UK - d&b audiotechnik has announced the dates for its Sound System Design seminars in the Cotswolds. These increasingly popular seminars address the acoustic signal path between the loudspeaker and the listener's ears. d&b's John Taylor, an experienced presenter with his own distinctive style, believes that, if you are passionate about sound system design, then you need to make it sound good for every listener in the house.
The seminars exists solely for that purpose, there's no fluff, no puff; just comprehensive electro-acoustics with all the physics you'll need thrown in. The style is friendly and the demonstrations memorable! Up coming dates are January 14th, February 4th, March 10th, April 7th.To book a seat either e-mail details to the address below or apply via the website.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
Canada - Centre in the Square in Kitchener, Ontario, has installed an InnovaSON Sy80 digital live mixing console in its prestigious Raffi Armenian Theatre, one of North America's most acoustically superior halls. The first of its type to be installed in Canada, the Sy80 console will be used to mix a wide variety of performances.
The Sy80 console was selected to replace a vintage analogue console for a combination of reasons, as Chief Engineer Bob Luffman explains: "The space occupied by the console is in the midst of the seating which is at a premium; the Sy80 has a much smaller footprint and for many events has freed up a number of seats for paying customers. The physical compactness is also important as I need access to console functions without a lot of physical movement that might distract patrons around me. We regularly put on shows with a rock band backed by an orchestra and need the full 80 inputs. The auditorium's sound system is designed for zone coverage, which requires a console with a large matrix output capability. Also the versatility of the console is important to us because we do so many different forms of entertainment."
The Theatre/Auditorium is home to the highly successful Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony whose 52 member orchestra presents 70 concerts each season. Performers enthuse about the stage acoustics while audience are amazed at how the sound has the same warmth and brilliance in the back row as in the very front. All 2,047 seats enjoy clear unobstructed views of the stage and the acoustics can be adjusted according to the type of
UK - FX Cimple Solutions, the service and repair division of the FX Group, has been appointed the sole UK service centre for Harman Pro UK brands JBL Professional, AKG, dbxPro, Digitech and DOD with immediate effect. The announcement follows the closure of the Arbiter Group's pro audio division, which has led to the formation of the Harman Pro Group to handle UK distribution of JBL Professional, dbx and AKG. Digitech and DOD product lines are now being distributed in the UK by Fender.
The announcement was made following a meeting in October with FX Cimple Solutions' managing director Cliff Whitehead, and Harman Music Group's European sales manager Glen Harris and sales operations manager David Fata. "We're really happy to be working with Cimple Solutions, and they came highly recommended," says Harris. "These brands all have massive customer bases and it is great news that we can now provide them with a reliable 24-hour service and backup support," adds Whitehead.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Lighting designer Durham Marenghi has been chosen to design the lighting for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Oympics in Turin, Italy, in 2006. The event will be designed by Mark Fisher and produced by the Italian group Filmmaster.
Marenghi has also revealed that he is to return to London's Royal Albert Hall in November with Classical Spectacular, the son-et-lumiere of favourite classical pieces featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and accompanied by a new lighting and laser design. The sell-out event, conducted by Anthony Inglis and produced by Raymond Gubbay, runs from the 20-23 November.
Marenghi's work can currently be seen illuminating the world tour of Diamonds for Holiday on Ice and the UK national tour of Saturday Night Fever.
(Lee Baldock)
Norway - R.E.M. recently wrapped up a 10-day tour of Europe to promote their new album In Time: The Best of R.E.M 1988-2003 with a special performance in Oslo, Norway, open only to fan club members, contest winners and media. The venue, known only to a selected few prior to the event, was an old factory called Uderholdningsfabrikke now dedicated to concert and event production. Midas's Norwegian distributor, AVAB-CAC provided staging, lights and sound for the show, including two Midas Heritage 3000 consoles to take care of both FOH and monitors.
According to AVAB-CAC's Asle Nilsen, the consoles were specifically requested by FOH engineer Joe Ravitch and his colleague on monitors who have both stated that they prefer to mix on an analogue board. "There isn't an engineer in the world who isn't familiar with a Heritage 3000, so if it's a top quality analogue console you're looking for, you can't go far wrong. Indeed, for a significant majority, as was the case here, it is their console of choice," commented Asle Nilsen. "I'm pleased to say the show was a huge success. Not only was it highly anticipated - tickets were going on the black market for the equivalent of £500 - but the band were in great form."
R.E.M.'s manager, Bertis Downs commented on the industrial venue: "It's been a long time since we played a rave, and the guys had a great time! They were glad to be back here and excited to play for audience members from several countries in Scandinavia."
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Pioneer has introduced the DVJ-X1, which combines the proven Pioneer CD Jog Dial technology with the flexibility and capacity of DVD. With this new system, Pioneer says it is now leading the way towards the creation of a completely original leisure activity and the emergence of a new breed of performer - the DVJ - combining the skills of a DJ and VJ.
With the well-known Pioneer Jog Dial at its centre, the DVJ-X1 looks just like the company's CDJ-1000MK2 CD player, but with the added capacity to playback DVDs as well as CDs. Because it imitates the form and functionality of the CDJ-1000MK2, the DVJ-X1 will be familiar to digital DJs who have used this unit and will allow them to use Pioneer's new unit to manipulate DVD visuals in exactly the same way as they would with music: real-time digital video scratches, loops and instant cues are all possible with the DVJ-X1, while the video and audio streams always stay in sync, even when they're being reversed and pitched.
To add a further dimension to the concept, Pioneer envisages a near-future scenario where two DVJ-X1s are linked together via a fully integrated audio and visual mixer. This set-up will allow the digital sound and vision from the two separate sources to be mixed and scratched on the fly - in the same way as DJs create audio mixes in their live sets today.
The DVJ-X1 offers even greater flexibility in performance by including on-board memory capacity as well as a SD Card slot - just like the CDJ-1000MK2. On the DVJ-X1, this allows for AV loops and cue points to be stored, either on-board or on a
Denmark - Mach has added a range of highly aesthetic ceiling speakers to its installation series. Designed to blend, the new CS in-ceiling speakers are a range of attractive recess ceiling speakers for multi purpose applications.
The range consists of three coaxial speakers in 5", 6" and 8" sizes with a built-in 100/70V transformer with 8ohms option. With up to four individual power settings in 100/70 Volt mode, the CS5, CS6 and CS8 are extremely flexible, suiting a wide range of applications. With straightforward connections and attachment locks, Mach's in-ceiling speakers are easy to install. Featuring a true, natural sound in a lean cabinet, the CS series is aimed primarily at clubs, bars, restaurants and retail applications.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Andy Reed's APR Audio is gearing up for expansion into the continental market, setting up to become Europe's largest dry-hire source of Electro-Voice branded sound reinforcement systems. Based in south-west England, APR Audio entered the pro audio rental sector in some style in 2002, purchasing a substantial inventory of EV X-Line, X-Array and XLC system hardware, complete with the latest remote controlled amplifiers and Midas consoles. Reed has been gradually consolidating his equipment stocks; APR now owns the largest dry-hire stock of Electro-Voice equipment in Europe.
With the addition of more staff at his Taunton HQ, Reed is ready to take his operation further afield. "With Electro-Voice systems being specified on so many shows these days, we wanted to take advantage of the opportunities in a larger market. The economics of modern touring, with fewer long tours on the road, make it more viable for sound companies to dry-hire equipment rather than buy it. We can supply everything EV, from a single microphone to a stadium system, at a highly competitive price and with superior back-up service."
In preparation for the new initiative, APR Audio has stocked up with an order of 12 new EV RE-1 wireless microphones, plus "a huge inventory of cable mics. I tried virtually every wireless mic on the market and the RE-1s came out best for me. With ClearScan and the other software options, you can set up a whole show package that'll run an army of mics."
The APR catalogue details three different EV systems, the flagship X-Line and X-Array arena
Lesa Kinney, once at Apogee, is now international sales manager at Furman Sound, the established audio and music technology manufacturer also located in Petaluma, California. Here was a genuine agenda, with the emphasis on the word 'international' in her title: "Furman Sound has placed a lot of its marketing and engineering resources lately in the home theatre industry, data communications and systems integration," she said, "while continuing to focus on the MI and contractor market. Until recently, most of this activity has been focused on the domestic North American market.
"We are now thinking globally. We now design 230V products as we are developing domestic products. We're doing market research internationally, and directing publicity and press releases to international publications. In order to make it easier for our distributors to get information from us in a timely fashion, we 've created an international website. Here, our distributors can download data sheets - soon to be available in different languages - keep abreast of new product introductions, and overall be informed of company activities, personnel changes and new product launches."
This spring, for the first time in the company's history, an International Distributor Council will be formed at the Frankfurt MusikMesse. According to Kinney, the duties of the council will include polling other distributors with concerns, making marketing recommendations, developing operational policies and generally acting as a sound-board to give the company an idea of how it's being perceived b
Australia - Before the blood started to flow in the tournament proper, the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup on Friday 10 October was the latest stunning spectacle to grace Sydney's Olympic Stadium. The event ushered in the largest sporting event of 2003, and was broadcast live to an estimated one billion people worldwide.
Chameleon Touring Systems provided lighting designer Mark Hammer with a rig that included over 350 intelligent lighting fixtures. The rig, predominantly Martin Pro, included MAC 2000 washlights, MAC 2000 profiles, MAC 2000 Performances, MAC 600 washlights, MAC 300s and Atomic Strobes; this was also one of the first ever events for the new MAC 550. The 2000s did the main work on the stadium floor, from a height of up to 46m, while the 550s were used on the performance stage. Other fixtures included 56 VL2402 washlights from Vari-Lite, 24 Studio Due fixtures (City Color and Mini City), 24 Syncrolite washlights (7k and 3k), a single 4k Griven Kolorjet and followspots from Robert Juliat. Lighting control was from two MA Lighting grandMA consoles (eight streams each) networked via an Ethernet switch and then going directly into Martin's ShowDesigner using the ArtNet driver. The Martin and MA equipment was sourced by Chameleon from distributor Show Technology, whose Vince Haddad also provided techical support for the production.
The sound system, supplied by Norwest Productions and specified by designer Scott Willsallen, had a DiGiCo D5 Live digital console running V2.0 software and a 112-channel DiGiCo/Opticore network as its backbone (a secon
Germany - Neumann & Müller is one of Germany's leading sound equipment rental companies, with 10 regional offices across the country, as well as bases in Prague and Brussels. Long-term users of Soundcraft mixing consoles, the company has just taken delivery of eight MH3 boards, four 24-channel desks (including console link kits) and four 40-channel desks (including console link kits).
Neumann & Müller have used Soundcraft Venue, Delta, K1 and K3 consoles for a wide variety of productions in the TV/Broadcast sector, corporate events and trade shows. With confidence in the brand, and a good relationship with Audio Pro, distributor of Soundcraft desks in Germany, the company is making a major investment in the MH3 model. "There's no better console in that price range which offers such a combination of feature set, build quality and sonic performance," explains Jörg ter Veer of Audio Pro. "Neumann and Müller plan to invest in even more MH3 desks in the coming months."
Audio Pro has also recently sold a Soundcraft MH4 40-input console with 12 x 8 matrix for outside broadcast use to SWR Tübingen in southern Germany. Chosen for its price to performance ratio, the MH4 has made its debut on an Oberschwabenschau, a regional trade show event with local brass music.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - How people love to talk about the weather: as Kin Hubbard, the US journalist who created cartoon character Abe Martin, said: "Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation." Perhaps based on this predilection, this year's Unilever commission for the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall is 'The Weather Project' by artist Olafur Eliasson. This £250,000 installation is one of the largest ever seen in the UK, occupying the Gallery's entire Turbine Hall, which itself appears to have doubled in size due to the nature of the piece.
The space has been saturated with a fine mist that occasionally accumulates into faint, cloud-like formations along the walls, then disperses again. Overhead, the glass atrium of the Turbine Hall has disappeared and in its place is a reflection of the space below, created by a huge mirrored ceiling over the full length of the Hall. At the far end, butted up to the edge of the reflective ceiling, is a giant semi-circular translucent screen, 15m in diameter and backlit by 200 mono-frequency lamps. Its reflection in the mirror creates the illusion of a full, circular 'sun', thus linking the real space with the reflection.
Walking into the Hall, your eyes adjust to the dingy orange haze that pervades the huge space. On the day of my visit, it appeared I had walked onto the site of a recent chemical attack - bodies were scattered all over the floor, sitting, lying and rolling around, and all had taken on the same tones under the monochromatic lighting. All colours excludi
UK - A PLASA member has informed us that a number of their customers have received orders that have subsequently turned out to be fraudulent. In one case the fraudsters emailed credit card details - that were either stolen or fake - to the company with an order, but fortunately the card number was picked up by the bank. Another company was not so lucky and the goods were dispatched before the fraud was discovered.
L&SI ran an article back in March 2003 about the rise of credit card fraud within the industry and you can find out more at the PLASA Website address given below. It is also worthwhile checking the guidance and advice on avoiding credit card fraud at the Cardwatch website address, also given below.
(Nicky Greet)
In its inimitable style, the final edition of the AES Daily newspaper trumpeted: 'The Biz is Back', quoting a 'mobbed' show floor; 12,000 visitors over the first two days of the four; and exhibitors 'blown away' by the traffic. Despite the hyperbole, which has a habit of sounding very similar whatever the empirical circumstances of the show, it's hard to refute that the numbers seemed up in every department, and that most anecdotal comment was genuinely positive.
Quite a lot was made of a 'new generation' coming into the industry, and 'young blood' rejuvenating its financial muscle. The best example of this was Digidesign's tangential spree at the relocated School of Audio Engineering opposite Macy's, where every evening SAE itself hosted informal tours while Digi and other manufacturers put on seminars. Chief among these was the appearance of cult techno figure Richie Hawtin, revealing esoteric Pro Tools habits and conferring uncontrived cool upon all proceedings and, by inference, the AES itself.
That an AES should unearth this type of profile, and a US one at that, indeed portends well. A glance at the sheer number of relevant product announcements confirms how far this event has come since the dark days of 2001, notwithstanding the US Administration's response to them. Confidence was high, much higher than Amsterdam in May, leaving you to ponder whether, in the end, you simply need to have Americans present to liven up the party and aerosol smiley faces over the European scowl.
Germany - Dynacord has extended the Madras system, introduced last year, with an active alternative - the M 212 two-way, mid-high/full-range enclosure. The Madras M 212 is equipped with two 12" Electro-Voice Neodymium ND12A transducers for the low mid-range and an Electro-Voice ND-6 neodymium driver with a 3" voice coil and an 80° x 55° constant directivity horn for the high frequencies. It delivers, say Dynacord, exactly the type of sound pressure levels in the low mid-range required for a large number of medium-sized venues.
With an output of 600W (450W LF and 140W HF) from the power amplifier, the M 212 is capable of achieving peak SPLs in excess of 131dB/1m with minimal distortion. The sound is therefore projected almost twice as far as from a conventional passive speaker. Just as much attention has been paid to safety, however, as to power, with the Voice Coil Tracking Protection safeguarding the system against thermal overload.
The Madras M 212, with its asymmetric, birch multiplex enclosure, is ideal for high-quality, high-power active 3-way applications - in the rental business, for example. Combined with sub-woofers such as the Madras M 18, the new M 212 contributes power and projection to the mid/high range, say Dynacord, as well as offering high gain-before-feedback and high-end monitoring, while the use of Class H technology has made it possible to reduce considerably the power loss, power consumption and weight of the enclosure.
(Lee Baldock)
Europe - The all-arena European tour by Mick Hucknall's Simply Red is using an EV X-Line sound reinforcement system for its UK leg and forthcoming shows in continental Europe. Britannia Row is providing the X-Line system with IRIS-controlled Precision Series amplifiers.
Front-of-house engineer Gary Bradshaw, who is using X-Line for the first time, is delighted with the results, commenting: "The EV X-Line is more gutsy than some other line arrays, which suits Simply Red and what they are trying to achieve on the tour, namely to deliver a full-on sound, like being in a club. They don't want to sound like one of their CDs, rather they're trying to get across some of the excitement that they feel on stage. X-Line offers the best bass response of all the line arrays I've used, and vocally, it's fairly effortless all the way to the back, the high end is crystal clear."
Britannia Row flew left and right hangs of X-Line, with 10 Xls cabinets, two Xlt cabs and a single Xld cab in each hang. Each of the side hangs had four Xlt units plus a single Xls. Eight EVXi1152 full-range cabinets were used for in/out fill, and 20 XL sub-bass cabinets provided the low end so admired by Bradshaw. ElectroVoice's new Precision Series remote-controlled power amplifiers powered the rig. "I've been really impressed with the remote-controlled amplifiers from ElectroVoice," says Bradshaw. "I can tweak the amps from up here rather than having someone with their head under the stage - it really speeds things up."
Mick Hucknall, who is playing with an eight-piece
Yamaha premiered two new input cards for the PM1D, each of which uses the head amp circuitry of the new analogue flagship, the PM5000. This heralded a "warmer, punchier and more open sound" admitted Yamaha's publicity, while also being smaller. In the original system, the AI8 input frame could only hold 16 A/B units. With a 4-channel card, each AI8 can now hold 32 inputs - resulting in a 96-input system of only three frames, rather than six. The LMY2-MLAB is a 2-channel mic/line with A/B input card and 28-bit A/D conversion. The 4-channel LMY4-MLF is a mic/line input card with 24-bit conversion.
It was also revealed that Yamaha has succeeded in supplying a PM5000 to Carnegie Hall, the very place where the PM1D was fanfared four years ago; and that a DM1000, together with no fewer than three DM2000s, have joined the largest fixed installation of V-Dosc in the US at The Aladdin Resort & Casino in Las Vegas - hardly a gamble on sound quality there.
USA - Gaylord Entertainment and JBL Professional have confirmed the sale and installation of a new JBL Vertec system for the legendary Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. The venerable country music venue is currently used for a broad variety of performance and presentation events. The 4,400-seat auditorium now features a sound system consisting of JBL Professional and Crown Audio products.
The new system was used for the 37th Annual CMA (Country Music Association) awards, which aired live on 5 November. The show featured Sheryl Crow, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Travis Tritt and Hank Williams Jr in a special tribute to Johnny Cash.
Installed during a week in September without interrupting the Opry's busy schedule, the project involved coordination among many players. Noted engineer George Massenburg was engaged by the Opry as audio quality consultant, and veteran studio musician and producer Steve Gibson was involved as music quality consultant. Sam Berkow participated as acoustical consultant and Jon Mire, technical services manager for the Opry House, coordinated system evaluation and changeover activities. Dan Heins of Clair Brothers Systems, the installing dealer, led the engineering design and installation team.
The new speaker system for the Opry consists of various JBL products including Vertec line array speakers and subwoofers and additional loudspeakers from JBL's AE Series, Control Series, and Marquis Series product lines. All loudspeakers are powered by Crown MacroTech Series amplifiers.
The broad product line offerin
Denmark - The new low profile SP12 stage monitor from Mach boasts high SPL and power handling and provides high gain-before-feedback with minimum EQ requirements, according to the manufacturer. Features include a narrow dispersion patent that provides ideal vocal performance and a specially designed enclosure which produces a powerful, clean bass performance.
The SP12 is equipped with dual 12" woofers with a 2" throat compression driver and has an output of no less than 138dB. The symmetrical cabinet is highly durable and is coated with Mach SafeCoat - a strong, scratch-resistant, UV stable and weatherproof polyurethane surface. With a slim and smart design, the SP 12 is aimed equally at television and theatre environments. A rugged flightcase for two units is available.
(Lee Baldock)
In among the equipment debuts were one or two significant corporate manoeuvres. In the making of Digico's D5T, an offshoot of the D5 Live designed for theatrical production and launched on the first day, Autograph Sound Recording figurehead Andrew Bruce both contributed ideas and formed a US-based company to participate in the sales and distribution of the console. The company is called Autograph A2D, and Bruce was there for the launch. "As soon as I saw the D5 Live, I knew that it was the right vehicle for us to develop something digital for theatre use," he said after the presentation. "So we've given the operator 16 master faders in a row, slightly wider spaced than the eight-plus-eight on the D5 Live, and we've given the desk an off-line editor for the type of cue-lists we use in theatre. Live sound cue-lists are quite short: ours are typically 100-150 cues long. Arranging the console around these is what it's all about for us."
Transferring several cues per song as data into the existing D5 console would be laborious, so Bruce's off-line solution enables quicker uploading in spreadsheet form. Other ergonomic refinements include a script tray; macro interfaces for theatre-friendly control commands; and a row of brighter, 8-character LEDs for the Thespian gloom.In ministering his UK consultations through Autograph A2D, Bruce and his partners decided to trade intellectual copyright in the D5T's new architecture for exclusive rights to US distribution. "This is the big market," said Bruce, "although we will use our influence to promote
UK - Allen & Heath has launched the latest version of the Windows-based iDR Software Manager that configures the company's iDR hardware components into an integrated audio distribution system. Version 3.3 has been developed to support the new iDR-4 signal processor and PL-9 'hub' unit (launched at PLASA) and to reflect the familiar Windows style applications and navigation, including copy, paste and save functions between presets and DSP devices.
Version 3.3 provides the facility for custom Sys-Net and MIDI strings to be programmed into patch settings, triggering the operation of Sys-Net or MIDI compatible equipment such as a CD player, lighting or effects unit, when a patch is recalled. Similarly, soft LEDs and logic outputs can now be controlled by level sensing within a channel.
The software also enables functions such as inter iDR paging and patch recall to be controlled across the network in larger installations involving more than one iDR system. The matrix has been updated with the inclusion of a dB value to the cross-point faders, enabling the user to set up audio levels more accurately, particularly when designing the system offline on a PC.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - The centre for Performance in Aberystwyth in Wales is organizing a Symposium on the stage and lighting designers Edward Gordon Craig and Adolphe Appia entitled Sculptors of the Modern Stage - light / shadow / architecture. The symposium will include talks, workshops, films and presentations at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth from 5-7 December 2003. The event is produced in association with the Scenography department at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Edward Gordon Craig was a theatre designer, actor, visionary and the first British theatre artist to write a book of theatre theory. Rejected by the British theatre establishment he was embraced by the French and the Russians, most notably Stanislavski. Adolphe Appia was a Swiss designer and philosopher of theatre, and the first to write about theatre as a visual art form. In his collaboration with the Swiss choreographer, Dalcroze, he instigated a revolutionary approach to movement and scenography.
The event will include contributions from Richard Beacham, Christopher Innes, Henryk Jurkowski, Michael J. Walton, Harvey Grossmann, Mischa Twitchin, Christopher Baugh, Ruth Mandel, Irene Eynat-Confino and Kirsten Dehlholm.
For more information on the symposium and to find out how to join contact the cpr on the website below.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
UK - Lighting for the current TV series of Pop Idol features 30 James Thomas Pixelline battens, supplied to the show by lighting contractors VLPS and specified by lighting designer/director Al Gurdon. The 'final 12 stages of the popular series are being recorded at Fountain Television Studios in Wembley, London, following the early rounds that were shot at Teddington Studios.
Lighting is programmed and operated by Mike Owen using a Virtuoso VX console. The rig features over 100 Vari*Lite automated luminaires, assorted PARs and conventionals as well as the 30 Pixelline units, which are being run in their fully expanded DMX mode. The Pixellines are used upstage in a broken up matrix-style - 15-wide and 2-high - to illuminate the back wall of the set, a large translucent metallic structure.
Pixelline is proving to be an in-demand rental item, VLPS now has over 78 battens in stock, which are out most of the time. VLPS's Pop Idol account handler Keith Duncan stated: "It's definitely the product of the moment". He went on to say that Pixelline is smaller, more streamlined and better built than competitor products, and yield a crisper light output. They've seen a huge surge of interest in the fixtures since the summer, when several top LD's - including Vince Foster, Andi Watson, Andy Liddle and Dave Byars - used them for high profile events, festivals and tours. Pixelline has also been used on other TV shows including Granada's "Stars In Their Eyes" and the recent MTV Awards in Edinburgh last week.
The ability to feed video signals into the
Apart from the D5T, arguably the other big technology announcement was Digigram's bi-directional EtherSound, although EtherSound itself has been around for 18 months or so. Going in both directions means that a network based on EtherSound is a 64-channel virtual buss, carrying 24-bit, 48kHz audio in every channel.
"Audio can be inserted in the down-stream," explained Digigram's Frank Siedel, "and the last device in the network sends every channel inserted back to the Primary Master device - the first in the network. From this up-stream, audio can be extracted from the network. Previously, we used the whole bandwidth of a 100Mb Ethernet to go one way. However, it's a full duplex network and we've now exploited this."
Only for those who don't need the 'star' configuration of a network, that is: bi-directional EtherSound only works in a daisy-chain. Naturally, star configurations have multiple end-points, all of which would fire the audio back to the Primary Master. But it's good news for both signal processing and conferencing system manufacturers, who need full I/O to share the signal between different devices. Other announcements were the ES8mic unit, adding a mic pre-amp to the insert point of the network; and the more cost-effective ES2out unit for stereo-only applications.