Calrec will be showing its latest solutions to help broadcasters and OB suppliers to make a smooth transition to IP workflows and all the benefits they bring. The company’s highly evolved IP expertise, gained via both advanced product development and an ever-increasing global project portfolio, allows customers to take full advantage of its real-world know-how.
On Show at NAB NY 2023
Calrec’s ImPulse1 IP audio processing and routing engine is designed as a powerful and cost-effective ST 2110 solution for single console scenarios, joining the multi-console, industry-established ImPulse. ImPulse1 is a compact 1U solution with an optional second core for redundancy and a new, 128-input channel DSP pack offering entry-level pricing.
With ImPulse1, Calrec is offering a range of options to suit any size installation. It works with Argo Q and Argo S control surfaces, and/or Calrec Assist, a browser-based GUI, ideally suited to remote working, multi operator and/or headless operation. Cores with smaller DSP licenses can be offered without hardware redundancy. ImPulse1 is designed for small to medium single mixer applications and is offered with an all-new DSP license of 128 input channels without compromising its ST 2110 capability. With a small overall form-factor, it’s immediately attractive for compact installation sites, such as outside broadcast and fly pack applications, where space is at a premium. Furthermore, it doesn’t compromise on features and DSP power; it has DSP options ranging from 128 to 384 input channels and benefits from the DSP features from the larger ImPulse core.
Calrec’s Argo S audio mixing control platform is also on show, with one mid-level row of interchangeable panels. It won NAB Product of the Year in 2023. Calrec’s Argo is a new approach to audio mixing, with a flexible control philosophy that breaks the traditional geographic tie lines between processing and control.
Argo is fully modular with interchangeable hardware panels and uses Calrec’s time-served Assist UI at its core. This means that whether a customer is working on physical hardware panels or on a remote GUI, the user interface is both familiar and easy to drive. Its modular panel system encourages broadcasters to adapt surface hardware to meet their unique requirements, ensuring a richer user experience, helping operators move around the surface faster, and it means the desk can easily be split for sub mixing or mixing in other locations. With an expanded version of ImPulse at its core, Argo customers benefit from thousands of DSP paths, providing a futureproof solution.
Calrec has also introduced a comprehensive system of user templates to instantly change the hardware user interface to meet changing requirements and user preferences. Argo’s physical control surface is also more streamlined, using optically bonded touchscreens to provide unrivalled visual feedback, making it easy to find what you need, while being familiar to existing users.
Type R for TV and Radio
Calrec’s Type R is a modular, expandable IP mixing system, available in two forms: Type R for TV and Type R for Radio. Type R for TV is designed to allow customers to take advantage of distributed production and flexible workflows with up to three independent mixers able to hang off one system core. Its three hardware and soft panels can create a variety of system types. It ties in with Calrec’s Assist for mixing in the cloud and integrates with station automation systems like Ross Overdrive, Sony ELC and Grass Valley Ignite. Type R for Radio is a modular, expandable, IP-based radio system from Calrec Audio. It utilizes standard networking hardware and soft panels that can be tailored to operator needs.
Earlier this year, Universal Remote.tv, using a Type R core and range of fader panels, concluded a highly successful remote mixing proof of concept (POC) with the Professional Fighters League. The project demonstrated how remote mixing – leaving the overall transmission chain unaffected – could solve the problem of covering the huge number of events Regional Sports Networks have, enabling A1s with the required experience to be able to, regardless of location. The POC solved the problem of how to bring the audio mixing capabilities of the OB truck to the Engineer, powered by Calrec’s Type R solution.