The Stagetec Crescendo is a digital audio mixing console offering a large feature set in a compact sized surface (only 530 mm depth without the armrest), and is designed to allow the engineer to cope easily with the heavy and complex workload common in today’s on-air and theatre environments.
The console is effectively a manual control surface for the Crescendo mixer DSP embedded in a Nexus routing system. All main system audio inputs and outputs are connected via one or more Nexus Base Units, which may be located anywhere in the facility, or off-site. These link via fibre to a Nexus Star central router unit which provides the system’s DSP capability; this is also connected via fibre to the Crescendo surface. The Crescendo surface itself handles no audio other than local signals for talkback, nearfield monitoring, etc. If a Nexus system is implemented as the facility’s main audio backbone router, the mixing console simply forms part of the system, and has access to any sources or destinations within the facility.
The modular design of the Nexus racks permits enormous flexibility in I/O configuration. Almost any combination of analogue and digital audio formats may be specified to suit the facility’s infrastructure; options extend to MADI, SDI and optical digital audio interfaces as well as the more common mic or line analogue, and AES3.
The Crescendo’s ergonomic layout simplifies both system setup and the audio mixing task itself. It may be specified with up to 48 channel strips (in blocks of 8), the blocks being positioned either side of the central master section as required. The channel strip’s local controls are reduced in number both for greater clarity and footprint reduction, though full control over all signal parameters is always available through the central control area. Each strip can control up to 8 different audio channels by the use of layers. Assignment of audio channels to channel strips is via the Layer panel in console’s master section, which also controls which layer is active on a global or 8-wide channel block basis. Further, two layers are always instantly accessible on every channel strip by a local toggle button. The currently-selected source is indicated by an alphanumeric display next to the fader. Audio channels may be freely linked to form stereo pairs or 5.1 stems as needed, and controlled by a single strip. Each channel strip has six dual-concentric, touch-sensitive rotary encoders, each with an associated LED fan display. Two of these are input and pan controls, the other four are switched between EQ (4-band parametric) and aux. send and N-1 functions with a single button press. Other channel functions, including dynamics (compression, limiting and expansion), bus routing and channel delay are controlled from the master area.
The Crescendo may be freely configured to suit each mixing session. Configuration parameters include numbers and width (mono, stereo or 5.1) of buses, I/O allocation within the Nexus frames, allocation of audio channels to channel strips and layers and monitoring setup; console configurations may be saved as project files for immediate setup of regular tasks. Additionally, the console’s snapshot automation system can store a complete set of control settings for subsequent manual or automatic (time-based) recall.
Large TFT displays are used in the meter bridge above the master section and each channel strip block. Apart from bargraph metering (the meter style follows the channel mode assignment as mono, stereo or 5.1), the channel strip displays include EQ curve, bus routing, channel linking information, dynamics gain reduction, channel name and I/O port identification. The master section display can meter up to 96 bus levels simultaneously as well as mono, stereo or 5.1 master outputs. Large clock and timer displays, and GPIO indicators are built-in.
As befits a console intended for use in the most prestigious on-air and live situations, full redundancy of power supplies for all components of the system (including Nexus) is standard. Other reliability safeguards are the inclusion of redundant DSP, automatic restoration of last-known settings following a power-down, and storage of project data within the console itself to guard against external computer failure.