When I first head about the Avid MTRX, the most striking thing about it was that as part of the agreement with DAD to produce the MTRX, the MTRX is essentially a re-versioning of the AX32, the AX32 would no longer feature a Digilink port for use with Pro Tools HDX. My experience of the AX32 has been as a very high quality modular router, AD/DA converter, audio IO with monitoring and speaker correction and its natural home was in professional recording studios and post production facilities. As the majority of such studios use Pro Tools HDX what would happen to the AX32?
Of course there are plenty of people who don’t use Pro Tools in music and to some extent post production, but was I being too narrow minded about who has a use for a very high quality, very flexible converter/router like the AX32?
I was, but that is changing as I become more and more aware of users outside of Pro Tools HDX for whom a solution like the AX32 answers a problem they would otherwise struggle to meet. One of these uses is as a high end stage box for live sound productions. Large productions can be every bit as complex as a large post production or recording environment and the ability of an AX32 to accommodate large numbers of inputs and outputs across many different formats and bring them together into a single patch matrix makes the AX32 the ideal “get out of jail free” card for audio interfacing.
Particularly as there are of course sonic as well as practical benefits to using an AX32. It is one of the very best configurable interfaces available. Its mic preamps are truly jaw dropping (I know lots of people say things like this but this is the only piece of equipment I’m on record as saying the preamps stopped me in my tracks). Most gear has good preamps but very little gear has remarkable preamps. These are remarkable! In terms of capacity, the 1500x1500 patch matrix can deal with bigger productions than most of us can…
An excellent example for the kind of I’m talking about is the setup for the Lukas Graham tour. This system uses the AX32 to make what could be distractingly complex simpler, and sound better.
In essence, their AX32 unit is equipped with three analogue expansion cards with preamps, a total of 24 inputs with microphone preamps and uses the various flavours of digital IO to manage the rest, there isn’t any Dante in this setup but there absolutely could be and using the DAD Dante expansion cards it is possible to mix sample rates across Dante networks on the same system without the bottlenecks introduced by bridging between networks using discrete point to point links.
AX 32 - A Central Point In A Complex System
A lot of the signals in use during a Lukas Graham concert are already digital, which includes backing tracks, keyboard signals that run directly off a MacBook Pro and all of the wireless mics are also connected digitally to the AX32. In total the AX32, which is physically located next to the monitor console, gathers around 80 inputs across analogue and digital, from which a lot of different feeds are created and passed on. In this example the AX32 acts as the central point for the system, A bidirectional MADI connection to the SSL Monitor Console, which is in turn linked via a proprietary fibre optic connection to the SSL Front Of House console, maintains a degree of system independence from the rest of the setup.
It might be easier to think in terms of “domains”. There are two domains in this system, the consoles and the sources and destinations. Because the AX32 acts as a bridge between all of the inputs and outputs in this system the only connection between the AX32 and the consoles is a bidirectional MADI connection. In this case it would be relatively simple to swap out to another console and of course because all settings are recallable via DADman, different configurations can be prepared in pre-production a local hires could be accommodated.
The penny dropped for me when I was considering the potential advantages offered by this level of portability. The AX32 is a 2U unit and potentially transportable as hand luggage on a flight. Radio or TV station appearances can be simplified with a version of the concert routing being implemented for broadcast appearances with quick setups and no compromise on sound quality. I really like the flexibility basing a production around an AX32 offers as it is one of those pieces of equipment which seems to be able to solve whatever you throw at it. It’s definitely not just for the studio.