Cobranet™ Audio Snake

Will Fraser

Cobranet™ Audio Snake

A digital audio snake has a number of unique benefits which include:

~Immunity to inductive noise
~The capability to distribute audio from the stage to multiple locations over inexpensive Cat 5 cable
~Long cable runs without signal degradation
~The capability for a lossless split of the audio signals
~Control and monitoring from an inexpensive PC

This configuration accomplishes all that...

Every device in the digital audio snake design is a Soundweb™ London BLU-32. Each BLU-32 utilizes CobraNet™ to transmit and receive up to 32 channels of 48 kHz 24-bit digital audio. No audio processing is required for this application since the sole function of an audio snake is to route audio signals. While BLU-80 devices could be used for this application, the extensive range of processing offered by these devices would not be employed. The lower cost BLU-32, without configurable DSP, offers exactly the routing functionality required to create a digital audio snake.

Moving the snake from an analog domain into the digital domain means that audio signals can be ‘copied’ and routed to a virtually unlimited number of locations without impedance concerns.

Inexpensive Cat 5 cable replaces costly and bulky analog snakes and the digital network, providing complete signal integrity, ensures a premium listener experience throughout the facility.

In the case of this design, four BLU-32 devices, configured with 16 analog outputs, are used at each of the three output positions - FOH, Monitors and Record . The audio is routed from four BLU-32 devices, configured with 16 analog inputs, located at the stage to all of the output devices via CobraNet multicast bundles which are distributed through four standard Ethernet switches.

Although these four switches are sufficient to route the audio throughout the system, a second set of four Ethernet switches is used for redundancy. The digital audio can travel up to 100 meters on the CobraNet network. If greater distances are needed, standard ‘off-the-shelf’ Ethernet fiber optic devices can be employed. The design shown utilizes the maximum number of multicast bundles recommended for a single network.

Having a computer connected to the digital audio snake has some major advantages. In the design shown, custom control panels, divided into multiple sub-pages, allow the system operator to select any of the 64 inputs and adjust input sensitivity. In addition, the operator has the ability to enable or disable phantom power. Full metering gives the audio engineer accurate signal level at every point in the signal chain.

Ease of signal routing, flexibility, and signal integrity are all good reasons why designers of today’s performance venues are choosing Soundweb™ London to provide an inexpensive, yet more flexible, routing alternative to traditional analog solutions.



>>>Click here to download the full application guide and sample file.<<<


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Technical Support Team
BSS Audio
8760 South Sandy Parkway
Sandy, UT 84070