Tag: Allen & Heath

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Allen & Heath

Allen & Heath Raises the Bar at SXSW 2024

Allen & Heath, a leader in live sound mixing technology, has once again made a huge splash at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, TX. The company’s intuitive technology and commitment to quality sound were on full display across dozens of venues throughout the festival, to the delight of audiences and engineers alike.

The British Music Embassy stage, renowned for showcasing the best of up-and-coming British talent, was equipped with several of Allen & Heath’s flagship dLive consoles covering both front of house and monitor mixing positions. The venue also featured a dedicated engineer lounge, offering a space for sound professionals to relax and network, while also getting hands-on experience with dLive and Avantis systems.

Just across from the bustling Austin Convention Center, Allen & Heath’s Green Room activation space became a hub of exploration and discovery. SXSW Artists had exclusive access to a range of Allen & Heath products, including the latest CQ series  of compact digital mixers and Avantis Solo. This immersive experience not only showcased the versatility and depth of the company’s offerings, but also underscored its commitment to fostering creativity and innovation in the music industry.

Throughout the festival, Allen & Heath’s presence was unmistakable. Dozens of venues featured the brand’s mixing consoles, catering to a wide array of performances and events. From intimate acoustic sets to large-scale concerts, the CQ and SQ series provided the perfect balance of simplicity and power, while Avantis and dLive systems handled the most demanding live sound environments with ease.

“SXSW 2024 represented a new level of partnership and presence for Allen & Heath,” said Jeff Hawley, Marketing Director for Allen & Heath USA. “Our team on the ground stepped up the British Music Embassy stage with A&H consoles and a dedicated engineer lounge, a Green Room activation across from the Convention Center, and on-site support of the 50 or so consoles that were in use across Austin. From compact coffee shop rigs, to a live KUTX broadcast, to up-and-coming bands at famed venues — SXSW 2024 was a huge hit!”

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Allen & Heath

Allen & Heath to Power SXSW 2024 with Largest Presence Ever

Allen & Heath, a leader in professional mixing consoles, is proud to announce its expanded partnership with SXSW, the world’s largest music, film, and interactive media festival. SXSW 2024 will take place from March 8 to March 17 in Austin, Texas, and will feature more than 2,000 acts from over 60 countries, showcasing the best of emerging and established talent across a variety of genres and platforms.

Allen & Heath has been a long-time supporter of the SXSW festival, providing a variety of mixing consoles for the various stages and venues over the years. This year, Allen & Heath will have a larger presence than ever before, supplying consoles for dozens of venues throughout the festival; including Lady Bird Lake, Mohawk, and The Victorian Room. Allen & Heath’s consoles are designed to deliver ease of use, reliability, and flexibility – meeting the diverse and demanding needs of SXSW’s performers and engineers.

“With the size and scope of the SXSW Music Festival, we have artists and crews visiting from a wide array of backgrounds and skill levels,” explained Nate Cross, SXSW Director of Production. “The Allen & Heath soundboards we’re using provide an unmatched level of versatility to our artists and their crews regardless of the size of the venue.”

As usual, the British Music Embassy (BME) venue will be fully powered by Allen & Heath, showcasing the best of UK music at SXSW. The BME will be taking residence at the Backyard at Downright Austin, a spacious outdoor venue in the heart of the festival space. The BME will host a range of showcases, parties, and networking events, featuring up and coming artists from the UK, such as Ash, Gruff Rhys, and Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls. A new dedicated Allen & Heath FOH lounge area will also host 1- on-1 demos and Q&A sessions with Allen & Heath’s experts and ambassadors.

“We’re really excited to offer our support to Production Park and the British Music Embassy again this year at SXSW,” said Jack Kenyon, Allen & Heath Product Specialist. “We’ve got a brand new venue with not one but TWO stages of live music showcasing the very best of British talent on and off the stage.”

Also new for 2024, The Green Room at Brush Square Park will host a smaller more consumer-focused Allen & Heath activation space (in addition to the BME) where engineers and music fans can learn more about Allen & Heath’s mixing desks, pick up some swag and chat with our team.

“SXSW presents such a unique opportunity for us to reach engineers and musicians of all levels,” said Jeff Hawley, Marketing Director for Allen & Heath USA. “We have steadily increased our SXSW presence for years and this outing marks a huge leap in the level of partnership and A&H support on the ground from a production and marketing standpoint. We can’t wait to go big this year!”

“Allen & Heath has been a fixture at SXSW for over a decade and throughout that period has enjoyed contributing to the development of the world’s greatest musical gathering,” added Mike Bangs, Allen & Heath USA’s Live Sound and Touring Manager. “Relationships and interaction with engineers are the lifeblood of our company and a great way to express our commitment to supporting this industry we all love. We are super excited to be a part of the SXSW community and can’t wait to see all our friends and family in Austin!”

For more information about Allen & Heath’s products and events at SXSW 2024, please visit http://www.allen-heath.com/sxsw/ or follow us on social media.

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Allen & Heath AHM-64 Offers Flexibility for New York’s General Theological Seminary

Legend Sound Systems is a Philadelphia-based AVL integrations company, offering installation services to a variety of customers – including bars and restaurants, fitness centers, houses of worship, and more. The company was recently approached for a unique project upgrading the Chapel of the General Theological Seminary in Manhattan, NY. “They needed a way to host two different types of services,” recalled Bill Lyle, President of Legend Sound. “The seminary had daily traditional services each morning; requiring a very basic audio setup with a few wireless mics. Then on the weekends, they hosted more modern services with a full band. We needed to figure out a way to give the right control access to the right people.”

With the complexities of the project now clear, Lyle began to ponder an optimal solution. “I didn’t want a seminary student with no training to be pushing faders on a mixing console,” he explained. “I also didn’t want the control to be dumbed down for trained audio engineers when they came in to mix on Sundays.”

At the time, Allen & Heath’s AHM platform was rising into prominence, and Lyle saw that as a perfect fit. AHM matrix mixers offer advanced audio processing and multi-zone routing with a variety of simplified control options. “Using an AHM-64 processor with a Dante module to feed directly to the amps, we had our traditional services covered,” said Lyle. For the modern weekend services, Lyle’s team added a fully-featured 48-channel SQ-5 mixing console – which connected to the same Dante network using its own Dante module. An Allen & Heath AR2412 stagebox feeds inputs to both the AHM and SQ.

For the students to control the various microphones during daily services, Lyle created a custom mobile application using Allen & Heath’s Custom Control editor. “The app interface only shows seven faders,” explained Lyle. “We also set it up so that each fader is limited to prevent the mics from being set too loud and creating feedback problems. It really worked out well.”

The Legend Sound team configured the AHM so that each Zone output fed a different speaker, which allowed for precise tuning in a difficult acoustic environment. “The walls are stone and the ceilings are 40 feet high,” explained Lyle. “There was a lot of careful tailoring required to get the sound right, and we were able to do that with AHM.”

Even though this was his first time installing an AHM processor, Lyle found it a breeze to configure and operate. “New products are always daunting, but it was fairly easy to use. If I ever did hit a brick wall, I could shoot an e-mail to the support team or use one of the many great instructional videos online to get through it.”

The staff at the Seminary were delighted with the resulting installation and its control interface. “We’ve been thrilled by the setup at (General Theological Seminary),” said Michael DeLashmutt, Senior Vice President of the Seminary. “We don’t have a professional AV team or even a single person who we can rely on for AV support from one semester to the next. The setup that (Legend Sound) provided for us, with the simplified tablet interface, gives us the sound quality that we needed, but without the complexity that would make running it unfeasible for our students, staff, or volunteers.”

The Legend Sound team has earned more jobs through word of mouth as a result of this installation, and they will likely continue to opt for AHM when similar installs come up. “I prefer Allen & Heath products to any other products on the market,” noted Lyle. “Not only are they good quality products, the service is unparalleled. If I ever have a problem, I can pick up the phone and I know it’s going to get fixed.”

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Allen & Heath

Allen & Heath Celebrates a Successful 2024 NAMM Show

Allen & Heath, an industry leader in professional audio products, had a memorable presence at the 2024 NAMM Show – the world’s largest trade show for music production, pro audio, and event technology. The company showcased its entire product range; from compact ZED analog series mixers to their flagship dLive systems, and showed off some of its latest innovations; including the CQ series of compact digital mixers and the Avantis Solo, a more portable version of their popular 64-channel Avantis console.

Before the NAMM show officially opened, Allen & Heath sponsored the Worship Musician Pre-NAMM Hang – featuring performances by artists such as Doug Doppler, Bob Bennett, and Chris Rocha. Performances were mixed using a CQ-18T mixer, and a second CQ was on display for guests to explore.

Once the NAMM show kicked off, the Allen & Heath booth was a hub of activity throughout the four-day event, attracting visitors from all over the world who wanted to experience Allen & Heath products in action. The booth featured every current Allen & Heath mixer series, and visitors had the opportunity to mix multitracks using headphones on all consoles in the booth.

One of the highlights of the show was the live performance stage at the American Music and Sound booth, which was powered by a CQ series mixer. The CQ series is a new line of compact digital mixers which offer plenty of powerful tools in a small and affordable package. Daily demos were hosted by Allen & Heath product manager Keith Johnson, who explained the features and benefits of the CQ series with a live band performing.

Another highlight of the show was the live sound training sessions offered by Allen & Heath. The 2024 sessions had record-breaking attendance, and covered topics such as live sound basics, dLive certification, and advanced mixing techniques. The sessions were led by Allen & Heath USA Live Sound and Touring Manager Mike Bangs, who has over 20 years of experience in the live sound industry and has worked with artists such as Aerosmith, Eric Clapton, Katy Perry, and Tom Petty. The sessions also featured some special guest speakers from the industry, such as Chris Dwight and Salim Akram.

Jeff Hawley, Marketing Director of American Music and Sound / Allen & Heath USA, also took part in two NAMM TEC Tracks sessions. Alongside Mike Bangs and special guests Tim Omel and Jim Yakabuski, one panel covered topics from immersive audio to fresh strategies for system design and workflows. Another session featuring Doug Doppler, Golden Preciado, and Wayne Yuan discussing sound, team dynamics, and stagecraft for House of Worship.

The icing on the cake for Allen & Heath was the NAMM TEC award for Small Format Console Technology, which was awarded to the dLive CTi1500 V1.97. The dLive CTi1500 is the most compact and lightweight dLive surface, offering 12 faders, 6 layers, and a 12″ touchscreen, and can be paired with any dLive MixRack to create a powerful and flexible mixing system.

“It was amazing to catch up with our fans and speak with new customers at the show,” said Hawley. “With CQ garnering a ton of buzz at the booth and being put into action at the Pre-NAMM HANG, Qu in the TEC Tracks rooms, dLive certification sessions overflowing, Avantis out in support of a number of our partners and ZED across the show flow in various demos, Allen & Heath was everywhere. The TEC Award win was a highlight for sure, but the real story is that every part of the A&H lineup was well-represented and a good time was had by all!”

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American Music & Sound Prepares for Largest Presence Ever at 2024 NAMM Show

American Music & Sound, one of the leading distributors of musical instruments and pro audio products in North America, is gearing up for its biggest and most exciting presence ever at the 2024 NAMM show, which will take place from January 25 to 28 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

American Music & Sound, an Exertis | JAM business, represents many renowned brands in the industry, including Allen & Heath, Nord, BASSBOSS, Focusrite, and more. These brands will showcase their latest and greatest products at two American Music and Sound booths: one in the Main hall (#11110), focused on musical instruments and DJ products; and one in the Pro Audio hall (#18311), focused on professional mixing consoles and pro audio gear.

The booth in the Pro Audio hall has been extended this year to also include products from Ashly Audio, CAD, and Lake People. In addition to learning about special promotions tied to the company’s 50th anniversary in 2024, visitors to the Ashly Audio display will be able to demo the new AquaControl software, which provides a powerful and intuitive interface for controlling Ashly’s networked amplifiers and processors. CAD Audio will present its range of microphones, headphones, wireless systems, and more. Lake People, a German manufacturer of high-end audio equipment, will display its range of headphone amplifiers, converters, and preamps.

The booth in the main hall will feature performances from brand-endorsed DJs and live musicians – which will be mixed through Allen & Heath’s new CQ series compact digital mixers. New for 2024, a dedicated American Music & Sound ‘MIX&LISTEN ZONE’ will allow for interactive demos of a wide range of interfaces, guitars, keyboards, mixers, headphones and loudspeakers from a wide spectrum of American Music & Sound and Exertis | JAM distributed brands.

American Music & Sound will also have a speaker demo room (#201D), showing off BASSBOSS and Ocean Way Audio AeroWave speakers with live demos. AeroWave is a revolutionary speaker system that uses precise waveguide technology to create a true stereo sound for large audiences. Attendees can hear AeroWave on show days at 11am, 1pm, and 4pm. BASSBOSS demos, featuring new MK3 technology, will take place daily at noon, 3pm, and 5pm.

Allen & Heath is once again the main console provider for the Live Sound Console training room (#206B), where Allen & Heath Live Sound and Touring Manager Michael Bangs will lead live sound training and certification classes. The classes will cover topics such as mixing techniques, workflow optimization, system integration, and network management. The classes will use Allen & Heath’s flagship dLive series consoles, and those interested can register via the NAMM Show+ mobile app.

“‘Sound’ is not only in our name, but it is in our company DNA,” said American Music & Sound / Allen & Heath USA Marketing Director, Jeff Hawley. “NAMM 2024 will offer new ways to create sounds, mix sounds, and listen to sounds connected to the award-winning roster of brands that we proudly represent. Whether you are a sound company, an MI dealer, an aspiring sound engineer looking at the new Allen & Heath CQ Series mixers, a top-tier touring engineer looking to improve your mixing chops, a performing musician, a producer or a DJ, the various AM&S booths and demo and training rooms will offer up something fun and certainly are worth your time to check out. Can’t wait to see you there!”

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Allen & Heath to Showcase Full Product Range and Offer Training at The 2024 NAMM Show

Allen & Heath, a leading manufacturer of professional audio consoles, is excited to announce an expanded presence at the 2024 NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA. From January 25 to 28, Allen & Heath will be displaying its full product range, from the compact analog Zed Series to their flagship dLive Digital Mixing System, at booth #18311 in the Pro Audio hall of the Anaheim Convention Center.

Visitors to the booth will have the opportunity to see and hear some recently released products from Allen & Heath, including the CQ Series of ultra-compact digital mixers and Avantis Solo, a standalone 64-channel mixer with a large 15.6″ full HD touchscreen and 42 configurable busses. The CQ Series and Avantis Solo are both designed to offer high performance and flexibility in a compact and affordable package, making them ideal for a wide range of applications, from live sound to installations.

In addition to production duties across the NAMM campus and special NAMM week events across Anaheim, Allen & Heath will also be powering the stages at the American Music & Sound booth in the Main Hall (#11110), where live performances from various artists will take place throughout the show. The award-winning CQ Series will be used as the main mixing console for the stages, with product manager Keith Johnson in-person to demonstrate the series’ versatility and intuitive controls in a live setting.

Allen & Heath is also committed to providing education and training for its users and potential customers. As part of The NAMM Show 2024, Allen & Heath will be offering Live Sound training and certification sessions in Training Room 206B, led by Allen & Heath USA Live Sound and Touring Manager Michael Bangs. The sessions will cover topics such as Mixing For Worship, Active Dynamics, Monitor Mixing, Gain Staging, and dLive Certification classes. The courses will also feature special guests from the industry, who will share their touring and production insights and experiences with Allen & Heath products. NAMM attendees can register for individual Live Sound Training sessions via the NAMM Show+ App.

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Allen & Heath USA’s Tim Schaeffer Announces Retirement After 45 Years in Pro Audio

Tim Schaeffer, Senior Vice President of American Music and Sound (AM&S) and Allen & Heath USA, announces his retirement at the end of January 2024.

During his long and storied career spanning over 45 years in pro audio, Tim progressed from being an ‘industry veteran’ to a legend. Innumerable audio professionals got their start with Tim and counted him as a trusted advisor and mentor. After his humble beginnings in 1975 as an audio engineer, he met American Music and Sound founder Lynn Martin and entered the industry side of pro audio as a Sales Representative with New West Audio in Southern California. 

Fast-forward to 1995 and Tim reconnected with Lynn and joined AM&S for his first eight-year stint. After eight years away from AM&S at Listen Technologies (which was co-founded by his wife Cory Schaeffer), he rejoined the AM&S team. As Senior Vice President of Allen & Heath USA, he presided over a period of unmatched growth of the brand which he has worked carefully to set up for continued success as he leaves us for his next big gig — being a full-time grandfather.

“After almost five decades of incredible experiences, growth, and shared successes, I am bidding farewell to my cherished colleagues and moving on to the next chapter of life,” said Schaeffer. “As of Jan 31, 2024, I will be joining my wife Cory Schaeffer, in the pursuit of chasing our grandchildren around the house. Reflecting on the past 50 years fills me with immense gratitude. I have had the privilege of working alongside remarkable individuals who have not only been colleagues but also friends. Together, we navigated challenges, celebrated victories, and created lasting memories that I will forever cherish.”

“I know that I leave American Music & Sound capable hands—I’ve been calling them the ‘dream team’ and that is absolutely the case,” Tim notes. “The dedication and talent within AM&S assure me that the business will continue to thrive and grow. As I step into the realm of retirement, I carry with me the invaluable lessons learned, the friendships forged, and the pride of being part of such a dynamic and supportive team. I extend my heartfelt thanks to this incredible Pro Audio Industry, filled with such wonderful people. Many of you have supported and guided me over my career and I am grateful to you all for making my journey in this industry unforgettable. I look forward to staying connected.”

Rob Impala, current Vice President of Pro Audio at American Music and Sound, will continue to lead the Allen & Heath Team in the US. Rob has worked with Tim and key Allen & Heath partners in the UK over the last year on this important transition and we expect continued success.  

“American Music and Sound and the entire extended Exertis | JAM ‘JAMily’ would like to wish Tim all the best in his next chapter,” says Impala. “We can’t thank Tim enough for the work he has done to position Allen & Heath USA and AM&S at the top of the game in pro audio.”

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New Hampshire’s Brook Casino Scales Up with Allen & Heath AHM

The Brook in New Hampshire is America’s largest charity casino, featuring the biggest sports book in New England, more than 500 casino gaming machines, a poker room, and an array of table games. The sprawling 75-acre property also boasts an outdoor deck, state-of-the-art showroom, banquet space, and a full-service restaurant.

Since acquiring the property in 2019, Nevada-based Eureka Casino Resort – the only 100% employee-owned hospitality company in the U.S. – has invested millions of dollars in renovations and enhancements to make The Brook a complete entertainment destination for anyone seeking live entertainment, fine dining, or Las Vegas-style casino gaming.

When it came to upgrading their A/V systems, the casino’s staff opted for Allen & Heath’s audio matrix processor, AHM, to provide scalable, quality sound distribution while keeping end-user controls friendly and simple.

“The AHM system was recommended to me by our A/V Integrator,” said the Director of Engineering for The Brook. “When I did my own independent research, I was extremely impressed. AHM also had a lot of fantastic reviews online. We needed a rock-solid audio distribution platform with a ton of flexibility, and AHM fit that bill in every way.”

The Brook, which is a quick 45-minute drive north of Boston near the New Hampshire border, was faced with some unique challenges for audio. With the facility’s previous DSP solution, intelligibility and overall sound levels were a noticeable issue. The Brook sought a solution that would provide clarity, intelligibility, consistency, and the scalability to meet their quickly growing processing needs.

The Brook features 16 separate zones (with several more being added in the near future), each being fed with different blends of three microphones, six cable TV receivers, two music players, and four computers. Because of the variety of events and styles of entertainment across the location, the casino needed the option to have certain inputs push out across all zones, while also allowing each zone to operate completely independently on source and level.

With an AHM-64, The Brook has plenty of room for current growth projections and any plans they may develop in the future. An AR2412 networked stagebox provides an expandable 24 mic/line inputs and 12 outputs for the system, in addition to the 12 local inputs and 12 outputs on the AHM itself. A Dante module was also added to the system for future-proofing and further expansion.

Five Allen & Heath IP-1 wall-plate controllers are sprinkled throughout the venue, giving simple one-knob control to management and staff for source selection, levels, and more. The facility’s management team plans on adding additional Allen & Heath IP controllers in the future to give the staff even more control over the distributed audio.

With the new system in place, the Brook team took a short lesson from the designers on how to use the system and was quickly off and running. They were thrilled with the experience of configuring the system, noting that AHM was incredibly intuitive and simple, not only to physically install and wire up, but to then configure the software to their specifications.

Since the system’s initial installation, The Brook has added two additional zones with at least 3 more to come in the future.

Thanks to AHM’s audio playback feature, The Brook now runs audio ads throughout the day. “The system lets us load in an audio file that will describe to our guests our upcoming promotions, concerts, and events,” explained a brook employee. “It triggers throughout the day every 90 minutes. The system is so configurable that it lets us select which zones the ads run in, have a different volume per zone based on that zones acoustic environment, trigger them at the set times, and then go right back to our normal programming. It is absolutely incredible what we can do with the AHM.”

Patrons noticed an immediate difference in intelligibility and consistency with the new system – level changes weren’t so extreme, TV audio was better controlled, and announcements were loud and clear throughout the facility. The casino has received plenty of positive feedback from both employees and guests, resulting from the now consistent daily audio experience.

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Allen & Heath USA Welcomes Neil Potter as New Western Regional Sales Manager

Neil Potter

Allen & Heath, a leading manufacturer of professional audio mixing consoles, is pleased to announce the appointment of Neil Potter as the new Western Regional Sales Manager for Allen & Heath USA. Potter will be responsible for overseeing the sales activities and managing rep partners in the western region of the United States.

Potter brings with him three decades of experience in the pro audio and musical instrument retail industries. He has held several roles at Guitar Center, one of the largest retailers of musical instruments and equipment in the world, including District Manager, National Director of Guitar Center Professional, and National Director of Guitar Center’s Rentals and Repairs Division.

Potter holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management from Western Governor’s University, as well as ONC in Mechanical Engineering from Bucks College UK. Potter is skilled at project management, B2B Development, and is a successful and proven leader.

“I am honored to be part of the renowned Allen and Heath team,” says Potter. “There is an incredible energy here, and I am excited to contribute growing the brand here in the US.”

“We are delighted to welcome Neil to our US team,” said Pat McConnell, National Sales Manager for Allen & Heath USA. “Neil’s experience and reputation in the pro audio industry are exemplary. His strong track record of delivering results will be a great fit for our company culture and values. We are confident that he will help us grow our presence and reputation in the western region.”

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Allen & Heath Products Now Available on D-Tools

Allen & Heath, a leading manufacturer of professional audio mixing consoles and digital signal processors, is pleased to announce that its products are now available on D-Tools – a popular software platform for system integrators. Boasting an integrated product library complete with up-to-date specifications and unique dealer-specific pricing, the D-Tools Cloud and System Integrator™ (SI) platforms enable end-to-end management of the systems integration project lifecycle.

D-Tools users can now access Allen & Heath’s extensive product catalog, featuring popular solutions for live sound, installed sound, and audio production applications. With D-Tools, integrators can easily create proposals, system designs, and project documentation using Allen & Heath’s products. The platform also offers field service management for collaboration and project tracking.

One of the highlights of Allen & Heath’s product range is the AHM series of audio matrix processors, designed to excel in corporate, retail, hospitality and education environments. The AHM series combines the simplicity and set latency of fixed architecture with the flexibility and power of open architecture platforms, allowing integrators to quickly create systems that build from a single boardroom to a complete campus.

The AHM series is supported by a comprehensive ecosystem of scalable I/O, control and Dante solutions, including remote controllers, expanders, and the Custom Control app, which enables tailored user interfaces for multiple user and device types. The AHM series also features a 96kHz FPGA engine, delivering exceptional audio quality and sub-millisecond latency.

“We are excited to partner with D-Tools and offer our products to their users,” said Samantha Potter, Commercial Audio Manager for Allen & Heath. “We believe that D-Tools is a great tool for integrators to streamline their workflow and deliver outstanding results to their clients. With our products, especially the AHM series, integrators can create versatile and scalable audio systems that meet the needs of any installation project.