With SoundGrid bringing the worlds of studio and live sound closer than ever before, the introduction of the WSG-Y16 sees Waves bringing the networking and processing capabilities of SoundGrid functionality to the live sound realm for the first time.
Announced at the Winter NAMM show in January, the WSG-Y16 card will be available from mid-March and follows on from the existing Waves Y96K, eight in eight out, plug-in DSP card for Yamaha digital consoles.
Using a SoundGrid-compatible PC as the plug-in host and Ethernet connectivity, the system allows users to run large numbers of Waves plug-ins with ultra-low latency. The WSG-Y16 card allows users of Yamaha LS9, M7CL, PM5D, DSP5D, 01V96, 02R96, DM1000 and DM2000 digital mixing consoles, as well as the DME64N and DME24N digital mixing engines, direct connection to the SoundGrid platform.
Users simply connect the PC to the Yamaha mixer, route a channel to a WSG-Y16 channel and process the audio signal with Waves plug-ins hosted on the SoundGrid PC. Additionally, the WSG-Y16 supports MIDI input for plug-in control directly from the console or an external control surface.
The WSG-Y16 supports 16-channel processing at 44.1 and 48kHz, with eight channel processing at 88.2 and 96kHz. Users of Yamaha products with a single MY card slot (01V96, LS9-16 and DME24N) can run up to 16 channels of audio via the WSG-Y16, the other compatible models allow up to 32.
"Waves announcement of the WSG-Y16 card is another demonstration of how the connectivity of Yamaha's current digital consoles allows integration with the latest technology from a wide range of manufacturers," says Karl Christmas, deputy general manager, Yamaha Commercial Audio.
"We believe that choice is one of the key advantages of digital audio and this product gives users who like the sound of Waves plug-ins the flexibility of using them alongside the Yamaha effects installed on the consoles.
"Even our entry-level and most budget-conscious digital console, the 01V96VCM, now has options to incorporate the highest level of professional audio processing - something we believe that no other console manufacturer is able to offer."
(Jim Evans)
