More than 100 of Merging Technologies’ Horus Networked Audio Converter have been sold since it started shipping in April.
Four of these have been bought by the specialist recording company, JDN Enregistrements, based in Gland-Vich in Switzerland. It bought two shortly after the launch and has now ordered another pair. Jean-Daniel Noir and his colleague, Marie Delorme invested in a Horus each earlier this year, when they also upgraded their Pyramix hardware to the latest Merging fan-less computers which also feature SSD drives (for system) and heavily damped hard drives (for data). This has proven to be a great bonus because they like to make their recordings in the same room as the musicians. These are very often players of baroque instruments, notorious for their low acoustic levels, so the recording set has to be as near silent as possible.
Recording with musicians means monitoring on very high quality headphones and Noir (pictured left) appreciates one Horus feature that is easily overlooked. “I asked Merging to pay attention to the headphone amplifier when Horus was being developed. These often sound very poor on other devices. I must say that they definitely listened to me because it is really outstanding and it also saves me taking a separate amp and all the cables and power supply,” he said.
JDN record all over Europe so need very portable equipment, and the new computer chassis and Horus fit this requirement. “I have other top grade preamps and converters in my inventory so it is easy for me to compare these to Horus. We quickly found that the mic preamps were of a very high standard and because we have so many more channels in Horus, we save a lot of connections and cables,” added Noir.
“Using excellent microphones, we found that Horus accepts a huge dynamic. We have recorded many projects which have varied greatly both musically and in location and Horus has proven to be very versatile. Having AES/EBU, MADI, Ravenna and analogue all in one is a huge bonus.”
Horus is a comprehensive audio router and format converter, offering transparent analogue to digital conversion, “one of the most pristine microphone pre-amplifiers available” and connection to Ravenna IP Audio Networks.
It is the primary new I/O interface for Merging’s audio software (Ovation4 and Pyramix8) and all Merging users can take full advantage of connection to the Horus unit, over Ravenna, using the MassCore Audio Engine. Merging has also been designing a ASIO and CoreAudio driver which will allow for connection into the Ravenna network, and the Horus interface, so that no matter what digital audio workstation or non-linear editing system you have, Horus can work with it.
The Horus system offers: up to 182 inputs @1FS; up to 202 outputs @1FS; signal routing from any input to any combination of outputs; a front panel touch screen for local access and browser-based remote access using any web enabled device
It works from 44.1kHz to 192kHz (Premium up to DXD/DSD256), and as a MADI/AES AD/DA for standard operation, with near-zero latency from in to out (<1ms). It has a modular design for analogue and additional digital I/O. There is also a dual redundant power supply option. – David Fox
www.folia.ch
www.merging.com
