hedging our bets about the success of the show somewhat(!), we decided on a theme this year that was application-centric as opposed to being product-centric. To this end, the main application areas we cover for both MC2 and xta, could be roughly split into three categories:
Live: Our bread and butter – covering concert hire, theatre, touring, events and festivals
Club: Often through our OEM partners this covers bespoke systems for high-end nightclubs and music venues
Install: It doesn’t end there – our gear also gets specc’ed into other more specialist venues and locations, such as cruise ships, sports stadia, NASA [no, really – read about it here and make sure you click on the bottom picture to be very impressed!]
PRESS: One sniff of a humous wrap or a glass of Pinot and they’re there!
So, the stand used these three categories across the board as Polar also distribute brands such as Aviom, Beyerdynamic and Mackie, so these could work for them too.
As for the show itself…well, despite the naysayers, there was a buoyant feeling to it all, maybe brought about by the novelty of the new venue as much as by the visitor numbers. There is still no getting round the fact that, as a certain magazine editor who shall remain nameless* asked – what does Plasa stand for? Pro Light and Some Audio? The balance has been shifting over the past few years and this change of location doesn’t appear to have done anything to redress this tilt towards lighting, lasers, smoke and fog.
As it was pointed out to me – audio manufacturers are at an immediate disadvantage in the show setting due to health and safety legislation (and general comfort of visitors), as it makes little sense for us to be setting up systems on stands in the middle of an open exhibition space and all blasting out sound. The reverberant build-up alone makes it pointless and generally unpleasant for everyone, even though the constant sweep, flash and blind of the lights is permitted…
Talking about “unpleasant for everyone though” – one comment that came up again and again was the subject of the temperature in the hall. We shouldn’t be moaning about having a few days of lovely weather in October, and indeed it made the time spent around and about the surrounding areas in the evening a very pleasant experience. However, combine mild evenings and warm days with a hall filled with big hot lights and suddenly you have a recipe for a sweaty (personally speaking of course!) uncomfortable atmosphere. A flick of the AC switch a couple of hours before the doors opened each day would have made a world of difference.
Enough of the moaning – so what could be done next year to improve the lot of the audio fraternity? I believe the AudioLab talks and presentations were well received at the show (covering interesting and diverse topics such as cracking Brazil (no nuts) – the untapped market in a country with more festivals than you ever thought possible, to handling comms at a huge sporting event full of balls (in this case Wimbledon). These lectures are great for customers and interesting for companies to attend, but in terms of B2B and B2C (please forgive these acronyms) they don’t help us showcase new gear or demonstrate our equipment.
Due to the way ExCel is organised and built, it doesn’t lend itself to demo rooms in the style we have been accustomed to with Earls Court and even Frankfurt, as the multitude of presentation rooms available are stud-walled moveable partition affairs, with suspended ceilings and glass all across the back. Great spaces for talks, not great for making a noise in.
We did have the speaker demo and shoot-out, with some concert format systems, club systems and portable systems fighting it out, but even that wasn’t the best organised affair – eyebrows were raised when it became apparent that switching between the smaller systems entailed quickly plugging/unplugging XLR cables during announcements – a little bit poor for a cutting edge audio technology demo! Note to PLASA – next year ask us and we will provide you with a slick iPad based switching system free of charge!
On the subject of the demos, it was interesting to see Pioneer enter the club arena with a lowered Vauxhall Corsa of a system, complete with “acoustic lenses” straight from the 80’s hifi boys:
Not enough drivers! HF “acoustic lenses” ensure your top end ends up in the carpet. These aren’t the Pioneers BTW – these are Sansui 😉
Here they are in situ at the shoot-out:
Wall of sound – the Pioneers are at the front of this shot. Big, arent’ they?
Hard to miss that “acoustic lens”, and hard to understand how it was making things better, to be truthful. The overall presentation from them wasn’t as shonky (technical term – this is a blog remember) as I had imagined, and if they got that HF mush sorted out, these might be OK as they were punchy and actually quite focussed in the midrange. However, even moving into the “beam” of the “lens” didn’t miraculously surround me in lovely crisp top end – it more bathed me in a swooshy wash of slush. Our friends with their lovely purple boxes don’t have to fear just yet!
Finally, a couple of much less important photos that just had to be used…somewhere. So if you’ve read this far you will distantly recall the pictures of the Polar Audio stand and how good it looked with its bold bright graphics. How many times have you seen the “hands in the air” shots to represent the live gig or festival experience? Rightly so of course – it’s what most people equate with a crowded music gig and it’s all part of the fun. We have used this ourselves, and there’s no shame in it. For a vertical format banner though it does’t quite work – turn it on its side and it starts to look like a screenshot of audio capture (I wonder if anyone has explored that yet?!).
So we needed a few individual concert-goer shots of the “rock” hands to play with. And this is where Richard came in…I think the photos explain everything.
Note the wristband I even gave him (which he put on the wrong hand!) – and the finished article – masterpiece!
*thanks for this Ryan – you can tell *ahem* I have paraphrased him!
Whilst we have had our youtube channel set up for some time now, we’ve not had the facilities to utilise it for anything other than software training videos. So, to reintroduce the human element into proceedings, we set up a video recording studio last week, complete with lighting desk, moving head lights, audio desk and wireless mics, autocue and HD camera.
Lights, camera, erm…Richard? You’re on…
After hours of careful scripting and rehersals (no really – we did rehearse this), the first training material was ready for (heavy) editing. And so our first Datasheet Live! edition was born.
Join us after the break, when we’ll have the weather forecast for the week ahead.
This one is on the DS8000 and the DS8000D and we reckon it’s turned out pretty well. The sound could do with a little NR due to undisableable (technical term) AGC on the camera (we’ve not gone quite as far as TC and separate AV tracks yet!), but you can watch it now and judge for yourselves here.
All comments gratefully received, and if you’ve any suggestions for topics to cover, we’d like to know. George Lucas has already been pestering us on the phone but we’ve politely said thanks but no thanks 😉
Just a quick post to highlight this update in case anyone receives a mix of 4 Series units and wonders why the DP424 has been bumped up to 2.21 whilst all the others are on 2.20. This version has been introduced as a “belt & braces” version as we discovered an occasional circumstance that was causing noise issues on an isolated batch of units. This was specific to 424 units only, and completely resolves it. All DP424 units may be safely updated with this version, regardless.
However, let’s get one thing straight here – we do NOT recommend doing any downgrading of firmware and may the following cautionary tale be a warning to you all! (cue maniacal laughter).
A customer recently took delivery of a significant number of DP424 units (coincidentally), already being a loyal XTA customer and having a good number of 4 Series units in his (or her) inventory.
Unboxing and turning them on he (or she) discovered that these new units were running version 2.20, and their current stock were a little behind the times and had 1.80 in them. Now, the sensible thing to do under these circumstances would have been to upgrade the older ones to the latest version, but he (or she – OK I am fed up with the gender ambiguity – it was a male!) decided that using a PCMCIA card, copying the 1.80 firmware to a card and downgrading the new units so they all matched was the way to go.
This was not the way to go. The unit would warn you when you put the card in with an older version of firmware that this was not the way to go. I repeat – it was not the way to go!
So he updates the units and they reboot. Only they won’t boot. The reason they won’t boot is because version 1.80 only recognises the older DSP platform used in earlier 4 Series, whilst the new version will recognise both platforms and work with all units. So now he has a pile of bricked units, with no version 2.20 firmware in any that he can even copy onto a card and permit a reflash.
Of course we were able to get this sorted out for him and get all the units updated again but the moral of the tale is – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it (unless you are upgrading)!
Both of them fleeting, both of them British, both of them brilliant. One of them owned my me and in my studio and , despite what you might have assumed, it’s not the NXBoB – it’s the MPC.
I’ve not got the ZX81 any more, and my MPC is mysteriously missing its flight case, but it still works and has contributed many bonks and hisses to several tracks…
A heady mix of barely 8 bit digital control and noisy analogue filters and oscillators and even a couple of noise sources, the MPC is capable of synthesising a real drum kit to the same startling levels as I am able to play a real drum kit – that is – not very well. It honks and hisses like an angry goose, and restarts in the middle of a sequence, but despite all this I love it. I don’t love it enough to actually sync it up any more, to be fair, so these days it’s samples of loops that make it into tracks, not real time bongs 😉
Now let’s move forward nearly 30 years to the other product in question – the NXBoB. After undertaking development work for MC2 for the Ti Series amplifiers, breakout boxes and processors, we did a lot of listening tests with the TiBoBs, being fed 96k networked audio, up against a DP448, and a Lake processor, also getting a networked audio feed.
Initially, the TiBoB didn’t quite seem to be on a par with the other two processors, but this was a slightly unfair test as the BoB was running at 48k, as opposed to 96k. Blind tests were always able to pinpoint the BoB – not that it sounded in any way poor – just that it could be chosen meant that it wasn’t quite as transparent. A software update later, to allow to run at 96k, and things became a lot closer.
Based on these results, the decision was made to rebadge this as an XTA NX product – and the NXBoB was born. However, this was to be a fleeting product, due to the fact that we didn’t have, at the time of release, any method of getting audio onto a network and until this was resolved, we did not want to release “half” a solution.
The good news is that in the MC2 portfolio, the TiBoBs fitted in much better with the entire Ti product range, as there are amplifiers and a processor to compliment it. The TiBoB also has a few other tricks up its sleeve as it can monitor any connected Ti amps to check they are present/working/connected correctly to their speakers, and report this info back without the need of a connected computer – a bonus for installations where keeping it simple for operators is a priority.
There are 8 & 16 channel versions, available with Cobranet (as shown) or Dante capabilities.
The TiBoBs can also operate at 48k and 96k (switchable at start-up and remembered at power down). The unit can be configured via iCore for its amplifier babysitting duties, but if you don’t need that, it will work straight out of the box as a multichannel soundcard or network breakout, configuring the streams via the requisite Cobranet or Dante software.
If you want to find out more then head over to MC2’s site or download a datasheet directly here!
