DirectOut Takes Steps in the Right Direction
UK distributor Aspen Media has supplied Wigwam Hire, specialists in sound systems and equipment for touring, with MADI products from DirectOut Technologies® for its customer AudioTech Services and the sell-out reunion tour of 90s pop band, Steps.
Behind the scenes, the backing tracks for Steps are supported by audio playback using for resilience two playback systems running in sync, which could prove to be a 'Tragedy' if the primary system fails or locks up.
Connections from the playback system to the front of house mixing system are provided by 64 channel MADI and a D.O.TEC® ANDIAMO MADI to analogue converter.
Running two systems requires a method of switching to the backup replay should something tragic happen. As standard silence or loss of connection detectors were considered inadequate for this task, DirectOut took a step in the right direction with an answer to the problem it had been considering for some time, D.O.TEC® EXBOX.BLDS (buffer loop detection system).
D.O.TEC® EXBOX.BLDS incorporates two MADI inputs and two MADI outputs. A specially generated signal is inserted into one channel of the incoming MADI streams. D.O.TEC® EXBOX.BLDS monitors this signal and should it stop or loop (e.g. due to a hanged buffer of a crashed DAW), the device will switch to its second input which carries the signal from the backup replay system.
Steps' demanding tour began at Liverpool's Echo Arena on 4th April and finishes on 26th August in Swansea with twenty five appearances in between in as diverse locations as the London 02 Arena and Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire.
About D.O.TEC® EXBOX.BLDS:
Based on the EXBOX.64 the EXBOX.BLDS uses a special firmware to manage a switch-over between two (redundant) MADI streams. The BLDS signal is generated with the D.O.TEC® BLDS Generator and may be implemented into the MADI signal using a DAW.
