Allen & Heath Digital Mixer Up For An Award

US GLD-80 nominated for the 28th annual TEC award in the Sound Reinforcement Console Technology category 26/10/12

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Following on the heels of its award winning sibling, the iLive, Allen & Heath's new GLD-80 digital mixer has been nominated for the 28th annual TEC award in the Sound Reinforcement Console Technology category. Here's how A&H describe it...
The GLD-80 is a user-friendly, cost effective and scalable live digital mixing system, conceptually based on the hugely successful digital iLive series. Any GLD system can be configured from 8-48 Analog inputs plus an additional 64 digital inputs with their optional Port I/O card.
At the heart of the system is the GLD-80 mixer, providing 48 input processing channels, 8 stereo FX returns fed by iLive's acclaimed FX emulations, 30 configurable buses, 20 mix processing channels, and DSP power to provide full processing without compromise.
GLD-80 has an analogue-style channel processing control section complemented by a graphical 8.4 inch touch screen. A fully-customizable drag 'n drop layout allows quick and easy assignment of inputs and mixes to fader strips. There are 20 fader strips in 4 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 4 XLR mic/line inputs, 4 XLR line outs, 4 RCA inputs, 2 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 (8 XLR inputs, 4 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.
A&H MD, Glenn Rogers, had this to say, "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. 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."
Pricing and Availability:
The GLD-80 starts at a MAP price of $8999. More information:

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