Allen & Heath announces its plans to unveil GLD, described as a user-friendly, cost-effective and scalable live digital mixing system, conceptually based on the company's successful digital iLive series.. A standard GLD 32 input system offers 28 XLR mic inputs with plug n' play I/O expanders allowing easy expansion up to 48 inputs (44 XLR mic inputs).
At the heart of the system is the GLD-80 mixer, providing 48-input processing channels, eight stereo FX returns fed by iLive's established FX emulations, 30 configurable buses, 20 mix processing channels, and DSP power to provide full processing.
GLD-80 has an analog-style channel processing control section, according to Allen & Heath, complemented by a graphical 8.4-inch touch screen. A fully customizable drag ‘n drop layout is designed to allow quick and easy assignment of inputs and mixes to fader strips, the company says. There are 20 fader strips in four layers, each with motorized fader, a channel LCD display which can be named and color-coded, plus a rotary control for direct access to gain, pan and aux/FX sends. The mixer‘s local I/O comprises four XLR mic/line inputs, four XLR line outs, four RCA inputs, two RCA outputs, and digital outputs in SPDIF and AES3 formats.
The GLD-80 connects to a range of plug ‘n play I/O racks to ‘build' 28, 36 or 44 mic input systems. A primary AR2412 rack (24 XLR inputs, 12 XLR outs) and up to two AR84 expander racks (eight XLR inputs, four XLR outs each) can be connected over 120m CAT5 runs using A&H's dSNAKE protocol. dSNAKE provides control to the remote preamp, and all mic preamps are scene recallable. AR2412 also includes a connection for personal monitoring systems.
GLD has the ability to record and playback a stereo signal on a USB memory stick. Standard iLive audio I/O option cards for Dante, MADI, EtherSound and Allen & Heath's ACE protocols can be fitted, allowing multi-channel record/playback, FOH/monitor splits, and connection to A&H iLive systems, which can easily be configured using GLD's extensive soft-patching.
“Designing a system which is suitable for both the professional engineer and occasional user has been a priority. With GLD, our aim was to take much of the complexity out of digital mixing, opening up the tremendous benefits of digital technology to a wider group of customers, such as the rental companies, houses of worship and live venues where our GL series analogue mixers have been working so successfully for years,” comments A&H MD, Glenn Rogers. “GLD offers high quality processing and stunning sonic performance. Key to the system is GLD's remote plug 'n play I/O audio racks for flexible, easy set-up system building.”
GLD will be launching at NAMM 2012.
