0406 AMSR
Some assumed Midas had a little catching up to do. Has it finally come out in the lead?
PAUL MAC previews the new XL8.
M I D A S X L 8
LIVE PERFO RMANCE SYS TEM
n amongst the digital live console launches of late | System connections are all taken care of with | ||
there as been an obvious one missing. Surely Midas | cable or fibre. While the details of the network are too | ||
Imust go digital sometime? Finally, the answer is here, | detailed for this article, a couple of things stand out. | ||
accompanied by the typically bold sell: “Digital Goes | First, all connections are | ||
Midas.” Inside that clever cliché reversal is an | ‘XL8’ is the name of a | 96kHz sampling rate. The DL451 system | |
important statement, emphatically backed up | router (two supplied for each system), for | ||
by the decision to replace the XL4 analogue | complete system, not | example, features ten fully redundant AES | |
with the XL8 digital – Midas claims it has got | just a board and a hunk | 50 connections for local I/O. | |
the new flagship so right that it doesn’t need | Second, the decision to go with AES | ||
the old one. | of DSP – open the box | 50, and specifically the Sony SuperMac | |
The first thing to note is that ‘XL8’ is the | and HyperMac standards is wrapped up | ||
name of a complete system, not just a board | and find everything | with ambitious requirements for capacity, | |
and a hunk of DSP – open the box and find | that you need to rig an | latency, timing, data tunnelling, and | |
everything that you need to rig an FOH or | FOH or monitor position | more. Latency is listed as ‘70µS per link, | |
monitor position from stage to stereo. | and the specified total latency, including | ||
The standard package includes four DL431 | from stage to stereo. | A/D (often the weak point) is 2ms – which | |
System Input splitters – each with 24 mic/line |
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| for SR monkeys everywhere, is peanuts. |
inputs. Each of those inputs has three mic pre- |
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| In addition, Midas says it has the whole |
amps. The two variable gain amps feed two sets |
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| system phase and sample synchronous. If |
of ADCs and two sets of rear panel balanced analogue | you want a comb filter you’ll have to use the EQ. | ||
splits and three splits, while the set of fixed gain amps | Even the DSP rack in this system is modular and | ||
supply a broadcast/record split on the front panel. | includes ‘n+1’ redundancy (you only need nine DL471 | ||
Then there are five DL451 modular I/O boxes – each | DSP Engine modules, but you get ten... just in case). In | ||
capable of 24 input and output channels depending on | a conversation with Midas it turns out that to lose a DSP | ||
how they’re loaded. Other standard features here include | module would be the worst failure as recovery for the | ||
MIDI and GPIO. |
| affected channels can take around 20 seconds. Losing > | |
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