One of the most exciting demonstrations to feature Ravenna-enabled product is the "immersive audio experience" taking place on the Merging stand (7-C160). The set-up combines Merging's newly released Ovation 6 software for their media server/sequencer with Genelec's pre-production Ravenna/AES67-enabled 4420 loudspeakers in an 18-speaker array. Backed by Merging's Horus and Hapi networked audio interfaces and Pyramix 10, Ovation 6 offers the power of an integrated 3D rendering engine for use with both replayed sounds and virtually limitless number of live inputs. According to Merging's Chris Hollebone: "Immersive audio and AoIP are right in the spotlight at the moment so, in partnership with Genelec, we've created an installation - in this case using RAVENNA as our preferred audio transport technology - that demonstrates how these two trends can combine in a powerful, captivating way. It's the future of audio in fixed installations."
Other demonstrations of AES67 interoperability featuring Ravenna-enabled product from a wide variety of manufacturers will be taking place on the MNA booth (7-X230). Products from ALC NetworX, Archwave, Axia Audio, Digigram, DirectOut, Focusrite, Lawo, Merging, QSC, SSL, Telos Systems and Yamaha will be connected to a simple network via a single Ethernet switch to demonstrate how products from different manufacturers running on different protocols may interoperate via AES67.
In terms of new products to be unveiled at ISE, Merging once again tops the list with the launch of their new CoreAudio driver that is available for the whole AES67 community. This driver, dubbed Ravenna/AES67 Virtual Audio Device, is fully compliant with Ravenna and automatically compatible with Dante as part of the AES67 community, allowing an easy way for Mac users to connect to the majority of available networked audio devices. This will be a free-of-charge download from the Merging website. The Virtual Audio Device will support full operation of up to 64 channels in and out at 44.1/48kHz.
