Calrec introduces a modular version of its Hydra2 I/O unit.

Calrec has introduced a modular version of its popular Hydra2 I/O unit.

This compact 3U box has 20 slots which take an array of modules, and allows the unit to be designed to a broadcaster’s exact specifications. Its modular nature enables our customers to design and build a network around their specific needs, resulting in a mix of audio interfaces with an extremely high density of connections, saving rack space and cutting costs.

Designed for studio floor and outside broadcast applications, the unit has all audio (including SDI) and control connections (Hydra2 links, GPIO, Serial) located at the front of the unit, with power cables connected at the rear.

Each of the 21 slots is 4HP, or 0.8 inches wide, with one slot being a dedicated Hydra2 interface module. The remaining 20 slots are all available for other audio interfaces. These cards can be made up of:

Mic/line inputs

Line inputs

Line outputs

AES3 inputs (unbalanced)

AES3 outputs (unbalanced)

AES3 inputs & outputs (balanced)

Dual SDI embedder

Dual SDI de-embedder

Card types can be freely mixed, and as it is a Calrec-designed piece of kit, both primary and secondary Hydra 2 links are provided as standard. In addition, two PSU modules provide redundant power, and PSU modules can be hot-swapped without interruption to operation
as can any of the interface cards.

SDI embedders and de-embedders support SD, HD and 3G SDI streams and are able to decode all four groups (16 channels) and later, as well as de-embedding 32 audio channels from 3G SDI as proposed by SMPTE.

To illustrate the density and flexibility of these boxes one such box can deal with:

40 mic/lines on XLR or

80 line inputs and 80 line outputs on DB25s or

80 unbalanced AES3 inputs or 80 unbalanced AES3 outputs on BNC, or combinations thereof or

160 balanced AES3 inputs and 160 balanced AES3 outputs on DB25 or

32 Embedders or 32 de-embedders (for 16 channel de-embedding), or combinations thereof.

As part of the Hydra2 network, each box will be able to deal with 512 bi-directional signals.

The Modular box joins Calrec’s well established range of fixed format boxes on the Hydra2 network, which provides an enormous 8192 ² synchronous router with mini-GBIC connectors allow customers to fit their own cable connectors. Hydra2’s router is a TDM-type router, capable of true 'one-to-many' routing and is truly point-to-point; any input on one router can address an output on any other. This allows for enormous networks with highly flexible topologies involving multiple routers.

ALT New track and video Heartless out now

ALT have released a new track and video, Heartless. The Track, scheduled for release as a single later this year, is available now through on ALT Channel Also watch out for extra video updates for previous tracks.

This is to tie in with the new ALT Blog ,which will be updated along with this page for all up to the minute news of the band.

ALT : PULSE II EP For Exclusive Download

PULSE II is the brand new 2nd EP from the Experimental drone trio, ALT. Available for exclusive download from Indmill.com as a high quality 320 kbps Download.

The EP includes 4 new sound manipulations with more electronic influences than the previous CD-R,but continuing with the the favoured guitars and overloaded tape techniques,subsequently looped on PC, which retains the organic elements of the White-out EP

Final track listing is:

Pulse II

Parsec

False Flag

Diving Bell (ALT vs Worriedaboutsatan) remix

Pre-orders for the PULSE II white label CD-R will be taken from 1st March 2010

Available from the ALT Myspace site.

ALT New track on aReW Records Compilation Indistinct Passages and Encounters

ALT, Experimental drone/electronic trio,have just released new track, Pulse II, on the first free download compilation from Birmingham based label aReW Records.

To coincide with this,ALT have finalised tracks for the 2nd EP PULSE II

Including the 4th track which is a remix of worriedaboutsatan

The running order is as follows

PULSE II

PARSEC

FALSE FLAG

ALT vs WORRIEDABOUTSATAN (remix)

Scheduled for release Jan 2010

Cd-r available through the ALT myspace

Or as a high quality download from Indmill Records

ALT US and UK Mp3 distributIon by Indmill

Alt have signed up a distribution deal in the UK and US, with online download label Indmill.

Initial release of the Whiteout EP,will be followed by all future Single, EP's and Album releases by the band.

Downloads are in MP3 format at 256kbps from

http://indmill.com

As Indmill put it themselves:

From the moment we had the idea for Indmill it stuck. Selling music for next to nothing and giving almost everything to the artist made perfect sense. But why wasn’t everyone else doing it?

It used to cost a lot of money to get music in the shops but, to paraphrase a famous poet, the times are a-changing. Music can now be recorded and made available for download without the expense of paying a record company, advertising agency, manufacturer, agent, manager, lawyer or retailer.

With most of these costs out of the window music is getting cheaper … but not cheap enough to persuade a generation of fans to pay to fill their iPods. Unless someone figures out how to pay artists to record music, well … they might not bother.

Contrary to current belief, there is a solution. Indmill customers pay ludicrously low prices for music they can keep and 90% (excludingVAT on EU sales) of the revenue goes straight back to the artist. We take a 10% cut (excluding VAT on EU sales), of which 5% goes to a charity nominated by the artist. The artist can, if they wish, give a cut to charity. The customer also gets the chance to donate something to charity at the checkout. Everyone gives something, everyone gets something. Everyone’s happy.

Indmill sells whole albums and singles as MP3 files (because it’s currently the most widely accepted format) encoded at 256 or 320Kbps (because 128Kbps just doesn’t cut it through decent speakers) and at a price you won’t find anywhere else (without breaking the law). Oh, and we sell whole albums and singles rather than individual tracks because - well that’s how the artists wanted them to be listened to. If you don’t want some of the tracks you’ve downloaded, delete them.

Alt feel that Indmill reflect the integrity and ethics of their music and a percentage of each sale of every track will be donated to Save the Children.

Calrec Audio Launch Artemis

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.

 

Alt finalising tracks for their 2nd EP Pulse II

Alt are currently in the process of finishing songs for their 2nd EP, Pulse II.

More electronic than the previous release,it still maintains the core of tape saturated guitars and found sound,processed looped and manipulated to create 4 avant electronic tracks.

Release is scheduled for Winter 2009/2010.