Know-how

NEXUS on the Run

Noteworthy from outside, exceptionally impressive inside, and fully digital behind the curtains: Semper Oper in Dresden has a NEXUS as the centerpiece of its comprehensive audio system. Horst-Dieter Käppler from the Semper Oper gives the details.

Mr. Käppler, you have a large NEXUS system with a total of 9 racks and roughly 160 inputs/outputs. One of the base devices is mobile, not permanently installed. Why?

We have put one NEXUS each in our production studio, playback studio, and on the stage. Sometimes, however, we need inputs and outputs in even more different places. For example, you might want to have a playback in the orchestra's rehearsal room. For this purpose, we have provided fibre-optic sockets there and in other places where we can connect our mobile base device.

Was this flexibility a reason for your decision to use the NEXUS system?

Yes. Actually, that was the main reason because our production and playback studios are located in two different buildings that are connected via the NEXUS routing system. All the microphone channels now connect centrally to the NEXUS system and can be made available at any of the base devices. As you may imagine, this significantly simplifies wiring.

Besides the mobile base device, your installation has another feature: the connectivity to Yamaha mixing desks …

We use the Yamaha 02R digital consoles that require Y2-format audio interfaces, while our DAT recorders and effect units have, of course, AES/EBU interfaces. One of the benefits of NEXUS is that it does not need additional format converters to cope with this.

Mr. Käppler, one last question, what was your premiere of the new system?

Let's see, our first night was a TV gala for German television, the ZDF in that case. It was on 13 September 1996, and it ran absolutely smooth.