Ovation Joins the Celebrations with Major New Release

Even though celebrations for Merging Technologies 30th Anniversary have been muted by COVID-19, nothing could stop major enhancements to all three of the company's software platforms. Pyramix is celebrating its 25th Anniversary but Ovation has not been overshadowed. The release of Ovation 9 brings a number of significant changes that make this product more accessible and dramatically improves the immersive audio options for live events, the company says.

While Ovation natively offers a powerful spatial audio rendering engine, Ovation is now able to seamlessly connect to Flux Spat Revolution (audio + custom mapped OSC metadata by Merging and Flux) or a Dolby Atmos Renderer (audio + Dolby Atmos metadata). Spatial audio engines typically work by sending separate elements to a processor (the renderer) that will "render" all elements into a custom speaker set. This has the benefit of giving full freedom to the show designer to work with any mixture of:

*Objects (Audio + Metadata)
*Bus based audio (stereo, 5.1, 7.1, 22.2, etc...)
*Scene based audio (Ambisonic, for example)

OSC stands for Open Sound Control. This protocol brings the advantage of being simple to read and customize. It doesn't limit control of a certain set of parameters. Therefore, more and more manufacturers are adopting this standard to allow their devices to be controlled by others or to control other devices. As the ultimate show sequencer, Ovation 9 is capable of generating and receiving OSC commands from anywhere, the company says.

The Dolby Atmos integration is also on Pyramix (supplied with Ovation) for the production of immersive music but it is available to Ovation users should they wish to create a live show in this format. This allows for:

*Direct connection with HE-RMU to transfer audio and metadata with the Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite.
*Fully compatible with the Dolby Atmos Production Suite renderer
*Extremely flexible mixing options. Bed and Objects can be optimized in Pyramix to manage different speaker set configurations

In a move to make the software packs simpler to understand and more cost effective, Ovation is available in three distinct software packs which can run in native mode or on the company's MERGING+MASSCORE audio engine. Aimed at a variety of different applications and budgets, users can explore below to find out which Ovation pack is right for a project:

Well suited for use in small theatres and simple corporate AV events, Ovation ELEMENTS packs several features needed to fire audio cues:

*Instant and user-friendly audio cues playback
*Live Cue recording
*On the fly editing
*Support for multichannel busses (5.1, 7.1, 22.2, etc...), Ambisonic and objects audio
*Merging Technologies spatial audio renderer
*MIDI send/receive
*Ovation redundancy

Packaged for applications where show control, automation and integration with other devices is necessary, Ovation Pro delivers all the necessary tools necessary to run the show, whether being controlled by external devices or running the show itself or a mix of both. It is billed as the ideal tool for professional show designers and broadcasters.

*All the Ovation Elements pack options
*Mixer Automation
*OSC send/receive
*OSC Automation
*Support for all other control protocols (LTC, MTC, TCP/IP, COM, RS-422, MSC, Script/Batch files)
*Support for HUI Controllers
*Webserver with customizable GUI allowing Ovation to be controlled from any tablet/smartphone/laptop

Ovation PREMIUM is billed as featuring the company's whole knowledge and experience in delivering astonishing performances. Supporting the boom of immersive shows and the adoption of new spatial rendering engines, Ovation PREMIUM allows to on the fly record, edit, and playback audio cues through a Flux SPAT or Dolby Atmos renderer. Ovation synchronizes seamlessly with Dataton WATCHOUT and Ross Video. Users can control their mixer with Eucon or Ovation surfaces.

*All the ELEMENTS and PRO packs options
*Dolby Atmos and Flux
*Support of Eucon and OASIS controllers
*Dataton WATCHOUT and Ross Video integration
*Multi sequencer synchronization
*Track count up to 384 I/O (with MERGING+MASSCORE engine only)
*Designed for extended audio interactivity requirements in AV systems design. For use when a standard mixing console would be otherwise considered necessary for the system design. Cruise ships, theme parks, large theatre environments, broadcast.

Add the MassCore Hardware option to any software version and get ultra-low latency, maximum track count (64 I/O DSD/DXD) and massive performance from VS3 plug-ins from leading vendors like Cedar and Flux.

Users need to have purchased a Merging Hardware product after September 1, 2020 and registered it on the website. Users then get the choice of Pyramix or Ovation Elements in a full version and fully capable of DSD and DXD recording. For those not buying even an Anubis, they can still purchase either program for a nominal amount and experience the best of high-resolution audio.

Something that will affect all releases is a new security system. With laptops being stripped of USB ports and software deployment requiring lightning speed, Merging has implemented a new security system allowing customers to authorize their software without any hardware dongle. This system works online and offline and should you still prefer to use hardware dongles, the choice is there. This also means that it will now be easier than ever to download a trial of Pyramix.

The next major improvement also applies to all new software. For a long time, clients looking for maximum performances required MassCore. Pyramix and Ovation are now based on a multi-threading architecture, so Native users will benefit from a huge performance improvement. The audio engine analyzes the session in real time and calculates the optimal number of threads to be used. For the power user, MassCore remains the go to option for maximum I/O, lowest latencies and tons of power for VS3 processing.

Summing up the advances made with Ovation 9, Dominique Brulhart, Merging's software supremo commented; "Ovation has been top of the multichannel and immersive tree for some time and we felt this a good moment to make it more accessible for people to give it a try. A truly painless entry level, put it is reach of any small theatre or venue. Even though live events have been the hardest hit by the pandemic, it has been great to see that some customers are gearing up for more normal times."