MultiDyne is another example of a broadcast company choosing to implement Audinate’s Dante into its products because “Dante is the de facto leader in Audio over IP networking for the commercial AV and broadcast markets with more than 1100 Dante-enable products available today, and is used in facilities worldwide for reliable, low-latency, multichannel digital audio transport.”
MultiDyne’s implementation of Dante AoIP gives users a broader palette to leverage Dante across fiber networks, allowing users to convert XLR audio, line-level audio, intercom and more to Dante — and vice versa — at the inputs and outputs of MultiDyne hardware. This includes the Bulldog field fiber transport system, and the FiberNet optical network control system among other platforms.
The interoperability between Dante networking software and MultiDyne hardware is in part made possible through a special openGear 8x8 module from MultiDyne’s OG Series that the company will unveil at IBC2017 (September 15-19, Amsterdam RAI, Stand 11.D40). Though the initial release will support an 8x8 architecture, the scalability and high density associated with Dante and MultiDyne products will allow users to create a “matrix” within MultiDyne hardware to support multichannel capacities up to 64x64.
MultiDyne President Frank Jachetta notes that while the new openGear module integrates a standard Dante “gateway” to move Dante audio in and out of MultiDyne hardware, what happens once inside that hardware is what sets MultiDyne’s innovation apart. The result elevates its stature beyond a simple “line-in, line-out” product to a true long-distance transport platform for broadcast and live events.
“We have designed this Dante-enabled openGear module to operate within a flexible framework of connections inside our fiber transport solutions that can move between XLR, mic and line switches, phantom power, on and off control, and even two-wire intercom” said Jachetta. “And with the benefits of this additional flexibility, our customers working with an ever-increasing number of audio channels get the additional capacity that Dante provides — as much as eight times the amount — along with that industry-standard, Ethernet-based Dante audio transport that broadcasters and content producers crave.”
In relation to specific MultiDyne hardware products, adding the Dante-enabled openGear module to the BullDog essentially brings more channel capacity and functionality for field-based fiber transport to a studio or mobile production truck. The integration of Dante-enabled audio within FiberNet is perhaps more interesting, as it eliminates interface equipment that was traditionally required to bring audio onto the fiber network.
“Optical network systems are faced with significant bottlenecks when it comes to moving audio in and out, and must rely on separate fiber-optic transmitters and receivers to put analog audio onto a digital fiber network,” said Jachetta. “With the interoperability of Dante, we have created a solution with the ease of use of a legacy I/O panel that integrates switches from mic lines, intercom and so forth, encodes the signals, and adds them to a modern digital network. It simplifies everything from live musical performance and event staging to live sports production on the sidelines.”
multidyne.com
