Harman Professional Solutions announced its new BSS Soundweb OMNI Series – the next generation in open architecture digital signal processing – at ISE 2024.
Featuring the most powerful processor ever from BSS, Soundweb OMNI caters to the diverse needs of hospitality, large venues, corporate, education and government installations.
The Soundweb OMNI family combines enterprise-grade processors, flexible I/O expanders, Dante/AES67 networked audio, an onboard scripting engine developed by AMX and a vast library of processing objects, including media playback, AEC, VoIP and more.
The platform is seamlessly managed through AVX Architect and AVX Control, an all-new software suite, built from the ground up to support the latest installed products from Harman Professional starting with BSS Soundweb OMNI, ushering in a new era of installed AV software at Harman.
Soundweb OMNI is designed to meet the specific requirements of AV system designers, integrators and end users, while removing the pain points often found in traditional system design. It combines purpose-built hardware with intuitive software that offers the flexibility of centralised or distributed DSP, allowing system designers to choose the appropriate topology for any installation.
BSS’s commitment to supporting control system programmers is reinforced through the introduction of HControl, a human-readable, standards-based, and developer-friendly API. Soundweb OMNI also supports both 48kHz and 96kHz processing.
Soundweb OMNI features two flagship processing devices, the 512p and 256p, which deliver DSP power and high Dante/AES67 channel counts, up to 512x512 at 96kHz. This surpasses previous generations and positions Soundweb OMNI to easily meet today's complex demands while remaining future-ready for tomorrow’s AV/IT needs.
Soundweb OMNI also offers two I/O expansion devices, the 32e and 16e, which provide “unparalleled I/O flexibility”. Each audio I/O port is ‘format configurable’ as either analogue or stereo AES3 digital. Furthermore, certain audio I/O ports and all GPIO ports are ‘direction configurable’ as either inputs or outputs - all easily managed through software on an individual port basis.
The AVX software suite streamlines the configuration, control and monitoring of Soundweb OMNI systems through two user-friendly applications. AVX Architect is a desktop software app for system diagramming, device configuration, network management and custom UI design.
AVX Architect allows users to add an unlimited number of processors and expanders to a single project file, while still enjoying the simplicity of a true, single canvas for device configuration.
AVX Control is a lightweight software app, which provides easy access to custom UIs for controlling and monitoring devices across a multitude of platforms, including Windows, iOS, Android and AMX Varia touch panels.
These custom UIs work not only with Soundweb OMNI devices, but also Crown DCi amplifiers and previous generation Soundweb London devices, thanks to protocol-bridging technology developed by AMX.
“BSS has set the standard for signal processing innovation with legendary products that have driven some of the world’s most prestigious installations,” said Phil Scobee, director of installed audio for Harman Professional Solutions. “As the new standard in open architecture DSP, Soundweb OMNI builds upon that legacy to advance signal processing and maximise system design potential for system designers, integrators and end users.”
Soundweb OMNI represents the most powerful DSP available from BSS, with processing capability that surpasses previous BSS DSP products. The all-new engineering design ensures the seamless handling of today’s most complex installations and positions Soundweb OMNI to be future-ready to meet the evolving needs of tomorrow.
Centralised and distributed DSP topologies each come with distinct advantages. Instead of dictating a topology, Soundweb OMNI supports both, allowing system designers the freedom to choose the topology that best aligns with the specific requirements of each project.
System integrators can add as many Soundweb OMNI processors and expanders to a single project file as needed, while still enjoying the simplicity of a single canvas for device configuration. Regardless of DSP topology or device count, AVX Architect software provides a centralised workspace, streamlining the process of constructing, maintaining, and troubleshooting even the most complex DSP designs.
Through user-friendly applications, the AVX software suite streamlines Soundweb OMNI system configuration, control and monitoring. The AVX Architect app simplifies system diagramming, device configuration, network management and custom UI design while the AVX Control app enables easy access to custom UIs for controlling and monitoring devices across a multitude of platforms, including Windows, iOS, Android and AMX Varia touch panels.
Soundweb OMNI devices leverage Harman's new HControl protocol, a human-readable, standards-based, developer-friendly API. This intuitive, flexible and powerful alternative to other protocols positions it as the preferred choice for developers working at any scale.
Audinate’s Dante audio networking is the world’s most universally adopted networked audio technology, used extensively for commercial installations, live performances, recording, production and more. Soundweb OMNI ships with its full Dante channel count capability, up to 512x512 to ensure immediate, seamless compatibility with the complete Dante ecosystem.
For native-AVX devices such as Soundweb OMNI, integrators can easily create ‘Private’ Dante streams simply by drawing wires between processing objects allocated across devices. This streamlines the device configuration process by allowing AVX Architect to build and protect Dante routes, without the need for external Dante Controller software.
This also visually simplifies the layout of otherwise complex DSP designs. For interfacing non-AVX devices, the standard ‘Public’ Dante toolset ensures full compatibility with the entire Dante ecosystem.
Soundweb OMNI 512p and 256p processors are equipped with a robust 128-channel internal media player, facilitating the playback of pre-recorded audio files directly from an internal 1TB or 500GB SSD. This is useful for announcements, paging chimes, advertisements, background soundscapes and more.
Supporting up to 160 AEC channels and 64 VoIP lines, Soundweb OMNI processors provide seamless integration capability with building phone systems to ensure efficient and reliable communication.
BSS products have earned a renowned reputation for exceptional sound quality, and Soundweb OMNI I/O expansion devices showcase this legacy with the highest quality solid-state microphone preamp ever crafted by Harman.
AVX Control software is cross-compatible with a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows, Android, iOS, and AMX Varia touch panels, offering versatile options for a diverse user base.
The same technology developed by AMX for the robust MUSE Automation Platform can run natively on Soundweb OMNI devices, inheriting the same protocol bridging and scripting capabilities as AMX MUSE devices.
To simplify the upgrade path for existing BSS and Crown users, this technology allows previous generation BSS Soundweb Contrio EC wall controller devices to control new Soundweb OMNI devices, while also allowing new AVX Architect and AVX Control software to integrate previous generation BSS Soundweb London DSPs and Crown DCi amplifiers into a unified custom UI, directly alongside Soundweb OMNI.
This technology also provides control system programmers with a sophisticated scripting toolkit for interfacing with third-party devices and APIs.