Robert Wyatt appears with the Logitek Artisan console he selected at the NAB Show.
SPOKANE, WASH.
KSPS-TV is the flagship PBS station of the Inland Pacific Northwest and provides programming to viewers in parts of four western states, as well as in portions of western Canada. We made the transition to HD two years ago, but our audio got left behind in that upgrade. Our audio console was 22 years old and we had to downconvert everything to the lowest common denominator for it. We then did our stereo mix and finally upconverted everything to match the digital video.
Needless to say, we began shopping for a new audio console as soon as we could.
One of our biggest goals was to get rid of anything that said analog. Our new console system had to be digital and router-based. We wanted to be able to rearrange inputs as required for individual operators and shows. Microphone inputs were also a concern—our old audio console never had enough. We also wanted to make sure that our IFB and mix-minus requirements were addressed.
Another item on our list was the ability to use a PC as an audio bridge. With the flexibility of a PC, individual operators could design their own bridges and we would be able to change the bridge from operator-to-operator and show-to-show.
At the NAB Show we discovered that Logitek was introducing a new audio console for TV—the Artisan. When we learned what the console could do, the price-for-performance characteristic of Logitek came out much better than that of anyone else. The Artisan was digital, router-based, and offered all the I/O and mix-minus capabilities we needed. Logitek also had a PC-based video bridge vScreen, which provides a drag-and-drop utility for customizing screens.
After we looked at the Artisan, Logitek's director of sales, Frank Grundstein, brought a demo unit to Spokane to demonstrate to our operators. Everyone was duly impressed.
EASY INSTALLATION
We took delivery of our new Artisan console this spring and installation was amazingly fast. We'd anticipated doing a shadow operation with the old and new boards while we got the Artisan system set up and configured, but decided instead to just pull the old console out and replace it with the Artisan.
One thing that helped speed things along was the installation of the Logitek Audio Engine router in our technical audio area. This provided us with very short interconnection runs. A single cable connects the Artisan to the Engine. We'd already been using a punch block system for our audio wiring, and the Logitek system we bought was set up for this. Logitek had a person on-site for commissioning and he worked with our production operators to configure the Artisan exactly the way we wanted.
We're very pleased with Logitek, and our operators only have positive things to say about the Artisan board. We have only had a few minor technical issues, all having to do with software, and those were promptly addressed by the company. Their sales and tech support personnel are knowledgeable and really understood our needs. We now have a fully digital signal path throughout the studios, along with the flexibility we wanted for our program creation.
Robert Wyatt is chief engineer at KSPS-TV. He may be contacted atbobw@ksps.org.
For additional information, contact Logitek Electronic Systems at 800-231-5870 or visitwww.logitekaudio.com.
