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In a major announcement, Studer presents a remarkable technological leap forward in professional audio: the new console Vista X and the Infinity Series Core, offering more than 800 channels of processing, 5000 inputs/outputs and full redundancy.
The mad race is on for power and simplification in pro audio with the return to the good old PC processor, the CPU, whose raw power, timing, on-board cache memory and, especially, the number of cores keeps growing.
The loser is the DSP that all current consoles, multi-effects and audio workstations are still using. But what, exactly, is wrong with the poor DSP? First of all, it speaks only its own language. This requires specific development, which puts a strain on costs. In particular, it cannot do everything, a problem which, in the case of consoles, forces manufacturers to use other processors and other languages to build the control surface itself. In short, it requires two more or less distinct worlds to work together.
Salvation arrives in the form of the venerable CPU, the heart of our PCs and, for the last ten years, also our Macs, which rises up from its duties in the simple management of controls, memories or displays to take charge of the audio and even the effects – effectively marking the end of TDM and the rise of Real Time.
That means that companies adopting this type of architecture can quickly enter into agreements with the plug-in developers to use the numerous existing real time libraries and integrate them perfectly into the mixer. Outboard racks filled with a range of peripheral devices will finally and definitively be retired.
Ever present in the digital audio field with its range of Vista broadcast consoles, from which the Sound Reinforcement or SR range was developed, Studer has therefore abandoned the SHARC-based (Super Harvard ARChitecture) DSP of Analog Devices and becomes the first to move into the world of CPU processing with its Infinity Core CPU-based DSP. It is a unique and particularly powerful architecture for professional audio, using only one DSP for over 400 channels!
The use of the computer-type CPUs for audio processing ensures significant processing power, rapid evolution of capacity and performance in the near future, all using a widely used and tested hardware.
The new Infinity Core incorporates redundant power supplies and ventilation and the Core itself can be doubled to allow full redundancy and instantaneous change-over. It connects to the new STUDER D23m I/O racks (photo d23m rear)over a fiber-optic link using standard STUDER A-Link protocol, which manages up to 384 channels per D23m rack.
Each Infinity Core features 12 A-Link fiber-optic ports, which give it extraordinary flexibility and power. This flexibility is further enhanced by the modularity of the D23m rack, which offers 12 slots that can accommodate different types of analog or digital input or output modules. The D23m can also be interfaced with Riedel MediorNet for configurations using multiple Infinity systems.
The new Vista X surface is very similar to that of Vista 9, but it incorporates as standard Quad-Star technology – four CPUs running in full redundancy with further redundancy of Ethernet switches, fans and communication interfaces – a security level that we are accustomed to finding in aeronautics and that is unique in professional audio. This, alone, should convince the most demanding productions and broadcasters. Two Vista X systems can run simultaneously on the same project to cope with the most demanding projects in terms of format or language. The high-performance level meters simultaneously display a memory of the waveform on the channels of the last 50 seconds of audio, facilitating the search for any stray noise or signal interruption. The VistaMix function automatically manages gain during TV talk shows, by bringing up the active microphone and reducing the gain of other transducers on the soundstage.
The Virtual Surround Panning II feature facilitates processing and mixing of up to 7.1 surround programming. STUDER also offers a choice of colors for the side panels, armrests and stands that complete the console.
Now Studer only has to adapt this new architecture to live sound by offering more compact control surfaces. Many French and international sound engineers will be drawn to the charm, the unprecedented power and the almost infinite potential for the integration of effects resources that this beautiful Swiss machine offers.
