Musikmesse: Allen & Heath has introduced a fourth control surface to the iLive digital mixing console system, joining the existing iLive-122, iLive-144 and iLive-176. The new iLive-80 is the smallest in the range of control surfaces, designed for smaller applications such as theatres, churches and touring bands.

Providing 80 control strips grouped in 2 sections, each with 4 banks, there is an LCD display with multi-colour backlight above each fader for labelling and colour-coding channel information. The channel controls for preamp, filter and EQ are laid out across the top of the surface on rotary controls with LED indicators, while a colour LCD touch screen presents a graphical view of the processing and access to gates, compressors, limiter/de-essers, graphic EQ’s and effects, as well as the automation and set up screens. Audio at the surface is available on 4 slots accommodating the 8-channel audio interface cards.

The heart of the mixing system is the iDR-10 stand-alone stagerack, which has 10 slots for 8-channel audio interface cards, comprising analogue and digital variants. The iDR-64 DSP module is part of this rack, processing 64 channels into 32 mixes, which can be assigned as auxes, groups, matrix and main outputs. The iDR-64 is controlled via an Ethernet network and can be connected to a variety of controllers, including the range of iLive control surfaces, Allen & Heath’s PL range of remote units, third party devices, or a laptop/PC.

The iLive-80 surface will be available from July 2007, approximate SRP £15,000 (ex VAT) with the iDR-10 stagerack.