Avid Everywhere Redefines Live Sound and Studio Production Workflows

Avid® (OTC: AVID) today announced the Avid VENUE | S3L-X compact live sound system, building on the success of the Avid | S3L system to deliver on the Avid Everywhere™ vision. With the new system, live sound professionals can more easily meet the increasing scope, size, complexity, and diversity of today’s live sound requirements. Avid VENUE | S3L-X enables engineers to mix and record live shows with unrivaled power and efficiency, and create new material or mix down live recordings for commercial purposes.

When used together, Avid VENUE | S3L-X and Pro Tools® | Software—both part of the Avid Artist Suite of solutions and powered by the Avid MediaCentral Platform—deliver the most streamlined, economical, and tightly integrated approach to mixing and recording live productions.

“Live sound professionals face tight budgets, pressure to get more value from their assets, and a multitude of technology choices,” said Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of Products and Technology at Avid. “When we first introduced the S3L, our customers immediately embraced it at major festivals, clubs, and tours for its sheer sound quality, power, and mixing creativity. Now with the Avid VENUE | S3L-X we’re enabling them to use one system for both live sound performance and mixing down final assets to monetize.”

The system delivers expanded networking, control, and processing to meet a range of live performance demands. Customers can reduce complexity and cost by sharing the same I/O across multiple S3L-X Systems, with full automatic gain compensation. With support for 64-bit AAX DSP plugins, plus the open EUCON and Ethernet AVB network protocols, Avid VENUE | S3L-X ensures compatibility with a variety of Avid and third-party products—now and in the future.

Avid VENUE | S3L-X features new VENUE 4.5 software—the industry’s most proven and trusted live sound software platform—and allows live sound professionals to:

• Mix anything, everywhere—from major festivals to space-constrained clubs

• Share the same I/O across two or more Avid S3L-X Systems, with complete auto gain compensation

• Mix DAW sessions using Avid S3 as a standalone mixing surface and 4x6 audio interface

• Keep pace with the latest sound processing innovations with 64-bit AAX DSP plugin support

• Scale the modular system to accommodate any size performance, from 16–64 mic pres

• Get exceptional sound quality, plus reliable Ethernet AVB connectivity, without the cable bulk

• Achieve maximum performance with 2x more RAM compared to Avid S3L

• Record directly to Pro Tools (or other DAW) through a simple laptop Ethernet connection

• Get great reliability for the road with the rugged, reinforced engine design

• Monitor with confidence through the high-output, low-noise headphone amp

Availability

Avid VENUE | S3L-X will be available early Q4 2014 through Avid resellers worldwide.

VENUE 4.5 software upgrade will be available in late Q3 2014 to current S3L System customers.