The new Dimension One audio mixing console from Wheatstone brings the mixing and networking capability of the largest-format consoles to a midmarket price point. The 72-fader console (with up to 3072 inputs) features a newly designed architecture that moves most audio functions out of the physical console box and into a rack-based digital network.
The company said that most digital audio consoles still use analog console architecture. With this traditional design, the console is the center of audio mixing functions, with all audio sources connecting directly to it. All processing and mixing functions occur within the console box.
Wheatstone’s Network First design puts a digital audio network, not a console, at the center of all functions. Instead of connecting audio sources to one or more consoles, they are connected directly to the digital network. Unlike the traditional console design, where all functions are located within the console system itself, this new design locates all audio functions in an equipment rack independent of the console, leaving an intuitive control surface in the control room.
Andy Calvanese, a vice president at Wheatstone, said the Network First design brings customers a significant increase in performance and value. For one thing, because all processing work is done within a digital network and not a console, the console realizes about twice the signal-processing capability over similarly priced products. Also, because each fader has its own independent bus-minus output, the total of available mix-minus feeds is more than 100.