ISE 2016 will be showcasing a raft of RAVENNA/AES67-enabled product from a
number of different manufacturers as well as some exciting demonstrations of new
applications. RAVENNA partners present at the show include Lawo, Merging
Technologies, DirectOut, Sennheiser, Riedel, Luminex, Cordial, Archwave and
Genelec. There will also be product from Digigram on both the RAVENNA and MNA
stands.
One of the most exciting demonstrations to feature RAVENNA-enabled product is the
“immersive audio experience’ taking place on the Merging stand (7-C160). The set-
up combines Merging’s newly released Ovation 6 software for their media
server/sequencer with Genelec’s pre-production RAVENNA/AES67-enabled 4420
loudspeakers in an 18-speaker array. Backed by Merging’s Horus and Hapi
networked audio interfaces and Pyramix 10, Ovation 6 offers the power of an
integrated 3D rendering engine for use with both replayed sounds and virtually
limitless number of live inputs. According to Merging’s Chris Hollebone, “Immersive
audio and AoIP are right in the spotlight at the moment so, in partnership with
Genelec, we’ve created an installation – in this case using RAVENNA as our
preferred audio transport technology – that demonstrates how these two trends can
combine in a powerful, captivating way. It’s the future of audio in fixed
installations.’
Other demonstrations of AES67 interoperability featuring RAVENNA-enabled product
from a wide variety of manufacturers will be taking place on the MNA booth (7-
X230). Products from ALC NetworX, Archwave, Axia Audio, Digigram, DirectOut,
Focusrite, Lawo, Merging, QSC, SSL, Telos Systems and Yamaha will be connected
to a simple network via a single Ethernet switch to demonstrate how products from
different manufacturers running on different protocols may interoperate via AES67.
In terms of new products to be unveiled at ISE, Merging once again tops the list
with the launch of their new CoreAudio driver that is available for the whole AES67
community. This driver, dubbed RAVENNA/AES67 Virtual Audio Device, is fully
compliant with RAVENNA and automatically compatible with Dante as part of the
AES67 community, allowing an easy way for Mac users to connect to the majority of
available networked audio devices. The big news is that this will be a free-of-
charge download from the Merging website. The Virtual Audio Device will support
full operation of up to 64 channels in and out at 44.1/48kHz.
The above represents just a small selection of the plethora of RAVENNA-enabled
products on show at ISE 2016 and is representative of the growing trend towards IP
and digital workflows in installed sound environments.
For more information and a full list of RAVENNA partners, visit ravenna-network.com