The quiet revolution in sound systems

Dubai: Tucked behind the enormous government stands, in an unfashionable corner of Gitex’s sprawling exhibitions, audiovisual companies have set out their stalls.

While the crowds flock to the robotics displays, and CIOs meet to discuss cloud computing and the Internet of Things, companies such as Taiden pitch their latest multilingual conference hardware — wireless, ergonomically designed in consultation with translators from the European Parliament and capable of simultaneous translation on 40 channels.

Incremental change is the order of the day in the world of major conferencing.

That’s not to say the AV firms are devoid of toys: D3 is pitching its interactive touchscreen conferencing table by having its built-in PC display a piano keyboard and inviting attendees to play a tune.

And in a small stand at the back of the hall, Desert Beats is displaying PreSonus’ line of Dante-equipped sound mixing tools.

If Dante (Digital Audio Network Through Ethernet) is responsible for an inferno, this system aims to ensure it’s a disco inferno.

PreSonus product specialist Lee Boylan is clearly passionate about the system. “It’s very flexible. We’re aiming at everything from studios to a guy playing in a pub to rental companies — they can design a system to suit different jobs, everything from a small venue to Wembley Stadium.

“Sound is changing: what’s available now for small and medium venues like pubs is what was available for much bigger venues.”

Within budget

At €1,400 (Dh5,850) for a 16-input rack mixer, or €2,000 for the 32-input version, the system is certainly within the budget of most musicians.

The systems feature a number of presets, including the ability to move from live mixing to studio mixing at the touch of a button. And it can be controlled from an iPhone.

“It means band members can control their monitors from their phones. The sound mixer can control the whole system from an iPad while he sits at the bar — I was doing that the other night,”

Dante is the key to the system’s flexibility, Boylan said. “An analogue connection is a whole mess of cables.” He makes a circle with both hands to show the dimensions. “With Dante we’re able to send an actual audio signal over a CAT-5 cable [such as might run from a router to a computer]. It means we can run one small cable to the mixing desk. With a switching box, you can plug all your audio equipment into it.”