Aten have flagged up an issue with a run of serial numbers for their converts that mean they won’t work with Windows 8. This might have been resolved for Windows 10 but in case you might be affected – this is what they said:
“If the 8th /9th digit of the serial number (S/N Z3DA-099BP-4304) is between A1~A9, AA~AZ, B1~B9, or BA~BK, it is not supported by Windows 8. Please use a “BL” or newer version of the UC232A with Win8. The serial number is located on the UC-232A”
Checking our stock of converters, it seems like these would be pretty old ones, and is only an issue in Windows 8.
If you are having problems in other versions of Windows, make sure you’ve got the latest drivers – they’re on our site here.
Remote control of our units has been built-in and considered since we first developed the DP100, with its options of MIDI, RS232 and RS485 interfaces.
As we always want you to be able to use you equipment no matter what interfaces they support for remote control or connecting peripherals, we try to find solutions that will enable this as simply as possible.
We have overhauled two of our solutions to simplify not only the parts required, but of course to also make things work better!
Firstly, long distance comms for RS485 connections to a PC or laptop.
We have tested many USB to Serial adapters over the years and our recommendation for a simple USB to RS232 adapter still stands – the Aten UC232A. Aten US-232a
This uses an industry standard chip (made by FTDI if you are feeling particularly techhie!) to handle the protocol conversion and this chip (and so its associated drivers) are also used in the DC1048, and the MC2 Ti1048 to provide a direct USB connection.
Our original solution to extending this to RS485 (as RS232 is limited to about 25 feet, although it will run reliably further at lower baud rates) so extending this range to 1000m and allowing a network of units to connect was to add an RS232 to RS485 adapter onto this. The KK Systems K2-ADE adapter worked well for this and so we had a kit consisting of the Aten adapter, the KK Systems adapter, and an D-type to XLR cable converter so you had a USB – RS485 on XLR solution ready to plug straight in. This KK Systems K2-ADE adapter is added to the Aten adapter to make it a USB-RS485 converter.
Recently, some users have been experiencing difficulties with this solution, especially under Windows 8 – issues with AudioCore not picking up all connected units, or not getting all data back from them successfully. This has turned out to be a Windows serial comms timing issue and beyond our control.
So we looked for a hardware answer to sort this out.
We came up with a new converter that offers a direct USB-RS485 solution in a much more elegant (and cost effective!) manner, and still uses the same reliable chipset as we have been used to. This adapter will replace the combination above for a more streamlined elegant solution direct to RS485 for AudioCore.
Note that this solution is for AudioCore only – we still have a different adapter to work with iCore for control of MC2 Ti Series amplifiers, processors and Dante breakout boxes. iCore does also support 4 Series (and DP548) as well as DC1048s and Ti1048s and so offers an alternative remote platform if you use these together. This USB-485 adapter is only for use with iCcore systems.
The iCore solution is this KK Systems adapter which again does direct USB-RS485, but due to the fact that the Ti Series products were forced to run at 57600 fixed baud rate (due to having to support Cobranet breakout boxes and their maximum data tunnelling speed), we have to do it slightly differently yet again!
All of this might feel a little confusing but it’s all summarised in the Remote Interface Guide (get it here) along with order codes and what’s supplied with each adapter, and a handy decision tree to help you choose the correct one for you application.
Going Wireless – new Walkabout Kit.
We’ve also been working hard on getting a new “Walkabout Kit” solution together, allowing both wired and wireless Ethernet connection to all units. Some of you have been experiencing problems with the latest DiGi Wisp WiFi to Serial converter – primarily seeing it on your list of available networks. A change in the firmware supplied with the units has unfortunately made them less than ideal to work with due to the fact that once we set them up here, if there are problems “in the field”, resetting them now renders them invisible on WiFi SSID searches, and they need to be manually reconfigured with a serial cable. We realsie this is just not practical in most circumstances. We will no longer supply them.
Instead we have changed to a Moxa NPort wired Ethernet to serial converter. This has several advantages. Firstly, and probably most importantly, upon a hard reset, the device can always be discovered and reconfigured as it has a wired Ethernet connection! Secondly, this solution can “go wireless” simply by plugging into a standard router, making it part of existing networks, instead of being an “ad-hoc” peer-to-peer connection. Lastly, it’s just much better! Set-up in greatly simplified and it’s more robust and reliable. Everything you would want!
Moxa NPort 5150 – a simpler, more reliable solution to Ethernet and Wifi remote connections.
The Walkabout Kit will no longer include an external USB-WiFi adapter as every device now comes with it built in and the quality has improved to the point that we don’t think it’s necessary to add this extra level of complexity. If you’re interested in finding out more about the Moxa Nport and how we configure it, there’s a guide on-line here which explains all.
This is it for hall 8.0. From next year, it’s all about halls 3, 4 & 5 as the show moves to a larger area, which is going to cause a great shake-ups in who goes where and there will, no doubt, be the haters and the lovers, as it were.
Let’s discuss that all later but this year, we were certainly in with the “lovers”. We loved it – our stand looked great, with APA front and centre attracting all sorts of great attention.
Before… …and after!
Set-up went very well, with the gamble on hanging a 6 foot screen running an animation of the APA meters designed to overlap a wall graphic, all designed “on spec”, coming together beautifully, even if I do say so myself! You can see it in action here…
APA generated a lot of interest, and it was great for both us and Funktion One…if you watched that short video to the end, the eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted that we had APA on demo in the F1 listening room. Originally they had agreed to have APA powering their formidable floor standing DJ monitor system – a beast in its own right.
What we ended up with, was APA powering their brand new Evo-6 system, making its debut at PLS 2015! It’s a testament to how good the amplifier sounds that they were happy to use it on their brand new system – it was running in 4 ways a side – 4 x F121s on a single channel, plus the 3 way Evo-6 box on the other three channels – and one APA per side.
After seeing the amps in action on the stand, it was great to be able to direct people to the demo room and let them have a listen to them in action – we had many unsolicited responses to them (and to the Evo-6 system which was sounding fantastic – the combination clearly worked well!) and all were wholly positive.
You obviously won’t be able to appreciate the quality in this video, but it’s still cool to see the amps at work in the room, and if you’ve never visited Funktion One’s demo room at PLS, it’s a suitably slick affair, all powered with XTA processing 96 channels in use this year) and using MC2 amplification (and some APA too this year!)
The other aspect of APA that was raising eyebrows, in a good way, was our demo of the remote software. We had two systems running- one on a Windows PC, and one on a Macbook Air – this was pleasing a lot of poeple to see that we were developing natively on both platforms and both were at the same stage. APA and PC
APA and Mac
With APA set to power some serious summer stages and clubs this coming season, it seems as if it’s gaining a great reputation already for top class sound quality as well as high power delivery and performance. Our theme for the show was “Processing Power” and this is exactly what APA does!
Going full circle now, the powers that be in Frankfurt have decided that the Pro side of things has run out of space (I would beg to differ as there was certainly extra divided off areas in hall 8.0) and wants to move not just the show, but the dates for 2016. This will mean four days still, but running Tuesday to Friday, and changing the times from 9-6 to 10-7. Ultimately, this doesn’t change the overall period the show is on for, but what might be significant is that the overlap between ProLight and MusikMesse will now be reduced as the all things musical instrument related show will now run Thursday – Sunday instead.
Only time will tell how much impact this will have on overall attendance. The move to halls 3,4 and 5 might be a good thing as they all open directly onto a central square, so inviting more outdoor sessions, which traditionally haven’t been that well attended.
Whatever happens, we will see you there next year, somewhere….!
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! 🙂
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!
Things have been so busy here at XTA towers since Frankfurt, I didn’t even get a chance to do some debriefing about the show, and this has got to be a good thing, hasn’t it?
I had loads of cool pictures of crazy gear and interesting kit, plus the obligatory pre-during but no post stand shots (got a better one than that!), so here’s a quick round-up…
Things always look bad that this stage……and then it all comes together beautifully. Our Windows 8 inspired displays looked very fetching!
And the biggest amplifier (physically at least) goes to this monster, as seen in the new “International Procurement” hall 9.1 – so for that read “Chinese and Asian manufacturers” – a little unfair to dump them all in here and, judging by the feedback, I don’t think it will happen this way again. Anyway – that amp:
An “interesting” 1.5U chassis, which also happens to be about the same depth as an average double bed. Lovely build quality though..
Going a little more “off-piste” as far as pro-audio goes, I did also investigate the synth museum in hall 5, which housed mint examples of nearly every keyboard I could remember, and several oddities that I couldn’t. This shot shows an odd little device, which looks like a kid’s first computer from the Speak & Spell era, and unfortunately my phone’s camera didn’t get the best shot of it…if anyone knows what it is and its relevance in a synth museum, please let me know.
I don’t think the mini-traffic cone is relevant but, set against the black background, it almost looks like it’s CGI!
It was good to catch up with some old friends at the show, and it wasn’t long before Bill (Woods) was over to see us and fill us in on how things were going at Funktion One – we had a demo of the new DJ monitors which I did think were the best thing I had heard in a long time. Don’t know if there are plans to make them a production speaker, but they were certainly attracting attention and made their presence felt both sonically and visually!
They were only upstaged by this photo of Bill doing some real work on the Funktion One stand:
You missed a bit. Bill mops all the speakers away.
And finally, in a short but enduring series, this year’s favourite non-native English speaking typo, courtesy of, well, that would be telling (and possibly liabilous!) – see if you can spot it:
Say what you see: here’s a clue – it’s in the main banner. I do hope someone told them. You can click on the pic to examine it in more detail.
We had a great show and now it’s only a few days until the next big ones – InfoComm in Orlando, where you can catch up with Richard Fleming and John Austin in attendance with our US distributor Group One, and at the Palm Expo in Beijing with Thim and friends at ST-Audio.
So back to the main thrust of this post – the DS8000D – D for DIGITAL!
We debuted the AES version of the DS8000 in Frankfurt, connected up to a example application system that had two units synced together via their wordclock I/O and converted to a MADI stream to give 16 track recording to a laptop, as well as another set of transformer isolated AES outputs to feed other hardware. And all of this is on top of the standard 32 analogue outputs on the unit!
There are previous posts that go into this in more detail and there’s a datasheet if you want the whole story. A few things are worth mentioning here. We are stocking two versions of the unit, as opposed to offer the AES connectivity as an option. This just makes it less confusing for everyone! So there is the DS8000 and the DS8000D.
We have received some requests from distributors for D-sub breakout cables to support the DS8000D,
and we can source these if required:
1.5m length DB25 to 8 Neutrik XLRs
1.5m length DB25 to 4 Neutrik XLRs
1.5m length DB25 to DB25 (4 outs only wired – so one full set of outputs)
The best news of all is that both versions are shipping now!
As we gear up for ProLight+Sound in Frankfurt this year, to help celebrate our 21st Anniversary Year, we have launched a competition on facebook with some very cool, very exclusive prizes…
1) Like our page (if you’ve not already done so!) AND THE POST to be in with a chance of winning.
2) There are 2 VERY limited edition anniversary versions of our DP548 Dynamic Audio Management System as main prizes, ONE to be given away to the worthy winner and shipped anywhere in the world and ONE to be presented to the winner at ProLight+Sound on Thursday 11th April at 5pm. We’re with Atlantic Audio Hall 8.0 Stand F60.
3) If you can attend the show and are prepared to pick up the prize there (and get a free invitation to the after-show party!) make sure you leave a comment on this post saying “PARTY PICKUP!”.
4) If you can’t make it to the show but still want to be in with a chance, leave a comment on this post saying “SHIP IT!”
There will also be runners up prizes of exclusive 21st Anniversary T-shirts for 21 lucky winners – and you’ll also get an invitation to the aftershow party so if you can make it to ProLight and Sound you’ll be guaranteed a good night!
