Aalsmeer, Netherlands-based community radio station, Radio Aalsmeer, has transitioned its on-air studio to digital with the help of Lawo’s mixing console and virtual radio software solutions. The main studio now features a 16-fader Crystal surface powered by a Lawo Compact Engine.
“Value played a big part in the selection of Crystal,” explained Lennart Bader and Niels Tenhagen, self-employed broadcast professionals who began their respective careers volunteering at Radio Aalsmeer. “Funds for the renovation came from generous donations by Rabobank and Schiphol Airport, so a keen eye was kept on costs.”
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The station’s playout system and studio computers make use of Lawo RƎLAY VSC Virtual Sound Card software. Lawo says the software provides eight “virtual sound card” instances for each Windows computer to allow the direct exchange of audio between PC workstations and the Ravenna/AES67 studio network.
In addition, Radio Aalsmeer relies on the Lawo RƎLAY VPB Virtual Patch Bay as its main switching matrix.
“VPB has turned out to be super versatile and even allowed us to add additional analog in- and outputs,” said Bader. “Via the Ember+ protocol, we programmed a custom GPIO solution for tally lights and a multi-function color strip.”
