Fairlight shows video and film mixing tools at AES - Audio - Brief Article

Post, Nov, 2003 by Marc Loftus

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA -- Fairlight returned to AES this year, marking six months since the company was rescued from its financial struggles. John Lancken, Fairlight CEO, says the company has sold 45 systems since its revival and has generated nearly a million dollars in profits.

At AES, the company was showing off six new products, including the entirely new DREAM Constellation system, a large-format digital audio mixer that is now shipping and is based around the company's QDC engine. The 7.1-capable Constellation replaces Fairlight's DREAM console and features the company's Binnacle intuitive, ergonomic worksurface. The console can be outfitted with up to 144 channels and 48 busses, and costs around $120,000. Particularly unique to the console, says Lancken, is its ability to edit audio and its accompanying automation simultaneously. Operators can move an audio clip and its automation in one simple maneuver.

Fairlight (www.fairlightau.com) also showed off its Pyxis NLV nonlinear video system. The tool provides disk-based, random access picture to DREAM DAWs and mixers. Pyxis is the first collaborative product resulting from the merger between Fairlight and AV Media. The system provides a more evolved user interface than that of AV Media's previous V Motion products. The kit consists of a PCI serial communication card and software application that can be installed on a standard PC. The system features a touch-screen interface that allows users to display, record and playback one video track and two audio tracks with video and audio waveform clips laid out on a familiar timeline. An unlimited number of locator tiles helps to determine exact picture position. Options for Pyxis NLV include AV Sync for enabling multiple 9-pin machines to be connected and synchronized individually Pyxis NLV has the ability to import AVI and Quick Time file formats and can accommodate both PAL and NTSC standards.