The impression that broadcast audio is in the throes of an important transition – away from dedicated hardware towards virtualised systems that can support a huge variety of workflows and deliverables – is impossible to dismiss, writes David Davies.
The suggestion that professional audio – in broadcast, but equally in live music and theatre – is gradually moving away from dedicated hardware towards virtualised and, increasingly, cloud-based solutions is not a new one. But surveying the cluster of significant product launches as 2024 has unfolded, it’s become clear that the shift has decisively kicked up a gear or two.
The change is perhaps most apparent in the sphere of audio mixing, where the emphasis among multiple manufacturers is on providing efficiencies (not least through remote production), supporting encroaching virtualisation at whichever pace the customer wishes to proceed, and facilitating the kind of flexibility that means a broadcaster or service provider can deliver a huge on-site production one day – or a relatively streamlined one with technical personnel located far and wide the next...
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