RTW Boosts Surround-Sound Monitoring

A leading manufacturer and distributor of professional audio metering and control devices, RTW, has released a software upgrade for its flagship SurroundControl 31900/31960 and SurroundMonitor 11900.
The upgrade adds new functions such as convenient ident procedures for simple and safe channel identification in 5.1 surround signals, and implementation of current ITU loudness-measuring specifications for single and summed signals.
The RTW SurroundControl 31900/31960 and SurroundMonitor 11900 are eight-channel integrated systems that provide extensive monitoring and control features for surround and multichannel signals in professional production, post-production and broadcast environments. By means of frequent software updates, RTW continually adds to the systems' already rich feature set.
Modern ident procedures such as BLITS (Black and Lane's Identification Tones for Surround) were initially developed to detect and fix unwanted channel mix-ups that can take place with multichannel surround programs in complex broadcast workflows.
The RTW SurroundControl and SurroundMonitor units offer comprehensive analysis functions for evaluating incoming ident sequences as well as a flexible internal signal generator that produces appropriate signal clusters in BLITS, GLITS (Graham's Line Identification Tone System) or EBU 3304 formats for routing to analog (31900/31960 only) or digital system outputs.
In fact, Surround Control and SurroundMonitor's integrated ident analyser does more than simply detecting channel mix-up: it also detects latencies between channels, phase shifts and polarity and level differences.
With these tools, the user has everything needed to perform in-depth technical quality control of external sources. Further simplifying operation are optical indicators that instantly reveal any anomalies. The system also offers the user the option of preceding the output ident sequence with a .WAV file, such as a station ID or other acoustic identification.
The SurroundControl 31900/31960 and SurroundMonitor 11900 units are equipped with convenient loudness-measuring functions complying with the ITU BS.1770 specifications that are continually updated to meet current ITU and EBU recommendations. RTW offers tailor-made solutions for each market segment - from production and quality control to broadcast and documentation. These allow for consistent and practice-oriented loudness measurement of stereo, multichannel and surround audio, in parallel with or as an alternative to conventional peak meters. Other new features of the current software include enhanced output routing options as well as separate level control for downmix signals.
Further information is available at: www.rtw.de.
(KMcA/BMcC)