FRANKFURT, Germany — At the Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt April 5-8, U.K.-based console company Cadac featured a host of new hardware and software developments for its CDC consoles and MegaCOMMS network, including the new CDC six and eight offline editor. Pictured here is Cadac director of sales and marketing, Richard Ferriday, demonstrating CDC Offline Editor software at Cadac’s PL+S booth during the event.
More details from Cadac (www.cadac-sound.com):
At its Tuesday (5th April) morning press briefing at Prolight+Sound, Cadac unveiled a number of new hardware and software developments for its CDC consoles and MegaCOMMS audio network. These were the CDC MC Optical Bridge, CDC MC AES3 Stagebox and CDC MC Router software application, and CDC Console V3.01 Software.
CDC Offline Editor
CDC Offline Editor mirrors the CDC six and CDC eight consoles operating software with an identical Graphical User Interface, enabling full offline functionality within a Mac based software package.
With the ability to edit and save all key operating parameters, and drag and drop capabilities — precisely as on the CDC consoles’ touch screen — it is an essential preparatory tool; facilitating the creation of, and editing and amendment of pre-existing, show files, which can be uploaded to or downloaded from the consoles via a USB key.
Speaking to the importance of the development of the CDC Offline Editor, Ferriday stated, “Not only is an offline editor an essential preparatory tool for sound engineers, enabling them to create, amend and store their show files for a particular production or venue, it is also facilitates ‘first user experience’, allowing engineers to experience the console interface, before even physically touching one. We believe that experience is something which will encourage a lot of engineers to take a closer look at CDC six and CDC eight.”
CDC Offline Editor is anticipated to launch on the Apple App Store in the third quarter of the year.
CDC MegaCOMMS Network Expands
Cadac is expanding its MegaCOMMS audio network with the launch of two new hardware network components, alongside a major software package for CDC MC Router — the hub for a MegaCOMMS audio network.
The new hardware components consist of the CDC MC Optical Bridge and the CDC MC AES3 Stagebox which both add another level of flexibility to the MegaCOMMS network. Cadac’s MegaCOMMS is already the audio industries lowest latency networking protocol, with a total through-system propagation delay, including all console processing and A-D / D-A conversions of an astonishing 37 samples (@ 96 kHz), or just under 0.4 milliseconds.
The 1U CDC MC Optical Bridge allows 128 channels of 24-bit / 96 kHz of MegaCOMMS audio to run on an optical cable for up to a distance of 2 km (6,561 feet) with a latency of 0.02 milliseconds. This distance is from bridge to bridge, but a further run of up to 150m on RG6 coaxial from the bridge to the console or stagebox, or even another CDC MC Optical, can be added. The unit has four pairs of MegaCOMMS ports — transmit and receive – with a duplex optical multi-mode / single mode LC port per pair, allowing up to 512 channels of audio to be transmitted. Each of the MegaCOMMS pair is independent allowing complete flexibility in its application.
The 2U CDC MC AES3 Stagebox provides a total of 18 AES3 inputs / outputs via four, 25-way D-Sub connectors and two XLR connectors, making a total of 36 audio inputs and outputs. All of the inputs, which are transformer isolated, and outputs have SRC on a connector to connector basis; 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz and 96 kHz (192 kHz on inputs only) with conversion to 96 kHz. The unit can also be synchronised with an external Word clock (3V3 and 5V0), AES11 or via its own internal clock.
As with all CDC MC units these feature redundant power supplies as standard and MegaCOMMS ‘port illumination’; red for receive and blue for transmit, a boon for low light set-ups.
The new CDC MC Router (Windows 10) software application gives the ability to end users to create their own CDC MC Router maps from an intuitive graphical user interface. The Router will auto detect the attached MegaCOMMS units whilst the software interface will show the individual unit’s MegaCOMMS connectivity capabilities, along with the units firmware status and will highlight any incompatibilities between versions (making an ideal pre-show diagnostic tool).
The software provides granularity of the routing options; from auto patching or patching in blocks to individual patching of sockets. The choices of how to patch will enable the creation of large scale audio networks — which with MegaCOMMS can extend to 3072 channels — in a very short space of time and allow rapid re-patching as applications change.
Another key feature of the Router is its ability handle the gain compensation between consoles. The Router automatically compensates for any adjustment in gain from the master console without affecting the gain, or audio quality, of any other console in the same network.
Ferriday says, “These new products are a great addition to our current range of MegaCOMMS units, which include stageboxes and the CDC MC MADI and MC Dante network bridges. With the flexibility of the MC Router, combined with the incredible latency figure for the network, plus the audio performance and ease of use of our consoles, we believe we have something quite unique to offer the professional audio market.”
CDC Console Software Update
Cadac CDC software V3.01 unleashes new features and enhancements for CDC six and CDC eight consoles
Cadac is also launching CDC Console Software V3.01 with a range of new features and performance enhancements for the Cadac CDC six and CDC eight live sound production consoles. Version 3.01 is the outcome of Cadac’s on-going CDC development programme, driven by customer feedback and our desire to exceed the expectations of a rapidly evolving live sound market.
One of the major features found in V3.01 is Custom Fader Layers, or CFL. The current implementation allows the engineer to create a user definable layer, or group, of any mixture of inputs, busses, VCAs and Monitor faders, which can then be accessed by faders on the right hand bank. Each CFL can be named and colour coded. Members of the CFL are selected by dragging and dropping from the relevant input, bus etc. page on the large 23.5” screen. Assess to the CFL is done via the 6.5” system control screen, and the CFL display can be viewed and edited on the screen by assigning it to one of the hardware user assignable buttons. The set-up is intuitive and the Custom Fader Layers provides a convenient and fast way to access the users most important channels, aiding the overall work flow. Other
key features of V3.01 include the option to create a personal library for EQ, Effects and Dynamics settings which can be stored on the console, as well as uploaded to a USB key.
In conjunction with the release of the CDC MC Router software, comes the increase in functionality and flexibility of networked Cadac consoles and other MegaCOMMS devices. Console gain compensation is automatically applied via the CDC MC Router; when multiple consoles share a single stagebox, any adjustment in gain from the master console has zero effect on the gain, or audio quality, of any other console in the same MegaCOMMS audio network. Network system diagnostics have also been added to the feature set.
Highlighted features found in CDC Console Software V3.01 include:
• Custom Fader Layers — CFL
• Enhanced granularity of the channel copy and paste functions
• User library for EQ, Effects and Dynamics settings
• Router GUI and network gain compensation
• Input and output patching enhancements
• Direct outs with additional options
Ferriday summarized, “CDC six has fast been gaining a reputation for industry-leading latency and audio quality. We have been working in conjunction with many leading sound engineers and system techs for the last 12 months, developing this latest update of CDC software. Now with the enhanced feature set represented in V3.01, CDC six offers a complete set of tools to the discerning audio professional. However, it doesn’t stop here — we will continue to push the boundaries and will be making further advances in the coming nine months. 2016 is going to be a defining year for Cadac.”
