UK: Calrec Eclipse the Competition with Artemis
Calrec Audio has announced that it will unveil a brand new audio console at IBC 2009 in Amsterdam. Calrecís new Artemis console is based on the award-winning Apollo platform, which was launched at NAB in April, and utilises the same core technologies such as Bluefin2 and Hydra2.
These technologies equip the console with an enormous routing and processing capacity which belies its mid-size footprint. Using a combination of OLED displays, touch screens, and light-emitting knobs the soft Artemis control surface not only provides instant visual feedback, but a flexibility which enables the user to reconfigure the desk on the fly.
Artemis utilises Bluefin2, the next generation of Calrecís trademark Bluefin High Density Signal Processing platform, to provide substantial resources at multiple sample rates. At 48kHz, Bluefin2 gives Artemis up to 640 channel processing paths, 128 program busses, 64 IFB/Track outputs and 32 auxiliaries.
Artemis also features a second Compressor/Limiter in each channel, more than 70 minutes of assignable delay, and three independent APFL systems for multiple operator use. Like all Calrec designs, these facilities do not share resources so that they are available to the user at all times.
Central to the Artemis console is a dedicated integrated router so that its I/O functions can be performed by Calrecís next-generation networking system, Hydra2.
Hydra2 uses high capacity 8192 x 8192 cross-point routers and makes available a variety of I/O units to provide analog, AES, MADI, SDI and Dolby E formats. All use copper or fiber connectivity, and can be fitted with GPIO cards. Console routers can be connected together to form large networks, and stand-alone routers will also be available.
As with all Calrec consoles, the inclusion of full automatic hot-swap redundancy is part of the system architecture ñ on Artemis all DSP, control processor, router, power supplies, and connections are fully redundant.
Since its launch in April, Apollo has been sold to NTV in Japan, and both the Artemis and Apollo consoles are key to broadcast TV operations at the MediaCityUK project in Salford Quays, Manchester, UK.
