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The man behind CB electronics is the charismatic Colin Broad.
Colin who? For years, the film and broadcast community have
relied on Colin Broad's expertise to solve a range of problems in
the area of machine and system control. In fact, you would have
to search hard to find a UK film dubbing theatre without at least
one of his products, known to all and sundry as 'Broad Boxes'.
They are also a common sight in dubbing theatres across the
world. Because big film dubbing theatre requirements are so
complex most of the previous products have tended to involve a
degree of customisation to suit individual requirements. The SR
series of Serial Remote controller / synchronizers is CB
electronics first real 'off the shelf' product and is being
distributed via specialist dealers such as Syence in the UK.
The SR range consists of the SR-2X, SR-3 and SR-4. The numbers
refer to the number of machines each will control. In practice
the price difference is small and I would expect most purchasers
will opt for the SR-3 or 4. I had an SR-3 for review and I
regularly use an SR-4 in anger along with various other CB
kit
.
The SR-3 will also act as a slave synchroniser / controller,
locking up to three 9-pin machines to a master 9-pin input.
Physically, the first thing which strikes you about the SR-3
controller is its size. There is no separate rack unit, all the
electronics are in the control surface. For what it sets out to
achieve, it is tiny. With panel space at a premium in sound for
picture studios this is highly desirable. Power is taken care of
with an in line power supply 'brick' or the unit may be powered
via the 25 pin D connector on the rear which also handles time
code I/O and GPIs. As you might expect there are a further four
9-pin Ds to connect the machines to be controlled. The only other
connector is a BNC for video syncs, which the unit requires as an
absolute reference.
The gently sloping metal box, in a dark purple hammer finish,
may be used on a desktop or panel mounted. The latter option is
facilitated by four tapped holes in the case. The display is a
two line 80 character pale green back-lit number with a small
degree of up-tilt available to aid viewing from odd angles. I
would have preferred more tilt but what there is most welcome.
All the keys are chunky, square and internally illuminated. A
neat and slim jog / shuttle wheel with excellent feel accompanies
the transport controls at the bottom. The other keys are arranged
in three groups, numeric with store and recall, a row of eight
keys with a bank switch key below the display which will
frequently be used for record selects and the largest group which
contains, well, the rest!
Anyone who has had any dealings with 9-pin controlled machines
will be aware there is no such thing as a standard set of
commands and many machines have idiosyncrasies which need taking
into account if reliable control is to be established. One
significant achievement of this synchronizer / controller is that
it does exactly this. My Tascam DA-60 MkII DAT machine has
defeated a number of other devices but the SR-3 recognised it
immediately and controlled it better than any other device to
date.
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The SR contains a library
of machine specific protocols which should suit the majority of
users requirements. If however, you wish to use a machine which
the SR does not have a profile for, it is possible to experiment
with a variety of parameters in the hope of achieving the desired
results. In fact, on previous experience, if you do have such a
machine the chances are it will be supported in a subsequent
software update. In any multiple machine serial system it is
customary to designate one machine as master. It will also
operate as a 'Perfect Machine' I.e. the unit is used as a
'Virtual Machine' master. The performance of the system is
largely governed by the dynamics of the master machine. With the
SR-3, given a suitably quick master, or in 'perfect machine'
mode, the synchonising is quick and accurate and control is tight
with little of the 'rubber band' feel of some others.
A total of 20 of the keys actually invoke MACROs including the
nine below the display. These are user programmable from a
library of functions currently comprising around 160 !!! options.
If this unit has a fault it is that you can make life impossibly
complicated and lose yourself in a maze of nested menus. On the
other hand, if you need a weird function the chances are it is
already available. In practice most users / installers will set
the SR up for specific purposes and leave it alone. To this end
the key legends and colours can be easily customised to reflect
the functions they are programmed with. Needless to say the time
displays can be switched to read in film feet (units of 16
frames) or time.
I don't propose to go through all the possible options here
but suffice to say there are groups of commands designed to make
light work of ADR operation, DAT IDs and programme numbers,
record control of multi-track machines and locator smarts such as
AGAIN and LOOP. In addition to the direct 9-pin machine control
capabilities the unit offers a timecode reader / generator. There
are 6 GPIs and GPOs which can be used to remote the transport
controls to existing keys on the user's panel and provide
tallies, 'red light' control and so on. The SR-3 can also
interface with Audio Kinetics ES-BUS protocols, Studer TLS 4000,
Ampex and Timeline Lynx. This gives access to non 9-pin machines
and can aid integration with existing installations. If all this
sounds too good to be true; it isn't! But there is one area which
could stand considerable improvement. The unit comes with the
manual from hell! As a result of my previous incarnations in
broadcast and film and more recently in writing reviews I have
got to grips with a vast range of equipment and the associated
manuals. I can honestly say this one is a classic. Most of the
information you need is in there somewhere if you can find it but
there are factual inaccuracies and most people will either tear
their hair out or reach for the phone. I have even watched well
respected facility engineers in an unusual state of bafflement
when confronted with this manual. Syence tell me they are
discussing a re-write with CB electronics. I hope this happens
soon. Apart from anything else it would reduce the cost of
support.
Meanwhile, If you are looking for an incredibly versatile,
neat compact and comprehensive multi machine control system and
synchronizer for any number of applications then this is the only
game in town at any where near this price point. Machine control
is finally showing signs of growing up.
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