Thunder | Core provides the channels your show needs and Control | Pack ensures that everything goes to plan.
Today playback has become important if not essential to live performances for all genres of music and across the different size and spectrum of show. There can be a multitude of reasons to include playback in a performance. In many cases the ability to pre-record some of the audio production and then play it back as part of a live performance is a cost-effective way to provide attendees with the best experience possible. Whether it is the ability to incorporate sounds created or recorded in a DAW, as opposed to on a guitar or synth live in a set, or to include an orchestral track when its unfeasible to tour with a full orchestra, playback has become a great tool for artists and fans alike.
With playback can come the fear of dropouts or failures. No artist wants a set disrupted or worse ruined by a portion of their sound suddenly disappearing. To ensure that each set goes perfectly, at least from a technical point of view, redundancy is key. This is where the Thunder | Core products from Digital Audio Denmark, enabled with the Control | Pack technology, offer engineers and artists the assurance they need to trust their playback engine.
Lets talk tech!
The DAD Thunder | Core series of interfaces are incredibly versatile in the range of applications they can cater to. With high channel count and sample rate (up to 384kHz), scalability and expansion options, and a wide range of both software and hardware configurations make them a great fit for any tour size.
Starting with the Core 256, even the smallest device packs a punch – at 1U Half-Width, the Core256 includes 256 channels from your Mac or PC Audio via Thunderbolt 3, which can then be routed on a per channel basis to any combination of 256 channels of Dante (or AES67), up to 192 channels of MADI, and 16 channels of ADAT. There’s also a rackmount option, which can accommodate other equipment, or a 2ndCore256.
In addition to the internal crosspoint router which handles point-to-point patches, the onboard SPQ speaker processing provides up to 16 bands of EQ & filters per channel for as many as 128 channels, whilst also having options for both output group and individual channel delay, level trims, and complex distributed bass management options for up to 8 subwoofers.
For those needing more there is the AX Center, which in addition to the features of the Core256 has two pristine Mic/Line A/D channels with Phantom Power and remote preamp control, two Stereo D/A Headphone Preamps, and two Stereo Line Outputs, as well as two DAD expansion slots which can accommodate a variety of I/O cards – each with 128-channel capacity, still in a 1U package. Finally there’s further expansion with the AX-64, which again builds on the Core256, but adds 8 expansion slots (1,024 more channels) in a 2U frame along with redundant power supplies, while maintaining all of the core functionality in parity with the Core256 & AX Center.
Let Control | Pack help you trust your kit
Control | Pack is a powerful software and device firmware update that adds playback redundancy and show control features to all Thunder | Core products as a free upgrade. This software functionally adds automated or manually triggered redundant failover paths. The automation can be based on input signal loss or AE6 signal detection, whereas the manual control is accessed via DADman Mac or PC software or external control panels, all of which allow for switching between four Buckets (DAD term for Layers).
Show Control
For show control you have a wide range of options, whether it’s triggering different input patches between scenes, or different artists on a live show – even automating plug-in rig routing changes or emergency sources. There is a total of 32 presets, giving you 128 total Buckets of patching, and each Bucket contains 256×256 channel patches (independent of Sample Rate). More than enough for most applications! It’s quick too – signal switching between buckets is around 1ms for Pilot Tone detection, within a single audio sample when triggered with the AE6 signal sensing, and zero samples when triggered via DADman or an external control panel. There are even inbuilt signal generators which can be routed to any output for utility or to be used for the signal detection & failover.
All together this means that artists have the channel count needed e while touring with the confidence that should something fail, no fan will be the wiser.
