At last October’s AES Convention in New York City, Fourier Audio and Digico announced they would soon be releasing the transform.engine, a new Dante-connected server designed to run VST3-native software plugins in live environments. Six months later, with reviews from top touring professionals using beta test versions of the product, the two companies announce that the transform.engine is now officially available for purchase through leading pro audio dealers worldwide.
Housed in a 2U touring-grade chassis with dual redundant power supplies, the new transform.engine is a Dante-connected server designed to run VST3-native software plugins in a live environment, bringing premium studio software to live sound and broadcast applications. The new device gives engineers and creatives access to studio-grade processing on a platform that is specifically designed for the rigors and complexities of live productions.
Fourier Audio’s patent-pending audio software engine is designed to be a solid sandbox with plugins ring-fenced from each other. Should a plugin crash, the rest of the system will not be unaffected and the transform.engine will immediately restart that plugin, restoring the original integrity of the mix.
Accolades for the new product have come from many FOH engineers and heads of sound, including:
- Jamie Tinsley (Fred Again): “Finally, someone has made a product that the industry has long been waiting for. Although using a version without all of the features yet enabled, I was able to run my plugins non-stop for an entire month with no issues, no audio dropouts, and next to zero latency, flipping the bypass in and out on my Quantum338 without hearing any timing slip. It’s clear that the box is stable, and I’ve already bought one for myself. Super-excited!”
- Marc Carolan (Muse): “The ability to expand the plugin palette on a rock-solid platform will make the transform.engine an indispensable piece of kit. I was a very early beta tester, but it imbued such confidence that it was immediately put to work on the Will of the People tour!”
- Rampton (Professor Green): “The transform.engine is a dream to work with.”
- Tony Smith (Coldplay): “It’s been a pleasure working with Fourier Audio over the past few months beta testing the transform.engine. The ability to run any plugin, beyond Waves, is exciting to say the least, and also being able to integrate it into our DiGiCo workflow is a game-changer. It gives us the ability to take any studio tool out on the road.”
- German Tarazona (Maluma): “For me, it was a great surprise to have the ability to integrate different brands of plugins in such a simple way, and, most importantly, with an almost imperceptible latency through my DMI-DANTE64@96 card.”
“We are thrilled to have received such wonderful feedback from our beta testers during the past few months and are eager to make the transform.engine available to engineers worldwide,” says Fourier Audio Co-founder Henry Harrod. “We look forward to seeing how creatives utilize it effectively and harness the capabilities of the very best audio plugins for their projects.”
“The Fourier Audio and Digico teams have eagerly anticipated the widespread release of the transform.engine, and we can’t wait for the live production communities to finally have the pleasure of reliably bringing their favorite studio processing to tours and events,” adds Digico Managing Director Austin Freshwater. “The engineers that were given an early test drive of the product have all come back with fantastic compliments, and we know that this system is going to soon put smiles on a lot of faces at front of house.”
The new Fourier Audio device is designed to operate in conjunction with any professional digital console via Dante, using the Windows/macOS application to control the engine. The transform.engine can also process audio standalone with no computer required. Controlled remotely by a Windows/macOS application, with plugin user interfaces “teleported” and controlled in ultra-low-latency over the network, the product has been designed to be one of the lowest-latency solutions for hosting VST3 plugins, while preserving the reliability and performance of the server.
For a current list of dealers and distributors, visit the where to buy section of the Fourier Audio website at www.fourieraudio.com.
