Ferrofish has announced the Vertopro series of converters, ‘bringing a deceptively simple idea to the world of Dante – making it easy to connect, convert and route the digital formats that are already found throughout a modern studio, live or broadcast system’.
The range comprises three compact half-width 1U-high units: the Vertopro 32, with 32 x 32 Adat connectivity at 48kHz; the Vertopro 64, which expands that to 64 x 64 Adat channels; and the Vertopro MX, designed around dual Madi connectivity. All three provide up to 64 x 64 channels of Dante I/O at 48kHz, with support for redundant Dante networking and AES67.
Rather than simply acting as a format converter, the units allow signals to be routed in blocks of eight or most notably, individually channel by channel. This means an Adat input can be sent to a Dante channel – or a Dante channel can be sent back to Adat – without having to treat the entire interface as one fixed-format conversion path. With the optional Madi functionality installed, the same approach extends to Madi routing.
The Vertopro platform is also useful as a digital I/O utility box. An existing Adat-equipped interface, converter or digital mixer can be dropped into a Dante network, while individual channels can be patched wherever they are needed. In a larger system, that flexibility could make the unts useful for connecting legacy digital equipment, creating additional I/O at a remote location, or solving awkward routing requirements that arise when several digital formats need to coexist.
There is a clear family resemblance to the digital connectivity side of Ferrofish’s A32pro Dante. The A32pro combines analogue conversion with Adat, Madi and Dante, whereas the Vertopro concentrates specifically on the digital side. In that sense, the new units can be thought of as compact, dedicated digital I/O and routing sections: less about adding analogue channels and more about making existing digital channels accessible on a Dante network.
The Vertopro units bring useful practical touches to what could otherwise be a fairly utilitarian piece of rack hardware. A 3-inch IPS colour display provides access to routing, metering and clock information directly from the front panel, while an integrated headphone output allows individual digital channels to be monitored.
Word Clock I/O, Midi control and USB-Midi are also provided, and the units support sample rates up to 192kHz, with the available channel count reducing at higher rates.
Perhaps the biggest appeal of the Vertopro series is its lack of a fixed workflow. It is not simply ‘Adat to Dante’ or ‘Madi to Dante’; it is a configurable digital patching environment in a very small box. For studios, live systems, broadcast facilities and installation work where Dante is becoming the central audio network, that ability to move individual channels between formats could prove considerably more useful than the headline channel counts suggest.
The Ferrofish Vertopro Series is available in the UK via Synthax UK.