Allen & Heath has announced the launch of Avantis Solo, the second member of the Avantis mixer family that condenses the power of the platform into a 12-fader, single-screen package.
“Since launching in 2019, Avantis has been scooping up accolades including the TEC Award for Small Console Technology and the MMR Dealers Choice Product of the Year,” says Jack Kenyon, product specialist at Allen & Heath. “We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback from engineers, venues, houses of worship, and rental companies, with the consensus being that the only thing missing was a smaller model that sacrificed none of Avantis’ audio capabilities. Enter Avantis Solo, taking everything that engineers love about Avantis while reducing the footprint by nearly 50 percent.”
Based on XCVI, Allen & Heath’s next-generation 96 kHz FPGA engine, Avantis Solo delivers the same 64-channel, 42 bus architecture as Avantis, running at a stated 0.7 ms latency, with full onboard processing and 12 RackExtra FX slots, all housed in Avantis’ lightweight alloy shell and tubular frame.
Control is handled via 12 faders with 6 layers providing a total of 72 fader strips, a full HD 15.6-inch touchscreen with dedicated rotary controls plus 18 assignable SoftKeys, all tied together via the Continuity UI to give users the same connection between physical controls and the display as the dual-screen Avantis.
Avantis Solo is equipped with 6 XLR analog inputs, 6 XLR analog outputs, plus AES (Stereo In, Stereo Out). The integrated SLink port enables connection to Everything I/O, Allen & Heath’s ecosystem of remote expanders, plus the ME personal mixing system. Two I/O ports allow the use of the full range of dLive/Avantis option cards, including Dante, Waves, gigaACE, MADI and more, expanding the scope for system integration, digital splits and multitrack recording. Avantis Solo is also compatible with the full range of IP controllers.
Also onboard are full-fat channel processing and FX, Automatic Mic Mixing (AMM), plus Allen & Heath’s next-generation RTA engine and in-mixer Shure and Sennheiser RF integration, letting users do more in the mixer and less on multiple laptops at the mix position. Upgrading to dPack brings dLive processing to Avantis Solo, including the Dyn8 dynamics engine (up to 16 instances), Allen & Heath’s DEEP compressors and expanders, plus the Dual-Stage Valve preamp. dPack purchasers automatically receive all future DEEP and FX updates at no cost.
Outside of the mixer, Avantis Director software enables online control and offline editing, while the MixPad app grants remote wireless mixing via iPad. Performers can benefit from the OneMix iOS app and the upcoming, cross-platform, Avantis4You app, both of which offer personal monitor mixing from the stage.
“At half the size of the dual-screen Avantis, yet lacking none of the power, Avantis Solo will be welcomed by owner-operators, corporate AV, and rental houses thanks to its compatibility with their existing stock of Allen & Heath expanders and networking cards,” adds Kenyon. “Additionally, smaller venues and houses of worship will embrace the top-end mixing experience in a form factor that can be easily dropped into mix positions where space is at a premium.”
