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Even before its official introduction at the upcoming AES Show in Los Angeles, Cadac showed the new CDC Seven console at the WFX Conference and Expo in Louisville, KY, September 21 and 22, 2016.
The CDC seven builds still further on the heritage of the flagship CDC eight and success of the medium format CDC six, designed to have all of the power and operational simplicity of the CDC six with the enhanced production capabilities of an expanded dual 23.5 inch 16:9 hi-definition touch screen, 36 fader control surface.
This year Cadac's presence at AES comprises booth #416 – exhibiting the CDC seven, and a large demo room #508 overlooking the exhibition floor, featuring a CDC seven, three CDC six' and a rack mounted CDC four:m, all running networked audio via the Cadac MegaComms router.
The new CDC seven maintains all of the feel and familiarity of the CDC six, with its major ergonomic advance in user operation and resulting minimal learning curve. Scaling up operational flexibility, the CDC seven doubles up on both the large format LCD touch screen, with its associated encoders, and the physical fader count; also expanding the number of inputs to 96. The new console retains the CDC six's 56 busses; 48 of them configurable.
The high contrast LCD touch screens display the same uniquely intuitive “high-agility” swipeable graphical user interface. The encoders immediately to the right of and below both screens further encourage the instinctive use of gesture - touch and swipe – operation to navigate and operate the console. A third centrally mounted 6.5” LCD touch screen provides system control. The major advantage of the dual screens is the ability to display and control multiple tasks simultaneously; for example, the VCAs can be displayed on one screen while the inputs to the VCAs are displayed on the other. The faders and encoders naturally follow the GUI displayed on the individual screens, resulting in further increases in the speed and flexibility of the workflow.
The CDC seven's intuitive human interface and feature set are designed with the primary intention of aiding the workflow and allowing the engineer full creative freedom, unhindered by operation of the technology. The feature set includes Cadac's unique monitor mode with mix focus, as well as the ability to create custom fader layers. All 36 motorized faders on the CDC seven feature stereo metering and a full color user definable OLED display.
The CDC seven uses Cadac's MegaComms digital audio network, which is designed to meet the requirements of the most challenging production and system installation applications. Cadac's audio protocol allows total through-system propagation delay from inputs on stage to outputs, including all console processing and A-D / D-A conversions, in 37 samples (@ 96 kHz), or just under 400μs; the industry's lowest latency protocol. The console features 16 creative on-board stereo effects and comes preconfigured with an integrated 64 x 64 Waves interface; this allows direct connection to a Waves MultiRack SoundGrid server with access to the vast Waves' library of effects, and also enables multitrack recording straight to a laptop.
“We were extremely pleased with the reception the CDC six received when launched 18 months ago,” says Director of Research and Development Nick Fletcher. “And we believe the CDC seven will be met with the same universal approval. As a result of the continual development of our innovative user interface, industry leading latency management system and unsurpassable audio performance we believe the CDC seven offers an incredibly attractive proposition for those who want something that stands head and shoulders above the norm. In addition to which, we are offering all this at an extremely competitive price point.”