Article Overview

Roland Focus on ‘Bringing Professional Audio and Video Together’ at Pro Light & Sound

Visit Roland Systems Group at Pro Light & Sound 8.0 G54

Demonstrating how the company is ‘Bringing Professional Audio and Video together’ will be the main focus for Roland Systems Group at Pro Light & Sound 2014 (8.0 G54).  As the only manufacturer providing integrated audio and video products, Roland’s strength in digital technology has established the company as a provider of total solutions for the live production arena -as well as professional audio and video production.

With the launch of new products at Pro Light & Sound, including the S-2416 Digital Snake, that utilize proprietary Roland technology (such as REAC – Roland Ethernet Audio Communication) Roland is set to show unbeatable innovation in connectivity and flexibility.  The key to the R&D strategy of this global company is to continually evolve both hardware and software to provide practical, system based solutions whilst giving the user the freedom to maximize their creativity.

The recently launched Roland VR-3EX and the VR-50HD AV Mixers will be showcased to the European market at Pro Light & Sound, providing a front end solution for live production, web streaming and recording. The Roland M-480 48 Channel Live Digital Mixing Console will also play a key role with some exciting news about the M-480 to be announced at show opening. The M-200i iPad Controllable Digital Console will also be on display, representing the versatility, exceptional sound quality and expandability of Roland products.

Visitors to the stand will be encouraged to get ‘hands on’ with the Roland products and see the benefits of being able to easily build modular or system configurations using the S-4000 or S-1608 Digital Snake Systems and find out more about REAC (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication).   The large open hospitality area on the Roland booth will give visitors and existing customers alike the opportunity to network with the international staff who will be happy to discuss any requirements.

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Roland Systems Group Expands Digital Snake Offering with S-2416

The new Roland S-2416 digital snake stage unit expands the current line up by offering 24 analogue pre-amps and 16 analogue outputs.  The S-2416 also hosts an 8 x 8 AES/EBU port to provide a digital input/output environment enabling direct connection to speaker processors, amps and other devices.  When both the analogue and AES/EBU I/O are combined the S-2416 can achieve up to 32 inputs and 24 outputs.  In addition to the analog and digital inputs and outputs, the S-2416 has two REAC ports (Roland Ethernet Audio Communication) that enable an additional snake in cascade for expanded inputs and outputs or for a fully redundant, zero-loss audio back-up solution.

The Roland S-2416 is the first digital snake from Roland that is capable of a cascade connection, making it possible to increase the number of inputs and outputs to 40 x 40 channels.  The flexibility of being able to connect an additional REAC digital snake to the S-2416 allows the Roland V-Mixing System to be used in advanced configurations. Cascade mode is activated easily by a switch on the S-2416.

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The Roland S-2416 supports 24-bit 96 kHz, 48 kHz, or 44.1 kHz when switched to clock master mode. Word clock input and output enable a master clock signal to be connected when using AES/EBU. Mic preamps can be remotely controlled using any V-Mixer, Roland R-1000 Recorder or S-4000R Digital Snake Remote Controller connected by RS-232C or by using the S-4000 RCS remote-control software on a computer (Mac or Windows) connected via USB.

Newly developed high grade and discrete mic preamps ensure superior quality and uncoloured sound.  By placing high quality mic-pres on stage, the sound is amplified and converted at the closest point to the sound source, providing the best possible quality audio.

Roland S-2416 digital snake stage unit

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The ruggedized 4U rack-mount chassis of the Roland S-2416 is an EIA (Electronic Industries Alliance) design suitable for touring or fixed installation. Neutrik™ connectors add to the durability of the S-2416 whilst three-colored indicator lights on the inputs provide phantom power, clipping, and signal presence at a glance. The AES/EBU ports on the rear are 25-pin D-sub types for a direct connection to auxiliary digital audio devices.

REAC connectivity is fundamental to the design of the Roland S-2416 using low latency, high quality 24 bit/96 kHz digital audio transfer. The REAC 40 x 40 channel protocol allows the S-2416 signal to be “split” to as many positions as required such as monitor, broadcast and recording splits. Using inexpensive and easy to install Cat5e/6 cabling, REAC technology eliminates the externally induced signal quality degradation or hums and buzzes typically found in analog systems.

The REAC product portfolio from Roland includes digital mixing consoles, digital snakes, personal mixers and multi-channel playback and recording solutions.  Easy to connect and to ‘plug-in-and-play’, REAC products offer flexible and expandable audio solutions for multiple applications.

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