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Cadac
Electronics Ltd is a long established company (1968) which designs
and manufactures high quality analogue sound mixing consoles.
Cadac consoles have an impressive track record when it comes
to delivering faultless performances night after night, year
after year, for almost every imaginable type of production including
those at the world's most prestigious theatres and opera houses.
Cadac
solutions are used for major awards ceremonies, international
musicals, touring productions and other live events such as
broadcast TV. Recent users include the Rolling Stones, Brian
Adams, The Verve and 'Luciano Pavarotti and Friends'.
In
one respect the company has become a victim of its own success:
its high quality designs last for many years with the result
that the replacement market in the high quality niche sector
is insufficient to sustain company profitability.
The
Challenge
To
address new market segments and to meet the evolving needs of
current markets, Cadac had to satisfy the following challenge:
- A
smaller mixer size to maximise audience seating space in small
theatres.
- Optimised
sound control surfaces.
- Optimised
portability.
Moving
towards digital (DSP) technology would provide these features
in new systems and, in conjunction with modular cost profiling,
would meet the needs of both current and new market sectors.
Within the industry, however, the conventional wisdom is that
digital 'sound paths' are not as good when compared with the
best that analogue systems have to offer.
The
challenge for Cadac's Managing Director, Clive Green, was to
fill the market gap with systems based on DSP technology without
compromising sound quality, Senior Design Engineer Philip Jones
was tasked with finding the right way to achieve these next
generation products.
Audio
mixing desks can be broadly divided into two sections, each
with the option of using analogue or digital technology or a
mix of the two. These two main sections comprise:
- A
control surface which includes knobs, slider controls and
switches.
- Sound
paths or channels - linkage of sources such as microphones
to shaping electronics and amplifiers, to speaker systems.
Cadac
was already working on digital control surfaces which would
help separate small space envelope control desks from the audio
system itself.The investigation of the use of digital technology
for the sound path was facilitated by the relationship with
the University of Hertfordshire's Electronic Design Support
Centre.
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This
investigation required:
- Use
of time domain equalisation filtering to achieve audio performance
with imperceptibly the same sound quality as analogue systems.
(sound purity, stable stereo image etc.)
- The
creation of a system of identical and configurable sound
boards with multiple channels and the ability to produce
multiple sound paths to an arbitrary limit.
- The
ability to provide an 'add on system' of additional channels
to existing analogue systems where space was a limiting
factor.
- The
creation of small low-cost, all-digital systems for small
theatres and halls.
Solutions
for the Next Generation of Performance Mixer
An
important issue for Cadac was the establishment of a skilled
engineering base in both digital audio software and associated
DSP hardware development. As a result of contact networking,
Cadac's needs were brought to the attention of the Electronics
Support Centre at the University of Hertfordshire, leading
to a company visit by Support Centre staff and the DTI Business
Advisor.
The
company's primary need to establish a technical knowledge
base via a new team dedicated to digital audio systems has
led to the establishment of a TCS (Teaching Company Scheme).
A TCS associate (Iain Quarmby) has already established new
digital filter algorithms and selected a DSP hardware family
as a basis for the next generation systems for the identified
new market sectors.
The
hardware family is based on Analogue Devices SHARC DSP processors,
results are encouraging and the architecture for multiple,
multi- channel sound paths has been established. Full trials
of the solution commence in the second quarter of 2002.
Cadac
are delighted with the working relationship with the University
of Hertfordshire and are gaining benefit from their early
initiatives in the digital audio field. Lead academic Phil
Shakeshaft acknowledges that the positive nature of the relationship
is due in no small part to the DTI Electronics Design (ED)
programme which has helped to establish vital linkages between
companies and the services they need at the outset of new
endeavours.
For
further information visit:www.cadac-sound.com
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