The release of Sensoft 11.1 coincides with the launch of InnovaSON's new universal output module, the UM-8PO which combines analogue and digital outputs, all boasting their own 31-band graphic EQs, parametric EQ, compressor/limiter, gate/expander.
Sensoft 11.1, which is delivered with the UM8-PO, enables full management of the 31-band graphics in addition to the management of up to four DioCores (InnovaSON's EtherSound-enabled stage box) enabling the dispatch of I/O resources over five remote audio racks (four DioCores plus a Stage Box). Another key feature of Sensoft 11.1 is that the firmware allows you to connect a DioAV interface to the console, providing two A-Net 16-channel networks.
Also new is an updated patch grid with tab management from which you can fully configure your DioCore, and additional EtherSound attributes enable you to determine channel and stream direction. You may also now set default patch grids, files and pages to serve as templates when creating new shows, and an ingenious new feature called "Fader Free" which has been designed for festivals, enables you to have a different fader configuration with regard to inputs, SmartFad and VCA functions, within a defined fader zone, for each page of a show, or each different artist.
Other new functions include the ability to declare any of your audio rack inputs as your TalkBack input; the ability to name your audio racks with an alias of up to sixteen characters each; fader calibration; and finally a new window which displays and lets you manage the console's various synchronisation modes.
• Also on debut at PLASA07 will be a working model of InnovaSON's all-new plug-in internal effects module, the FM-8VB. The first of a series of new plug-ins, FM-8VB will ship as standard with all new console packages from the end of the year, and will be retro-fittable to existing models running (or upgraded to) the latest version of Sensoft.
Built on original algorithms from VB Audio, the FM8-VB is a powerful 8-in/8-out internal effects module with thirty-two effects engines. Compatible with the full range of InnovaSON audio racks, FM-8VB is simplicity itself to implement and use, says the company. With four effects engines installed between each pair of I/Os, all of which are fully configurable to receive the algorithm of your choice, all the I/Os are accessible via the patch grids within Sensoft. From there, you simply have to declare your I/Os as insert points, or to feed your inputs via an aux on the console whilst using a temporal effect such as reverb, echo etc.
According to InnovaSON's product manager and customer services director, Hervé De Caro, the launch of this product, seen in working from for the very first time at PLASA 2007, is a hugely important development for the company. "We have reacted to popular demand in bringing the first of these plug-in effects to market, but at the same time we have taken our time to find the right suppliers in Waves and VB Audio who share our stringent standards of audio quality whilst maintaining the ease of use and implementation that characterizes the InnovaSON ethos."
(Jim Evans)
