Professional Audio & Television has supplied, configured and commissioned a Lawo crystal system to community broadcaster 1CMS – the first radio studio in Australia to be fitted with the new Lawo crystal MkII consoles since its official launch late in 2014.

Having previously installed a single 12-fader Lawo crystal console in 2013, 1CMS has now added two 12-fader Lawo crystal consoles and a crystal MCR frame. The three consoles will be used in the two main on-air studios and one production studio. All three studios are connected to the main Lawo crystal MCR frame via Madi fibre for audio networkability, while the IP control network allows for logic control such as talkback and profanity delay.

PAT’s Broadcast Technician Nick Brown was programming the system: ‘We wanted to provide the full Lawo flexibility while keeping the system easy to use,’ he says. ‘Lawo’s zirkon configuration software was used to program all on-air delegation, talkback and profanity delay functionalities in-house here at PAT.’

1CMS system integrator Josh Parkinson commissioned the system at PAT’s HQ in Sydney: ‘PAT worked to a very detailed brief, and I am very happy with the result and customer service we received from the engineering team. The new Lawo system certainly provides 1CMS with cutting-edge broadcasting technology.’

While each of the studios can switch themselves live to air, a Lawo crystal MCR frame can also be used to manage on-air delegation and codecs. The MCR frame includes redundant PSUs and is controlled via a custom configured VisTools control screen, providing level metering for each studio, as well as metering for on-air paths, satellite feeds and music servers.