Stage Tec has announced the release of a new control card for its Nexus audio routing system: based on the ARM architecture, the processor of the XACI Nexus Advanced Control Interface is designed to handle complex control operations inside a Nexus system. The original XCI will remain in the line-up.
Among its advantages, the Nexus audio router is capable of handling control operations all by itself. So far, this required installing an XCI card. With its ARM-based Cortex A9 processor, the XACI provides processing power while also enabling tighter system integration.
In addition to processing power, other highlights of the XACI card include a fanless 3U build in a small footprint as well as the possibility to access the Nexus audio bus. The benefit of this approach is that users can now use audio files rather than sine waves for line detection purposes. In addition, Nexus can now be used as an automated public-address system during events. Depending on the application, functionalities that once required
external hardware can now be integrated into Nexus.
The XACI card 800MHz processor has ample headroom for control operations beyond a serial control interface. It comes with a 4GB SSD memory as standard that can be expanded via the mSATA connector to cater to databases. The card has 2GB of RAM, two USB Host ports and a GBit Ethernet switch with three ports.
“From a hardware point of view, this card is ready to take on any present or future challenge, like applications based on the OCA protocol or intricate network-based control structures. Not to mention the integration of applications that used to require external PCs as a hosting platform, such as webservers for On Air Flex,” rejoices René Harder of Stage Tec.
The first device to be supplied with the XACI card as standard will be the Stage Tec On Air Flex broadcast console. Here, Stage Tec leverages the card for system integration and for use as a web server controlled from the console, which used to require an external PC.