Every engineer has been there. The radio mics check out fine on the RF Tech’s laptop, but that’s before the talent walks onto the stage. Reception black spots, drained batteries, accidental mutes – anything can happen once the show gets underway.
Thankfully, Soundcraft and AKG now make the FOH engineer’s life easier. Now it’s possible for the first time to monitor the status of any HiQnet-compatible AKG radio mic directly from the Soundcraft Vi Series console surface, courtesy of VM2 (Vistonics Microphone Monitoring). VM2 provides real-time visual displays of battery life, RF status, mic muting and internal clipping directly on a channel strip on the Vistonics™ screen, so it’s possible to see a problem long before you hear it, right there on the relevant channel – with expanded information instantly available just by touching the screen.
System configuration couldn’t be more straightforward, and uses Harman’s proprietary HiQnet network – simply plug in the mics, patch them to the related console channels, and you’re done. You can even identify the relevant mic receiver in the rack by pressing the Locate button, causing the receiver front panel display to flash.
It all adds up to much more efficient workflow and one less thing for the hard-pressed engineer to worry about.
VM2 will be available for all Soundcraft Vi Series consoles in V4.5 software, including Vi1, Vi2, Vi4 and Vi6.
Compatible AKG Wireless mic systems are WMS 4000, WMS 4500 and DMS 700 (optional HUB 4000Q HiQnet Ethernet interface required).
