Whether it’s called a “commentator unit” or a “fancy remote broadcast mixer,” the CM-CU21 from England’s Sonifex offers a lot of features for a little box.
Taking advantage of advances in digital equipment and manufacturing technology, Sonifex has turned what is usually a simple, functional piece of equipment into multitalented audio router.
Nominally a two-channel unit, it offers a third “guest” location input.
The CM-CU21 can handle dynamic mics, condenser mics and even ribbon mics. It offers two talkback channels per channel. Channels, inputs, talkback options and selected outputs can be ganged in numerous ways.
A 1 kHz tone generator is included as well. Other features include 48 V phantom power, a limiter and a security lockout. Many of the touchpads light up in different colors, reflecting different operations, status or parameters and a tricolor main LED meter adds to the light show.
