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Merging Launches New Audio Device For Broadcasters

Merging Technologies has announced an entirely new Merging Audio Device (also referred to as MAD) for Windows computers.

MAD is designed to offer significant improvements to the free of charge version and introduces an additional infrastructure package for broadcasters wanting the more advanced features.

The ASIO driver supplied with Merging interfaces was beginning to show its age and lacked some key features, and so the first of the major enhancements is a multi-ASIO capability that allows different applications to run simultaneously sharing ASIO inputs and outputs.

Additionally, internal bridging allows channels to be defined to send audio between applications concurrently using MAD.

ASIO is the most popular driver option for the recording industry but there are other markets where the official Microsoft WDM (Windows Driver Model) is essential, and this is now incorporated into MAD.

The combination of ASIO and WDM brings enhanced flexibility to Merging’s Anubis audio interface by allowing WDM channels to be sent or mixed to the same outputs as ASIO or redirected to the bridge channels.

This permits these channels to be routed or recorded by the ASIO applications as well as allowing the user to monitor the WDM sources independently to those on the DAW or Mix. This means that users can listen to their favourite DAW whilst comparing their track with playback from applications like Spotify or YouTube.

Recent developments in IP standards for the broadcast industry require a number of additional features to address stream redundancy and the migration towards centralised data centres. The Merging Audio Driver Infrastructure option offers ST2022-7 Seamless Protection Switching, adds NMOS IS-04 and IS-05 compliance to the package, and brings in the option of Virtual Machine operation.

MAD connects the machine in ST2022-7 and can be discovered and controlled by an NMOS solution, regardless of whether the machines available in the data centre are physical or virtual.

The new Anubis SPS provides the high-quality audio end point in the editing room which can be configured remotely and provides to the end user accurate monitoring calibration (EQ/DLY/TRIM) as well as superlative recording facilities thanks to its mic preamps and A/D D/A.

Delving a bit deeper into the capabilities of MAD, it is possible to have the ASIO and WDM applications at different sample rates as the WDM has its own Sampling Rate Converter which will automatically convert to the ASIO rate.

This allows a recording to be compiled on the ASIO side with some files coming from a WDM source with a higher or lower rate.

The opening to data centres and server-based installations with VM support, the enhanced security provided by ST2022-7 and the additional discovery and control possibilities created by the inclusion of NMOS, further reinforces Merging Technologies’ position as a key solution provider for the broadcast and installation industries.