Audio Media - September 2008 - (Page 76) 09|08 AMSR INNOVASON ECLIPSE Live Digital Mixing Console SIMON ALLEN heads across the Channel to check out the latest French delicacy, Innovason’s digital console, but will it count among the finest of French exports along with good wine and soft cheese? rance has given us: The Eiffel Tower, soft cheese, good wine, Daft Punk, and now The Eclipse. With live digital mixing consoles starting to become the norm at venues and festivals all around the globe, France has entered its new contender. Digital consoles have proven to have so many advantages over analogue systems, Innovason, it seems, want to add a few more to that list. F THE REVIEWER SIMON ALLEN is Stage and Studio Manager of High Barn. Even though Innovason has been active in live sound since 1993, it has been nearly five years since the company launched a new product. Recently Innovason has had investment from German desk manufacturer Lawo, which has sparked the build of this new desk. Not many people realise that Innovason was the first company to bring digital consoles and digital audio snakes onto the live sound scene. It was also the first to develop live networking with its Digigram and EtherSound digital snakes. All this time in the market and with such good results so far, this new product launch has got many people really keen to see what’s going on in Brittany, France. Innovason’s current consoles, the Sy48 and its flagship Sy80, are strong international desks that still hold their own even four years on. The Sy80 provides a whopping 80 digital faders and a clear layout that has helped engineers move from analogue to digital. The other advantage Innovason consoles have retained over the years is accessibility for everyone; even today there are desks out there that have limited connectivity. Nearly every manufacturer has launched their digital live mixing console, and it is interesting to see what Innovason are now offering with the Eclipse to make it stand out from the crowd, and I believe the desk will be pleasing to many engineers. H istor y Innovason is claiming that everything you need is onboard this console and from my first encounter with the desk I could see why, even though I wasn’t able to hear any results from the desk as they’re still building it! Yes that’s right, Innovason is working around the clock to get this finished to launch at the PLASA show in September. You have to hand it to them really, as they only started work on this project towards the end of 2007. For a small company, this is quite an achievement. If you’ve ever wondered how a manufacturer sets about designing a new control surface, then this will surprise you; Innovason started by asking a design company to draw up how it should look, and then filled the insides. I think this has paid off, as the look of the desk is great, and the layout of the controls is clear and ergonomic. Innovason also concentrated on making sure the controls and displays were easily read in all lights. Too many pieces of audio equipment are either useless in the dark, which is surprising considering concert venues are often very dark places, or festivals during the day that can be in bright sunlight. The labels are clear and the display lights such as the LED VU meters can be dimmed or brightened easily. Innovason then asked what engineers wanted from a control surface, and tried to take everything into account. Even little details like being able to access the USB slot to load and save mixes was moved to a more accessible position as this is a complaint from their current desks. Innovason’s philosophy is: “the console is a tool that must adapt to the sound engineer’s needs, not the other way round,” so they have made this desk very versatile and user-programmable. This also allows the desk to be adaptable for all aspects of live sound such as; FOH, monitors/IEM, broadcast, OB van, and recording. The Brief > 76 AUDIO MEDIA sEptEMbEr 2008
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