Pro Sound Web: Roland Systems Group has introduced the M-200i, a compact mixer offering the flexibility and mobility of iPad control fused with the capabilities of a professional digital mixing console.
The iPad app is fully functional on all key aspects of the M-200i mixing and control parameters. It contains the typical preamp control, pan, high pass filters, and extensive PEQ and GEQ control, as well as the ability to store and recall scenes, adjust compressors and gates, sends on faders, effect editing and many other controls. This enables complete remote control of a mix from any location in the room.
4 comments:
It's a little understated in this article, but the real benefit of a wireless iPad-controlled system like this is the portability of it - suddenly you are not trapped behind the board, but can take the board with you and mix in any seat in the house! For a designer whose work varies greatly depending on your location in the theatre, that's invaluable. This is the latest in a series of iPad apps that have become really useful to designers - I'm thinking of ETC, whose RFU iPad app allows you to connect directly into the board and control your whole patch from your iPad (thus granting the same flexibility, although it's more about saving time than doing design-crucial work dependent on location). What both of these may be really awesome for is a tour technician who has to merge their system with the house system as quickly as possible - if they could do that by just clicking their iPad in, that would save a whole lot of headache and trouble upon arriving in each new city.
Brian Makes a great point, there is the old saying that the best view of a show is where the tech table was because that is where the lighting designer was sitting and the best place to hear the show is by the sound board right where the mixer is hearing it. This gives a great opportunity similar to the IRFR app for ETC consols. The interesting thing is that is this the first board ive seen that directly integrates using an ipad as a part of their hardware. Protools has had an interface app for a couple of years and i had a conversation with one of the sound designers working for the ebntertainment department in disneyland. they use a similar interface app so that the sound board can be cooped up in a room and he can walk around the park and mix the various bands. He also explained that the board they had did not support the app orriginally so they had their software tech rewrite the app so it would work with their system
Ok, this is an amazing development for the sound industry using an off the shelf piece of equipment into a piece of equipment, is so smart. The face that you don't need to have an iPad hooked up to the system to make it work is even better in that if your iPad stopped working then you would still be fine but some of the things would be harder for you to get to. I hope that this is the start of a large migration to using the iPad in addition to a console, so that it is easier to get to things and visualize what is going on. Since it is a multi-touch surface I can't imagine what people will come up with for the people to do.
Awesome! I've heard about these systems that are controlled by iPads and I think it's a wonderful idea and innovation. The portability and ease of use is wonderful. Most people have had some experience with an iPad, and therefore learning to use a sound system app on an iPad would also be an easier thing to do, than say learning how to use a new sound board. The iPad's integration into the system also seems really cool, and it will be interesting to see how this product is received once it is released!
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