Following its introduction of the Apollo platform earlier this year, Calrec Audio has again drawn influence from Greek mythology for its latest console, Artemis, writes David Davies.
Based on Apollo, Artemis utilises the same core technologies as Bluefin2 and Hydra2, which are said to equip the console with “an enormous routing and processing capacity which belies its mid-size footprint.” Using a combination of OLED displays, touchscreens and light-emitting knobs, the soft Artemis control surface provides instant visual feedback and allows the user to reconfigure the desk on the fly.
Bluefin2 – the next generation of Calrec’s trademark Bluefin High Density Signal Processing platform – is said to provide substantial resources at multiple sample rates. At 48kHz, Bluefin2 gives Artemis up to 640 channel processing paths, 128 programme busses, 64 IFB/Track outputs and 32 auxiliaries.
Artemis also features a second Compressor/Limiter in each channel, more than 70 minutes of assignable delay, and three independent APFL systems for multiple operator use. As with all Calrec designs, these facilities do not share resources so that they are available to the user at all times.
A dedicated intergrated router means that Artemis’ I/O functions can be performed by Calrec’s Hydra2 networking system, which uses high capacity 8192×8192 cross-pointer routers and makes available a variety of I/O units to provide analogue, AES, MADI, SDI and Dolby E formats. All use copper or fibre connectivity and can be fitted with GPIO cards. Console routers can be connected together to form large networks, and standalone routers will also be available.
As with all Calrec consoles, the inclusion of full automatic hot-swap redundancy is part of the system architecture. On Artemis, all DSP, control processor, router, power supplies and connections are fully redundant.
