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Audient ASP 8024

A new analogue console from a new console manufacturer? Paul Mac takes a look.

hile Audient is still a relatively new company

made up of, most notably, ex DDA engineers, it
has generated a lot of interest in its user friendly
and good ideas approach to audio equipment design.
You may have already come across their graphic EQ,
which carries these philosophies forward in the face of a
monopolised market back-lit controls and labels,
balanced I/O, a narrow band mode that only narrows in
the cut region, and one-touch response tilt control.
To carry this kind of innovation into the break-neck
world of console development is not easy, so Audient
has gone back to the fundamentals and tried to incorporate simplicity, quality, and flexibility. Its not overly
cynical to
suggest that
some might
still consider
that trio of
attributes
as an
innovation
in itself.
The
Audient
ASP8024 is
an in-line,
24-bus,
analogue
console with options of 24-, 36-, 48-, and 60-channel
frame sizes. The developers say that it is aimed at anybody
wishing to upgrade from, for example, a smaller analogue
set-up, and cant bring themselves to go digital just yet.
Alternatively, larger facilities with space for a console in
their B or C studios could well benefit from the Audient
approach. Indeed, several already have. Interestingly,
Audient has been very realistic in these environmental
considerations, and have managed to make the ASP8024
digitally literate; not in the audio interface sense you
understand, but in the metering sense. Also, an integral
stereo bus compressor, not functionally dissimilar to the
SSL equivalent, is an attempt to further endear the console
into those vacant B and C room slots.

Down The Channel Strip

The ASP8024 is an in-line console with, in Audient
speak, the long fader (LF or tape) and short fader (SF or
channel) paths sharing single channel strips. With the
interests of tired engineers at heart, the two paths
sections along a strip are colour-coded light for the LF
path and dark for the SF path.

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Each channel strip starts with a line input for the LF path
and a choice between mic and line inputs for the SF path.
Phantom power, gain (6dB to 60dB), a hi-pass filter, and a
phase reverse switch begin the SF path, while a single gain
control (15dB) starts the LF path. Both paths have insert
points, which correspond to separate send (ground
sensing) and return (balanced) jacks. Theres an Insert In
switch for each insert point, even though they are still normalised at the return jack. With the insert switched out, the
send still carries signal for an extra output.
Two meters connect post insert point, switched into
either the LF or SF paths. The short one is threesegment and the long one is 20-segment. True to the
digital compatibility mentioned earlier, the meters are
peak reading rather than VU, and marked with 0dB at the
top of the scale (actually +18dBu) and peak LEDs that
light at +20dBu.
These are the default LF and SF input paths, but there
is a flip switch here to swap the sources around. This
point feeds the EQ switching arrangements. As would be
expected, the EQ defaults to the LF path, although you
can switch it, in two sections, between the two paths.
One section is the LF/HF controls with switched cut-off
frequencies of 50Hz/100Hz, and 10kHz/18kHz respectively; and the other is a dual, fully parametric mid
section (60Hz to 1.5kHz, and 450Hz to 20kHz).
An extra possibility for the SF path, just before the EQ
section, lies in the LF Source switch. This takes either the
pre or post fade LF path output (selected with an internal
link) back to the source of the SF path, giving you the
option of using the routing matrix for extra effects sends
at mixdown.

Aux-A-Plenty
There are 14 auxiliary busses in the console, all accessible from all of the channels, although there are only
actually eight controls per channel strip. Auxiliaries one
to six can be switched, in pairs, to be Auxiliaries seven to
12. The remaining two controls are Auxiliaries A and B,
and although they have normal mono outputs next to the
other auxiliaries, they are mainly intended as sources for
the foldback system. On the first six, each pair can be
assigned to the SF or LF paths, and set pre or post fade.
In addition, there is provision for auxiliary linking at the
master stage. In this case, it is possible to send signal
from both the SF and LF paths on one channel to a
single auxiliary output. There are several options here
but as examples, you could link Auxiliaries three and/or
five to Auxiliary one, or Auxiliaries four and/or six to
Auxiliary two, and so on. The two linked auxiliaries

combine and emerge from the Auxiliary 1 output, with

the Auxiliary 1 control acting as the master.
A pre fade cut switch, the respective faders, pan, and
routing controls (with the exception of the solo system)
finish the input channel off. Although there are 24 bus
outputs, there are only 12 routing buttons to a channel. A
Shift button switches the bank of 12 routing buttons
between Busses one to 12, and 13 to 24. For panning
between odd and even busses, you have to press the Pan
button, and the LF switch moves the routing to the LF
path for bouncing and so on. The multitrack routing is also
tied up with the eight sub-groups in as much as busses
one to eight are paralleled to sub-groups one to eight.
The solo switches for the LF and SF paths are at the
whim of the master solo controls. They start with basic
global AFL/PFL selection, move onto Solo In Place, and
add in a solo level control. Even more usefully, theres a
Solo In Front control. This adjusts the solo mix. In
other words, rather than completely cutting anything that
is not solod, you can set the level of the unsolod mix
with respect to the solo signal to give your solod
material an unobtrusive context.

Two For A Pair

The Audient console comes with four stereo input
channels. These are pretty basic, although with enough
about them to get the effects returns safely into the mix,
or back to multitrack pairs. That is, as well as the Mix
routing, there are six multitrack routing buttons, plus a
Shift button, which means that all 24 busses are available.
Its the same principle as on the input channel routing,
only with bus pairs. There are controls for the Foldback
A and B buses, gain, and mix level; and each stereo input
has cut and solo switches.
The output itinerary on the Audient console stretches
from comprehensive monitoring and foldback systems to
the buses and sub-groups. As mentioned before, the first
eight sub-groups tie up with the first eight buses, even
though each set has its own outputs. Indeed, the subgroups also have their own insert points, Pan controls,
and faders, plus Solo and Cut switches. The manual
mentions that if you want, the sub-group insert returns
could add a few more inputs to your total.
That about covers contributions to the main mix, aside
from the stereo insert point and built-in
compressor/limiter before the master fader. This
processor is nothing but a straightforward tool to work
the main output. You cant switch it into any other part of
the console. The controls are threshold, Attack, Release,
Ratio, and Make-up Gain, together with an In switch.
Theres also a 12-LED gain reduction meter. As I
mentioned earlier, the designers actually say that there
have been no compromises in the design of this compressor, and that it has been built with the Studio One
manufacturers in mind.

Essential Extras
The control room monitoring sources are either the mix
bus, or a choice of three two-track inputs Tape One,
Two, and Three. The four sources are equalled by the

four output options of the main monitors, and three

alternate monitors. Each Alt monitor output has its own
level control, and the Main output has Level, plus Mono,
Cut Left/Right, Cut, and Dim. An on-board oscillator
provides four frequencies, variable level, and the choice
of bus and mix routing.
The master studio monitoring section is split into
three: Speakers, Foldback A, and Foldback B, although
each of these has the same source choices. These are:
Tape One, Tape Two, C/RM, Aux A, and Aux B. you can
select Aux A/B left and right channels independently. As
youd expect, there are master level controls for each of
these three studio outputs, plus an On switch for the
studio speakers and Solo switches for the foldbacks.
I/O on the Audient is straightforward. On the input
channels, everything except the microphone input (line
in, tape in, mic/line and tape insert sends and returns)
are on TRS jacks. The sub-group outputs and the multitrack outputs are on 25-way D-subs as standard,
although if youre more of an Alesis type, you can have
EDACs fitted as an optional extra. The rest of the inserts
(subgroups and mix), and the stereo channel inputs, are
on TRS jacks, and everything else is on XLR. All I/O is
electronically balanced.

Conclusion
It does seem that the design team at Audient has been
thinking very carefully about what they want their
console to do, and what it should be competing against
or (possibly more importantly) complementing. These
elements give a good idea of who might be interested in
the console. For a start, the price, and the number of
buses and auxiliaries, suggest a step up from the project
studio, or a secondary room in a larger facility, for those
who want analogue rather than digital. Its just strange
that someone should still be able to find a gap in the
analogue market.
In any case, its the little things that make all the difference, like a few extra auxiliaries, a solo mix control, a mix
bus compressor, the more flexible than average routing
(complete with colour coding), and back lighting for the
bigger, more important buttons. The list goes on a while,
so make yourself comfortable if you go for a demo.

AT

Paul Mac is Editor of Audio Media Europe, and this review

appears with the kind permission of Audio Media magazine.

Distributed by
Electric Factory
Phone: (03) 9480 5988
Electric Factory on WWW: www.elfa.com.au
For more information: info@alchemedia.com.au

Price
60-channel: $48,000; 48-channel: $40,000;
36-channel: $30,000; 24-channel: $28,000. Prices ex tax.

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