Announced at the 2023 AES Convention in New York City by DiGiCo and Fourier Audio, the new transform.engine, a Dante-connected server designed to run VST3-native plugins in live environments, is now available following a six-month beta test period. (For a current list of dealers and distributors, visit the “where to buy” section of the Fourier Audio website.)
Housed in a 2U touring-grade chassis with dual redundant power supplies, it includes a patent-pending audio software engine providing a “sandbox” with plugins ring-fenced from each other. Should a plugin crash, the rest of the system will not only be unaffected, but the transform.engine will immediately restart that plugin to restore the original integrity of the mix.
The new device is capable of operating in conjunction with virtually any professional digital console on the market via Dante, using the Windows/macOS application to control the engine. The transform.engine can also process audio stand-alone with no computer required. It’s controlled remotely by a Windows/macOS application, with plugin user interfaces “teleported” and controlled in low latency over the network.
Several front of house engineers and heads of sound have served as beta testers, with comments that include:
Jamie Tinsley (Fred Again): “Finally, someone has made a product that the industry has long been waiting for. Although using a version without all of the features yet enabled, I was able to run my plugins non-stop for an entire month with no issues, no audio dropouts, and next to zero latency, flipping the bypass in and out on my Quantum338 without hearing any timing slip. It’s clear that the box is stable, and I’ve already bought one for myself. Super-excited!”
Marc Carolan (Muse): “The ability to expand the plugin palette on a rock-solid platform will make the transform.engine an indispensable piece of kit. I was a very early beta tester, but it imbued such confidence that it was immediately put to work on the Will of the People tour!”
Rampton (Professor Green): “The transform.engine is a dream to work with.”
Tony Smith (Coldplay): “It’s been a pleasure working with Fourier Audio over the past few months beta testing the transform.engine. The ability to run any plugin, beyond Waves, is exciting to say the least, and also being able to integrate it into our DiGiCo workflow is a game-changer. It gives us the ability to take any studio tool out on the road.”
German Tarazona (Maluma): “For me, it was a great surprise to have the ability to integrate different brands of plugins in such a simple way, and, most importantly, with an almost imperceptible latency through my DMI-DANTE64@96 card.”
Fourier Audio co-founder Henry Harrod adds, “We are thrilled to have received such wonderful feedback from our beta testers during the past few months and are eager to make the transform.engine available to engineers worldwide. We look forward to seeing how creatives utilize it effectively and harness the capabilities of the very best audio plugins for their projects.”
“The Fourier Audio and DiGiCo teams have eagerly anticipated the widespread release of the transform.engine, and we can’t wait for the live production communities to finally have the pleasure of reliably bringing their favorite studio processing to tours and events,” concludes DiGiCo managing director Austin Freshwater. “The engineers that were given an early test drive of the product have all come back with fantastic compliments, and we know that this system is going to soon put smiles on a lot of faces at front of house.”
