A pioneer in network-distributed audio processing and mixing with its range of SoundGrid live sound solutions and the revolutionary eMotion LV1 Live Mixer, which managed to convince many touring audio engineers that it was possible to work with touchscreens and a fully software-based approach, Waves now confirms that its Cloud MX Audio Mixer is able to deliver pristine audio, high-precision mix control, and creative processing capabilities with full Waves plugin integration – all in a scalable, remotely operated, broadcast-ready cloud workflow.
Broadcasters and media organizations can now add state-of-the-art audio mixing and processing to their flexible professional cloud-based workflows, thanks to Waves' double-precision 32-bit-float mixing engine - a cloud-based version of Waves’ eMotion LV1 mixing engine - with support for up to 96kHz sample rate, which is the foundation for the Cloud MX Audio Mixer, augmented by Waves’ industry-leading arsenal of cloud-licensed audio plugins.
This architecture, Waves explains allows new live production workflows with more creative possibilities, and finer control over audio streams. With the Cloud MX Audio Mixer, users can run chains of up to eight cloud-licensed plugins directly on any channel inside the mixer itself – helping to mix any event, in the cloud, with unmatched processing power.
In preparation for the global launch of this cloud-based audio mixing solution, Waves Audio implemented support for Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is currently the leading infrastructure used by broadcast and media organizations for next-generation workflows withe remote integration (REMI) and distributed operations.
Waves' Cloud MX Audio Mixer is deployed on Amazon Web Services (AWS) using Waves Central, a comprehensive software installation and license management application for Waves software. Media companies and broadcasters can deploy the mixer in any available Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) geographical location to optimize network performance between the cloud, remote operators, and on-premise equipment. Users can run the mixer on instances in any of the available Amazon EC2 geographical locations to optimize network performance between the cloud, remote operators, and on-premise equipment.
In another important technology adoption, the Waves Cloud MX is NDI-compatible, fitting easily into NDI-based cloud production environments, with simple patching and routing of NDI audio streams. Broadcasters increasingly using NDI-compatible cloud-based production systems can now integrate studio-quality audio processing and mixing functionality to their cloud workflows.
Typically, Waves has never hesitated on adopted industry standards or licensed technologies in a effort to offer the most powerful and agile solutions for different market requirements. Prior to the Cloud MX Audio Mixer announcement, Waves announced support for Network Device Interface (NDI), a globally standardized video-over-IP technology originally developed by NewTek (now part of the Vizrt Group), which has helped facilitate the transition to cloud-based, remote production. NDI is a high-performance network protocol for transporting media streams over Ethernet and is a royalty-free technology that allows video and audio sources to be shared bi-directionally across a network.
"We adopted NDI technology, as it is a proven system for professional cloud production environments,” says Mick Olesh, Waves Managing Director and EVP of Sales. “The ability to process, mix and route all audio streams in the cloud, and without converting protocols, simplifies the workflow so that production teams can now focus on delivering a superior sounding program feed to the audience.”
All Waves Cloud MX Audio Mixer packages come with the powerful cloud-licensed Waves eMo plugins (eMo D5 Dynamics, eMo F2 Filter, and eMo Q4 Equalizer), which form the mixer’s channel strip for a fast, efficient workflow. Users can expand their audio capabilities even further by upgrading to Cloud MX Audio Mixer Plus, with 11 extra cloud-licensed plugins such as the Primary Source Expander for automatic mic bleed elimination, the legendary Renaissance Vox vocal compressor, the surgical F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ, MaxxBass, the L2 UltraMaximizer and more; or to, Cloud MX Audio Mixer Premium which adds over 150 cloud-licensed plugins covering every audio need, including the Dugan Speech plugin for real-time automatic mixing of multiple mics.
Control options include multiple touchscreen support (up to 4 touchscreens connected via industry-standard remote protocols), plus tactile mixing surfaces with the Waves FIT controller and/or Mackie/MIDI controllers. With the Waves Cloud MX Audio Mixer, production teams can control complex productions with easy deployment, leveraging the benefits of a 100% cloud-based audio mixing solution that is easily scalable to any requirement. Audio specifications detail 64 stereo/mono input channels, 44 bus/return channels, 16 monitor auxes and 8 FX auxes (stereo/mono), 8 audio groups, L/R/C/Mono, 8 matrixes (stereo/mono), 16 DCA faders, 8 mute groups, and 8 user-assignable shortcut keys.
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