For the first time, the Nexo team put its STM Series sound reinforcement system into action in a public arena, with front of house control provided by the Yamaha CL5 console over a Dante network - another first for both Nexo and the team from Yamaha Music Europe in Paris.
STM is the first scalable modular line array on the market. Standing for Scale Through Modularity, the STM Series for touring use offers a wide variety of design options using four loudspeaker modules - main, bass and sub cabinets, with an 'omni-purpose' down-fill. From simple groundstack to large-scale 'double-bass' flown arrays, the scalable nature of STM enables users to configure systems suitable for audiences from 1,000 to 100,000.
At the Docks de Paris, the demo featured a system with six M46 main and six B112 bass cabinets flown either side of the stage, and four S118 subs ground-stacked per side. The live band was using Nexo's 45°N-12 line monitors on stage. Nexo engineer David Hochstenbach was at the front-of-house console.
Nexo and Yamaha have combined their engineering expertise to develop the NXDT104 Dante network card which is an option for the NUAR or Nexo Universal Amp Rack which powers the STM Series. The NXDT104 achieves Dante network protocol compatibility for CL Series mixing consoles and Nexo's NXAMP, making it possible for CL consoles to communicate with the NXAMP via Dante.
There's more to come: the Yamaha group is working towards even deeper integration that allows NXAMP discovery and patching operations, currently requiring a computer running the Dante Controller software application, to be carried out directly from the touch screen displays of CL series consoles. That functionality will become available with CL series firmware update V1.5, to be released in January of 2013.
This heightened integration goes beyond providing Dante communication from system input to output, delivering enhanced control and operability as well. According to Yoshi Tsugawa, CEO of Nexo, "We intend to take all operations and processes that are troublesome, time-consuming or complex, and make them fast, easy, assured, and safe. That's the value were aiming for in all Yamaha and Nexo systems, and this development marks another step in that direction. By being keenly aware of our customers' needs and deepening our technical cooperation, Yamaha and NEXO are determined to offer important innovations and increased advantages into the future."
(Jim Evans)
