Production manager Winfried Blank made the decision in early 2014 to put DirectOut Andiamo 2.XT AES/MADI AD/DA converters on the tour. He asked for extended routing functionality to be included in the software for even greater flexibility. "We are working with digital audio signals from the source to the output," he said. "Our periphery is MADI and my idea was to travel via fibre from a couple of RME MADIface XTs to DirectOut's Andiamo 2.XT and from there via AES3 to the d&b amplifiers.
"The DirectOut Andiamo 2 series already supported MADI port redundancy, but the converters didn't allow me to to collect MADI signals from two independent domains and convert them into AES3 to distribute the AES signals via a matrix to the amps. So I asked the DirectOut development team if they could adapt the software to meet my requirement. The guys were very open-minded since it was a feature they were convinced many of their users and clients would appreciate."
DirectOut software developer, Claudio Becker-Foss, got to work and within a few weeks had designed the adaption for Kraftwerk, which is now included as standard in all Andiamo 2 units. "After an internal discussion about Winfried Blanks request, we very quickly came to the conclusion that all Andiamo 2 converters with two MADI I/Os should benefit from the extended routing functionality," said Becker-Foss. As a result, the complete line was upgraded so that now all DirectOut customers can benefit from the 'Kraftwerk' request.
Since, Kraftwerk has continued to expand their DirectOut inventory with more MADI equipment in order to enhance their MADI networking capabilities.
Kraftwerk's PA setup has been designed by d&b's Ralf Zuleeg as spatial sound system. The core is a Fraunhofer-based spatial audio processor. Zuleeg has already used DirectOut's Andiamo converters for a number of different spatial audio applications in the past in order to convert the MADI signals from the processor to AES3 and then out to the d&b amplifiers.
(Jim Evans)
