Station

Station - expanding the horizon of audio production and post production.

The Station is a complete digital audio recording, editing and mixing system capable of delivering final mixes in formats up to 7.1.

Station Functionality
Station incorporates all the functionality of up-to a 192 track Satellite integrated into a full specification fully automated up-to 230 channel and up-to 72 Bus mixing system.

Every Track and live feed in Station is equipped with 8 bands of EQ and a 3 stage Dynamics section. Every bus is equipped with bus dynamics. All processing is achieved through 40-bit floating point DSPs, offering the ultimate in audio quality.

The channel equalizer section offers 6 fully parametric bands, each of which can operate simultaneously in any range between 10 Hz - 22 kHz , plus 2 bands of shelving/filters, which can be switched between Shelf, 6, 12, 18 and 24 dB/Octave filters.

Stations bussing structure provides a main mix bus and 4 sub busses, each of which can be up to 7.1 wide. Four auxiliaries are also provided. Station can perform bus-to-bus summing with individual pre-fader bus direct outputs for stem-based mixing and international versioning.

Station has been designed from the outset for multi-format work, and incorporates sophisticated panning facilities such as Diverge, Spread and Rotate, which allow exceptionally effective control of Surround mixes. Sophisticated grouping functions allow the creation of linked multi-format audio sources as well as bus groups and fader groups. Any group member may be individually trimmed, as well as being controlled in all respects by their master.

Station also incorporates a comprehensive monitor system featuring multiple speaker set selection plus an integrated monitor summing mixer for compatibility monitoring. The integrated talkback system includes multi-destination talkback routing and an automatic slate function with oscillator.

Station is fully automated in every respect, including optional third-party Plug-In effects software. The Station surface utilizes custom designed touch sensitive moving knobs and faders and precision engineered switches with multi-color LEDs to ensure clarity and ease of operation. The optional Station Sidecar allows expansion of the surface in blocks of 12 faders to a maximum of 25 faders, and external metering options are available to enhance the high precision on-screen meters.

As with all members of the range, Station is equipped with Fairlight's Binnacle Editor.

While the Station is a complete solution for the smaller studio undertaking full production and mixing of the majority of short form, commercials and radio work, it is also part of the Family of products and is the ideal partner to the  Console as part of a multi-room production system in a larger facility. The  family, that also includes the Satellite, provides a flexible, scalable solution that works in any number of configurations, for any size facility. It has been designed with the realities of the media industry in mind: it is more cost-effective than any other comparable post production system available today, and its flexibility and scalability will make it an essential choice for all types and sizes of audio post facilities.


Parameter Control

Station implements control of signal path parameters via the “Parameter Pad”. Ten touch-sensitive motorized knobs and eight soft keys provide comprehensive control of all parameters. Parameter names and values are displayed in real-time beside each control on the Parameter Pad LCD. Signal processing blocks are called to the parameter pad by pressing dedicated Parameter Pad function buttons for EQ, Pan, Dynamics, Aux Sends, and Plug-Ins.

Panning
Station provides left-right and front-back rotary pan controls on the Parameter Pad and sidecar. In addition the track ball can be used as two-dimensional pan control. Panning may be applied to individual mono feeds or to multi-format link groups. A Divergence control affects the amount of energy shared from a single element to the available outputs. Increasing the divergence spreads the image across adjacent outputs.

In the case of a link group two extra controls become available – “Spread” and “Rotate”. The Spread control determines the effective width of the signal feeding the Pan control. At maximum spread individual group elements are fed only to their associated outputs and the pan control behaves like a balance control, increasing the amount of energy in the output it favors. When the Spread control is reduced, the Pan control moves the entire group around the sound field. The Rotate control literally rotates the entire sound field as if the listener was turning around on the spot. This effect mimics the visual effect of a camera pan.
The sub-bass or boom channel is provided with an individual level control within the panner.

Equalizer
EQ parameters are presented on the Station in the Parameter Pad. Each feed is provided with a fully featured eight band equalizer. The classic Fairlight equalization has gained a reputation for transparent, detailed and accurate frequency response control. Bands one and six can be switched between shelving and low/high-pass. The other four bands are fully parametric including shelving response. The EQ section has its own level compensation control and each band can be independently switched in and out and enabled for automation.

Dynamics
Once again, the Station provides control of the three stage dynamics parameters on the flexible Parameter Pad.. The first stage is a fully featured compressor, with control over threshold level, gain reduction ratio, attack time, release time, hold time and gain make-up.  The second stage dynamics section can be configured as either a limiter, an expander, or a gate. The limiter offers control over the threshold level, attack time, release time, hold time, and gain make-up. The expander and gate have controls for threshold level, gain reduction ratio, reduction depth (range), attack time, release time, and hold time.
The two dynamics sections may be independently switched in and out and enabled for automation.

Auxiliary Sends
Station provides four auxiliary sends which may be configured as mono or up-to 7.1. Auxiliary send levels are controlled from the parameter pad. Each send may be switched pre-or post fader. If the bus is defined as stereo a pan control is also available. The rotary control for each send can control the send level or panning.


Patching and Assignment

Patching and routing tasks are achieved easily with an intuitive control surface interface. I/O patching is totally flexible -  systems effectively incorporate both an analog and digital cross-point switching system. The physical studio configuration can thus be completely transformed by simply recalling a mixer state. Dedicated selection keys are used to complete patching operations and patching may be accomplished on either single inputs and channels or on multiple channels simultaneously.

Patching Inputs to Feeds
Input patching operations are performed by first selecting the destination feed and then selecting the input source. Station provides soft key menu options for selecting digital or analog inputs while the Station allocates separate selection keys for digital inputs and analog inputs. The intuitive button illumination scheme provides instant interrogation of the current patch configuration:
Input splits may be achieved simply -  allows physical inputs to be simultaneously connected to multiple destinations.

Patching Bus Elements to Feeds
Bus elements may be internally patched to either Tracks or Live Feeds. Once again the destination feed or feeds are selected first, then a bus is selected.

Patching Outputs
Bus outputs may be patched to physical outputs in the same efficient manner as input patching. The familiar illumination scheme is adopted, prompting the user to select from the available I/Os. Multi-channel busses may be patched to a group of outputs in a pre-defined order with a simple two button multiple selection procedure. Busses may be patched to any number of physical outputs of any type for sending to multiple destinations.

Bus Format Selection
Bus format selection is achieved by simply selecting from one of the pre-defined standards: Mono, Stereo, LCR, Dolby Surround (LCRS), 5.0, 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1.

Automatic Bus Reduction
Automated multi-format production is made easy by the advanced surround mixing architecture. When a Sub-bus is defined in a lower surround format to the main bus (e.g. Main bus-7.1, Sub-bus-Dolby Surround), the system performs automatic down mixing to that bus based on the panner position in the Main bus. These reduced bus mixes are based on the parameter data for the Main bus in both Station and Constellation-XT, but can also be trimmed independently for each mix. All parameters can be written to automation for all mixes. This flexibility allows the surround mix to be rapidly optimized for each delivery format within the same project.

Assignments
Assignments are achieved simply by selecting the destination bus then selecting the source feeds or sub-busses. Once again the familiar button illumination guides the user to select from available feeds or modify the existing routing. Source feeds may be toggled in or out of the current selection by pressing their dedicated keys. Multiple selections are easily achieved by simply holding the first in the group and pressing the last.
“Stem Assignment” allows the user to determine whether a given feed sends to all elements of the destination bus or to only a subset. Specific feeds may therefore be excluded from sending to particular bus destinations (e.g. the Centre element of a 5.1 mix bus) where appropriate.


Station PlugIns
While the Station is engineered to operate as a stand-alone digital audio system, as part of the Fairlight  family suite of digital audio technologies, it also operates as the routing and processing hub for complex post production projects, reducing time and cost and increasing creativity and boosting profitability.

Open Platform Connectivity:  Plug-Ins + ReWire = Unprecedented Creativity
 delivers the most open plug-in platform available today. Recognizing the need to integrate third party plug-ins and sound design tools into the session,  has a built-in 64 channel audio bridge to VST compliant plug-ins and ReWire connected sound design tools.

This means access to 64 simultaneous VST plug-ins all hardware accelerated by the CC-1 engine. It also means 64 channels of audio connection to any third party system using the ReWire protocol.

Given that Nearly ALL current hip sequencing and sampling tools offer some degree of ReWire connectivity,  opens up post production to new levels of creative possibility.

ReWire provides access to Propellerhead Reason, Steinberg VST instruments, Ableton Live, Tascam Gigastudio, Native Instruments Kontakt, Synchro Arts VocAlign and many more.

Plug-Ins can be driven either from their on-screen graphical interfaces, or from faders, knobs and switches on the console control surface. In either case, the plug-ins integrate fully with the  project structure and storage.

Virtual Studio Runner provides Virtual In/Out box capability to the  Family in the Studio environment. Using Fairlight’s MediaLink server technology as a host, the system automatically manages in coming files and makes them available for insertion in sessions through a simple in studio interface. The software detects in coming files in AIFF, WAV, MP3, OMF or AES-31 and using a sophisticated decode/encode engine makes them automatically available for use in the  equipped studio environment. In addition the operator can send files to registered contacts via the Virtual Studio Runner Out-going mail system. In this case the operator points at the required audio and “Sends” the audio in a number of preset formats. These formats can include Email as encoded MP3 files, automatically post it to the studio FTP site or burn to any available CD or DVD drive that is registered on the system. If that’s not enough, the Virtual Studio Runner software can notify the contact (client) that a file is available for him via an SMS text message.  Should a the studio operator require further quality assurance a Preview mode enables the operator to send the file to a designated QA mailbox where it can be auditioned prior to delivery to the contact.


Grouping
Sophisticated parameter grouping options are core to ’s ease and speed of use. Busses, Return Groups, Fader Groups and Link Groups all share similar operational features and procedures. All bus and group elements may be controlled independently in a process known as unfolding. When a Group is unfolded, each individual member may be adjusted independently. When refolded, they all once again come under the control of their master fader, with master control movements now being recorded as offsets to the underlying member’s settings. This applies to all control parameters – Faders, Pans, EQ and Dynamics.

Where a Group has stem structure, as in the case of a bus or a link group, it means that, nominally, each member of the Group is assigned to one of the Bus Elements of the Main Bus. This assignment is really created by panning, not by limited assignment to destination Bus Elements. To achieve this, each member is panned hard to one Bus Element position, Spread is at maximum, Divergence is at minimum and Rotation is at zero.
At the moment a Group with stem structure is created, the pan settings are forced to these extreme settings regardless of their previous values. Later the Group can be unfolded and the members panned differently.

Monitoring
The  Family offers convenient and powerful monitoring facilities on-board, eliminating the need for any external surround monitoring control system. Multiple loudspeaker sets and surround formats can be accommodated easily and consistently.
Both Station offers nine separate sets of control room monitor speaker outputs. The user can quickly switch between the main monitors and any alternative speakers. The monitoring system will perform automatic down-mixing when there are less loudspeakers in the alternative monitor set than the requested monitor format. Monitor sources can be selected from any of the busses or from a set of 16 preset external sources for monitoring tape returns or other external devices. The monitor control section includes Mute and Dim controls and individual speaker mutes.
Station offers Studio Loudspeaker outputs in addition to the Control Room Monitor Outputs, and the user may store up to 16 Control room and 8 Studio monitoring configurations on dedicated buttons. These configurations include both source and speaker selections.

Metering
All  Systems have integrated track metering on record and playback. Signal levels are displayed for each track within the track arming video display.
Station provides metering within the mixer display for the currently selected signal path and the Main bus outputs, together with tri-state signal presence meters on all channels. Optional external high resolution meters may also be fitted which automatically display the signal levels of the currently selected signal paths in any multi-channel format. External metering points are provided to drive the user’s own choice of meter systems.

External Meter Options
Two external factory metering options are available for the Station - the Main Metering Unit and the Side Metering Unit. The Main Metering Unit attaches to the Station and provides eight high resolution bus meters. The Side Metering Unit attaches to the optional Station Side Car and provides twelve high resolution channel meters.


Station Summary

Fully Integrated System
Station is a full-featured digital audio recording, editing and automated mixing system, capable of delivering final mixes in any format up to 7.1.

Expanded Functionality
Station incorporates all the functionality of a Satellite integrated into a full specification fully automated mixing system capable of supporting up to 230 channels and up to 72 Busses.
Every Live feed and track in Station is equipped with 8 bands of EQ and a 3 stage Dynamics section with fully automated, high performance compressor plus selectable limiter/ expander/gate.

The channel equalizer section offers 4 fully parametric bands, each of which can op­erate simultaneously in any range between 10 Hz - 22 kHz , plus 2 bands of shelving/filters, which can be switched between Shelf, 6 and 12dB/Octave filters.

Station^'s busing structure provides a main mix bus and 4 sub busses, each of which can be up to 7.1 wide. Four mono or stereo auxiliaries are provided, and all busses are equipped with bus-optimized dynamics processing. Busses can be configured from a pool of up to 72 automatically allocated bus elements. Station performs Sub-bus to Main bus summing with individual pre or post-fader Sub-bus direct outputs for stem-based mixing and international versioning.

Multi-Format Friendly
Station has been designed from the outset for multi-format work, and incorporates sophisticated panning facilities such as Diverge, Spread and Rotate, which allow exceptionally effective control of Surround mixes. Sophisticated grouping functions allow the creation of linked multi-format audio sources as a simple extension to concept of the stereo channel.

Station also incorporates a comprehensive monitor system featuring multiple speaker set selection plus integrated monitor path down mixing for multi-format compatibility monitoring. The integrated talkback system includes multi-destination talkback routing and an automatic slate function with oscillator.

Station is fully automated across all parameters. The Station surface utilizes custom designed touch sensitive moving knobs and faders and precision engineered switches with multi-color LEDs to ensure clarity and ease of operation. The Station Sidecar allows expansion of the surface in blocks of 12 faders to a maximum of 24 faders, and external metering options are available to enhance the high precision on-screen meters.