Sennheiser has announced Evolution Wireless Digital, offering ‘an easy, app-based workflow while retaining all the professionality, multichannel capability and reliability that users have come to expect of UHF and 1G8 mics’.
‘We talked with dozens of bands prior to the development of Evolution Wireless Digital,’ explains Evolution Wireless Digital Product Manager, Oliver Schmitz. ‘Many band members are in fact multitasking, driving the gig bus, setting the wireless up, performing on stage, doing the accounting, the marketing, you name it. They do not want to become experts at RF, they do not want to scan a venue for open frequencies, they do not want to battle with settings. They just want something that works right away, so all they have to do is switch on and go.’
‘This is why we came up with an app that does all the planning for you and guides you through the set-up,’ adds Benny Franke, responsible for the software. ‘An app, where all the expertise is under the hood, and where you don’t have to be a mechanic to drive the car. There were many details that we sweated over so that you can keep your cool before, during and after the show.’
An intelligent set-up automatically creates reliable wireless connections, with no wireless expertise required on the part of the user – channels can be named to aid organisation, and access to all system settings is to habd. Bluetooth Low Energy allows for remote access to the system and enables synchronisation with the receiver.
Evolution Wireless Digital transmitters have an input dynamic range of 134dB, eliminating the need for a sensitivity setting on the transmitter. The receiver has been set to a gain value covering most applications, which can easily be changed if desired.
More RF is appearing on stage but Evolution Wireless Digital (EW-D) takes on this complexity – the app will scan the environment to find open frequencies. And as EW-D has borrowed tech from Sennheiser’s top Digital 6000 and Digital 9000 series, the wireless microphone systems do not generate any significant intermodulation products.
This not only makes more room in a given frequency window, but the app can also set the wireless links at 600kHz intervals without any frequency calculation and is therefore able to fit in more frequencies than a standard mic system would be able to.
EW-D has a low latency of 1.9ms and a transmitter battery life of up to 12 hours with the BA 70 rechargeable battery pack. A bandwidth of 56MHz with up to 90 channels per band makes it easy to find space even in crowded of RF environments. As a digital system, EW-D does not use a compander. Gone are the associated noise floor and artefacts – the system will sound like it’s plugged in with a cable.
EW-D handheld transmitters couple with any Sennheiser or Neumann wireless capsule. This includes the Neumann KK 205 and KK 204, the new Sennheiser MM 435 and MM 445 as well as the Digital 9000 capsules.
‘Whether you are a singer/songwriter doing your first gigs and want to use your own microphone system, or a band tech who has mics, IEMs and a mixer in one convenient rack and uses a mixing app, Evolution Wireless Digital will perfectly fit into your preferred usage scenario, no matter whether you are planning an in-person or a streamed live gig,’ Schmitz says.
Evolution Wireless Digital is available now, with a choice of handheld, instrument, lavalier, headmic, combo and base sets.
More: www.sennheiser.com
