Duisburg, August 2020: WDR is modernizing its regional studios so that writers and editors can work in them. STAGETEC, the Berlin-based manufacturer of professional audio technology, provides the appropriate equipment with the IP-based broadcast mixing console ON AIR flex. The compact console is equipped with one central and two 4-fader modules. ON AIR flex is additionally controlled via a Remote User Interface (RUI) in the form of a platform-independent browser application. This means that the mixing console can also be controlled from remote locations using a PC, iPad or any other network-capable device. In each of WDR's nine regional studios, a mixing console will be installed in the cross-media editing rooms (CBR) where self-drivers work. A prototype system has now been put into operation at the Duisburg regional studio.
The NEXUS hardware required for ON AIR flex did not have to be supplied; the network is already installed at WDR and will continue to be used. Only the configuration of the existing NEXUS router was modified. All regional studios were equipped with AURATUS mixing consoles and a NEXUS network in 2007. In the course of the refurbishment, these consoles were revised and given the platinum layout. The functions of the ON AIR flex hardware interface were specified for WDR. And to ensure that the self-drivers can operate the console easily and safely, STAGETEC has provided an RUI presenter page tailored to WDR's workflows.
In the regional studios, contributions are produced for the local news. The applications required for this were created with NEXUS Logic Control, for example, the control of the telephone hybrid by AURATUS and ON AIR flex. Here, the Logic interface controls the NEXUS board XACI and EmBER+ Messages. In this way, telephone calls can be answered, put on hold, switched through, and terminated via both consoles.
