With the recent introduction of TouchControl 5, RTW combined these two areas in a single product, entering the broader pro audio field, including music production, post, mastering and more. The TouchControl 5 system is a Dante-based immersive monitor controller with metering, built on RTW's long and proud legacy of making broadcast-ready monitor controllers. The compact desktop unit features a 5" high-quality touchscreen, which is able to display all of the company's standard precision audio meters, including SPL, measured using the built-in microphone.
This 5" touchscreen is user configurable, as is the pushable rotary knob. This enables complete control of stereo, surround, and immersive monitor setups, with support for up to 32 Dante channels in and out, enabling TouchControl 5 to handle configurations up to 22.2, including all the popular 5.1 and 7.1 surround, as well as 7.1.4 and 9.1.6 immersive.
Tried, tested, and approved by many broadcast engineers around the world, the monitor control engine also supports downmix, DSP-powered speaker calibration (using the internal microphone OR manual set), SPL readout, 4 different input sources, speaker set selection (up to 4), solo, cut, swap, phase, mono, dim, mute and test tone generator. This means that users can set up four speaker sets and easily switch between them and listen with headphones using the dedicated headphones output.
Each set of monitors can be controlled and calibrated using the built-in DSP, where users can set individual delay, gain and phase for individual speakers, with a 4-band EQ available for each speaker in the setup. Up to two LFE channels with adjustable crossover frequencies can be adapted to the application requirements using the powerful bass management section. Calibrated speaker levels can easily be recalled by the press of a knob, and there is support for external, calibrated measurement microphones.
Regarding meters, unlike the licensing model that made some of the most powerful options extremely expensive, the TouchControl 5 system now offers all RTW's highly precise measurements. That includes a powerful PPM metering engine is taken from the company's high-end TouchMonitor meters, with all the scales and color setting options, True Peak metering in VU and "British PPM versions, including a Moving Coil instrument emulation available in 2-channel stereo mode. And of course, all the loudness options and scales, which on its own are worth the price of the system itself.
For many years, RTW has taken part of working groups that defined the international loudness standards in ITU and EBU. The TouchControl 5 includes the company's full loudness engine with support for all international loudness standards such as EBU R128, ITU-R BS.1770-4/1771-1, ATSC A/85, ARIB, OP-59, AGCOM, CALM, LEQ(M), TASA and SAWA. And there are of course all the methods for Loudness Sum, LRA (Loudness Range), etc.
The RTW TouchControl 5 system even allows users to design their own screens and view pages, configuring each instrument in terms of decide on size, ratio and placement, direct control buttons and the exact meters required for each session. Not forgetting the fact that the TouchControl 5 incorporates extensive routing to configure all inputs/outputs for the 32 Dante channels and physical I/Os. As an example, users can configure the same channels for monitor control and metering, or split them so metering is independent from monitor control.
Initially, the TouchControl 5 inherited the software license concept from the company's TouchMonitor metering solutions. Existing users will gain access to all the features and tools when they update to the new software version 1.1. For new users, TouchControl 5 is now delivered with v1.1 and all features unlocked from day one. Software v1.1 also holds several improvements, many of which are based on user feedback, such as increasing the number of input sources and output destinations from 2 to 4, and adding custom names to each configuration.
Further, significant improvements have been added to the calibration side of TouchControl 5, including the ability to now import and export calibration settings, which allows users to transfer them between presets. Finally, preset handling, metering, routing and the view editor have also been improved.
"I’m thrilled to announce our exit from the license-based approach, as it makes integrating TouchControl 5 in your production environment a much simpler buying experience," says Thomas Valter, Director of Product Management and Marketing. "And in addition to that, it also comes much more powerful out of the box with all bells and whistles activated from the get-go at a very compelling price point."
TouchControl 5 software v 1.1 is now available as a free download to all existing TouchControl 5 users, and new TouchControl 5 units are shipping now with v 1.1 pre-installed for EUR €2,499 or USD $2,875 (excluding any tax).
www.rtw.com
