Digital consoles typically aren’t limited in terms of interconnect to what’s physically included within the control surface, expandable with a variety of stage boxes that provide a wealth of inputs and outputs as well as routing and more in both the digital and analog realms.
Many of these boxes also carry the console’s “mix engine” and remote controllable microphone preamps, along with facilitating networking with other system components and handy for all sorts of outboard recording and playback, broadcast feeds, and interfacing with additional consoles.
The most utilized pro audio networking protocol is Dante from Audinate. AES, MADI, CobraNet and EtherSound are among other widely used protocols, while several manufacturers have also developed protocols for interfacing their own audio devices, and sometimes others.
The biggest difficulty with the variety of network protocols is that they’re not easily compatible with each other in a “plug and play” way; however, in many cases this can be solved with “bridge” devices.
A nifty new bridge introduced earlier this year is the Orange Box from DiGiCo, providing a pair of DMI (DiGiCo Multichannel Interface) card slots that allow users to choose from a wide range of protocols in creating an audio path, including Dante, Hydra 2, MADI (on coax or cat cable), Aviom, Optocore, ADC, AES, DAC and Soundgrid.
Further, the developing AVB (Audio Video Bridging) set of standards is focused on creating an interoperable ecosystem of low-latency, time-synchronized, highly reliable synchronized networked devices using open standards through certification by the AVnu Alliance.
Against this backdrop, let’s take a look at the connectivity offered by a variety of recent digital consoles and their stage boxes, along with some increasingly popular rack-mount mixers that have hit the market within the past year or so.
The new Allen & Heath dLive Series (distributed in the U.S. by American Music & Sound) is available with three surfaces (20, 28 and 36 faders) and three DM MixRacks that also contain the mix engines.
All of the surfaces are equipped with 8 XLR mic/line inputs, 8 XLR line outputs, 2 digital stereo AES3 ins, 3 digital stereo AES3 outs, and a USB stereo recording and playback. Each surface also provides a dual redundant GigaACE gigabit link for the accompanying MixRack, a redundant DX link for I/O expansion, 2 I/O ports (128 channels, 96 kHz each) and 2 network ports.
DM MixRacks are available in 32 mic/line ins x 16 outs, 48 mic/line ins x 24 outs and 64 mic/line ins x 32 outs. All can work with up to 128 input channels and 64 mix outputs by adding DX expanders or patching digital sources. There’s also dual redundant GigaACE gigabit links to the control surface, 2 redundant DX links for I/O expansion, 3 I/O ports, a 48 kHz port for the ME-1 personal mixing system, and 2 network ports.
The VENUE S6L from Avid, now shipping, is also available with a choice of three control surfaces in sizes from 24 to 32 faders (plus 2). All surfaces have 8 onboard mic/line ins and 8 outs as well as 4 stereo AES ins and 4 stereo AES outs. Two available mix engines are differentiated primarily by channel and plugin counts. The E6l-144 supports up to 144 channels and 64 mix buses (plus L/C/R) and 125 plugin slots, while the larger E6L-192 delivers 192 input channels, 96 mix buses (plus LCR) and 200 plugin slots.
Each engine also includes 5 USB ports and an AVB-192 Ethernet AVB network card with two ports, selectable as etherCON (copper) or SFP (fiber), with redundant ring topology. (Support for up to two AVB cards is coming soon.) And, option cards are also available for recording and playing back up to 64 audio tracks via AVB. MADI and Thunderbolt.
VENUE Stage 64 racks provide the main I/O for the S6L system. Each rack can be fitted with up to 64 ins and 32 outs, accompanied by a selection of a variety of analog and digital option cards, including AES, ADAT, and Dante.
The DiGiCo S21 offers a lot of processing and routing options in a compact package. It includes 21 faders and 2 touch screens, and can process 40 flexi (stereo or mono) input channels and 46 output buses, including 16 flexi aux/submaster buses. It carries 24 mic/line ins and 12 analog outs plus 2 AES I/O (mono). Dual DMI option card slots accept up to 64 additional I/O per slot, and 2 Ethernet ports facilitate networking. The USB2 I/O interface accommodates recording and playback of up to 48 channels.
Stage box choices abound, with DiGiCo offering 8 different racks that can be configured with analog and digital ins and outs including AES/EBU, Dante, AES-42, ADAT, HD-SDI, and Aviom. Some of the larger stage boxes also accept DiGiCo D-TuBe inputs, which are tube preamps that can replace the last 8 inputs.
