United Kingdom-based audio equipment manufacturer Calrec Audio has launched Argo, a new IP audio mixing system.
The company claims its new Argo console is a different approach to live mixing with an emphasis on adapting to different production needs. Argo has interchangeable modular hardware panels, it can be located in geographically diverse locations and it is built around Calrec’s cloud-accessible Assist user interface. Calrec says this means the user interface is the same whether you are working on physical hardware panels or on a remote GUI.
Argo is available in two frame sizes with two mid-level rows of interchangeable panels on the larger Argo Q model and one mid-level row on the more compact Argo S model. The company has also introduced user software templates to adapt the hardware to different user preferences.
“Broadcasters are under greater pressure to create more content cost-effectively as they are all competing for the same audiences in an increasingly congested market,” says Calrec’s vice president of sales Dave Letson.
“At the same time, production workflows have to be more flexible to remain efficient, cover more content, and work as part of distributed production models. Broadcasters’ move to IP-based networks is encouraging more remote working in more fragmented workflows; we’ve designed Argo to work within these new paradigms.”
Calrec says that as Argo is built on its established ImPulse IP core, so the processing core and control elements can be located anywhere and the location of the control surface is not tied to any physical location. ImPulse can power up to four independent mix environments, including Calrec’s Assist headless mixer which can be accessed over the public internet. ImPulse can also provide more than 2,350 processing paths on a single console and Calrec says that multiple sections can be combined or be geographically diverse, while ImPulse provides enough horsepower to drive up to four Argo mix environments on one IP core.
A range of different AoIP IO modules can be fitted directly into the control surface, while Argo provides flexible immersive spill controls to manage Next Generation Audio formats – multi-channel sources can be controlled on a single fader but spilled out onto more faders anywhere on the control surface for finer control.
You can see Calrec’s launch video here.