DirectOut makes Dante debut

DirectOut has revealed its first Dante-enabled device in the form of the ExBox.MD, a Dante-to-MADI converter that joins the manufacturer’s ExBox Series. The box enables the ‘straight and simple’ 64-channel conversion of any MADI format, including coaxial BNC, optical SC and SFP, to Dante, and vice-versa.

ExBox.MD can be powered by PoE or up to two external power supplies. It features four network ports that are connected to an internal switch and facilitates the use of Dante’s redundancy mode. Additional ExBox.MD units and other Dante devices can be connected to increase the number of channels. With a small form-factor, rugged design and redundant power supplies, the manufacturer states the ExBox.MD is well suited to ‘touring live shows and OB vans, as well as studio applications’.

Meanwhile, DirectOut has revised the user interface of its Montone.42 MADI/AoIP bridge. Now based on HTML5 and java-script, the GUI also includes a new menu structure described as providing easy access to system and streaming information, while in the Advanced Settings area, users can reportedly make detailed adjustments to parameters such as QoS and PTP.

Based on Ravenna, the device supports SMPTE ST2110-30 and is capable of synchronising to Grandmasters running the SMPTE ST2059-2 PTP profile. With four MADI and two gigabit network ports, the bridge links broadcast, live sound and studio applications.

The company has also added to the GUI support for Merging Technologies’ ANEMAN Audio Network Manager. The ANEMAN software is said to bring centralised stream configuration and device management across an entire network, mainly, but not exclusively, supporting Ravenna/AES67 devices. A typical routing matrix configuration allows cross-points to be set between different networked audio devices. According to the company, complex connections and system infrastructures can be organised in groups, saved and restored at any time.

‘We have been seeing increasing demand for a simple and centralised way to organise Ravenna devices and streams,’ explained Claudio Becker-Foss, specialist for networked audio at DirectOut. ‘ANEMAN is a perfect tool to configure a Ravenna setup with just a few mouse clicks, and we are more than happy to support Merging Technologies’ initiative to significantly improve the handling of Ravenna setups.’

www.directout.eu