NAB Perspectives: Calrec Integrates Automation Control

The U.S. remote-broadcast culture is getting ready for another wave of European influence. Multilayer digital consoles have quickly gained traction here; whole-truck automation-control systems may be next. More console/router combinations are becoming compatible with automation solutions from European companies, such as L-S-B Broadcast Technologies and BFE Studio und Medien Systeme (KSC Router Control), even as similar systems from companies closer to home — Grass Valley, Evertz, Miranda — take hold in studios.

At the NAB Show, Calrec is demonstrating how the Hydra2 audio-routing system can interact with third-party control- and production-automation equipment, using a Ross switcher emulator in conjunction with Ross Overdrive technology, which allows visibility into and control over a number of settings. This allows third-party control over a number of Calrec audio-console settings, such as fader position, PFL and cut control for paths on faders, routing to auxes from faders, output-level control for auxes, routing to mains from faders, main-output-level/fader control, and LB/RB input switching for paths on faders.

Calrec’s SW-P-08 protocol is being put into practice incorporating a variety of third-party router panels, including Evertz, Nvision, Snell, and L-S-B’s Virtual Studio Manager (VSM), to demonstrate remote control over input-to-output crosspoint patching. Besides direct routing of physical inputs to outputs, it can also route to and from console DSP via Calrec’s Hydra patchbays.

“We’re moving to an environment where the client won’t necessarily need a separate audio router, which will be a cost saving for the customer,” says Calrec Regional Sales Manager Dave Letson. “It’s an environment that’s become more common in Europe.”