Blackmagic Design has released the “ATEM Microphone Converter,” a microphone converter. The suggested retail price is 56,980 yen including tax.
The ATEM Microphone Converter is an analog audio to digital converter that allows you to add a microphone to ATEM switchers, such as the new ATEM Television Studio HD8 . It can be used simply by connecting to the MADI port of ATEM Television Studio, and no complicated settings are required.
Connect multi-channel audio via MADI
The MADI output embeds the 4 analog inputs as MADI channels 1, 2, 3 and 4. With the MADI input on board, you can loop multiple converters when you need more than 5 channels of audio on a single MADI link. So if you connect a second converter to the input of another converter, the 4 channels from the upstream converter overlap with the 4 channels from the downstream converter.
Innovative analog-to-digital conversion
Moving away from traditional audio industry designs that use one audio ADC each, 8 high dynamic range audio ADCs implement analog-to-digital conversion on each input collectively acting as one ultra-high dynamic range audio ADC . This results in an amazing dynamic range of 131dB(A) for each input channel.
Extremely low noise floor of -129dBV
One common problem with mic converters is a high noise floor. This is because the input amplifier generates electronic noise. However, this product eliminates this problem by adopting a design that directly converts the input using an ultra-high dynamic range input conversion function. This allows the RAW audio to be sent to the switcher where it can apply as much gain as needed to compensate for the audio levels. In other words, the noise floor is reduced to -129dBV because there is no noise caused by the analog gain stage.
Digital preamp stability
A wide dynamic range input eliminates the need for an analog preamp, and the mic level is adjusted by a highly stable digital preamp gain stage. The analog audio levels of mics vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer, and this digital gain stage allows you to calibrate them for specific manufacturer’s microphones. Best of all, the digital preamp works internally with full 32-bit floating point RAW audio bit depth, so you can tune with far greater precision than the MADI audio standard.
Precise matching of analog inputs
Design techniques with multiple ADCs per input ensure that each analog audio input has very close specifications and tolerances, allowing all input channels to be matched with extreme precision. The unique input design of eight ADCs also maintains a stable, consistent, flat noise floor and is not adversely affected by the changing noise floor level of traditional staggered ADCs. .
It also has an HDMI video monitoring output, so you can connect a regular TV or computer monitor to view everything. Four waveforms showing the past 60 seconds are displayed scrolling, so it is not only informative but also fun to watch. There is also an audio meter, showing the level at the input connector.
There are also indicators for Mic/Line input selection and phantom power settings. Additionally, if you daisy-chain converters, the monitoring output will adapt and display 5 or more channels.
