Telos Alliance to show the Axia Pulsar AoIP console at NAB

Telos Alliance has announced a new audio-over-IP console called the Axia Pulsar. Its first public showing is planned at the company's booth at the NAB Show. The manufacturer describes it as a compact mixing surface for places where a hardware console is wanted but space is short. Small studios, newsrooms, sports venues and remote broadcasts are named as examples.

The surface

The base Pulsar surface has eight motorized faders and a monitor section run from a touchscreen. An optional expansion unit raises the count to 16 faders. The extra unit can be attached to the main surface or installed apart from it in a split layout.

For control without hardware, there is an optional feature called Pulsar Soft. It runs in a web browser on HTML5 and lets users operate Pulsar consoles from a computer or a tablet. Pulsar Soft includes Pulsar Cast for monitoring audio remotely.

The engine

Pulsar is driven by the Axia StudioCore console engine. It is a 2RU rack unit that holds several parts in one box:

• the power supply;
• a five-port network switch reserved for AoIP traffic;
• audio inputs and outputs;
• the Pulsar mixing engine.

The mixing engine uses Axia GEN2 technology, the same as in the company's Quasar XR and SR flagship consoles. Pulsar can also operate as part of a larger Livewire+ AES67 network.

Cam Eicher, senior vice president of audio production at Telos Alliance, said the market for small consoles has changed a great deal in recent years. In his words, even though plenty of buyers now favour virtual consoles, there is "still a strong demand for a compact but highly performant hardware mixer."