With the PM1D and PM5D digital mixers having been a mainstay of large-scale live productions for more than a decade, Yamaha has launched the Rivage PM10 – anticipating ‘another pivotal moment in the history of digital audio mixing’.
The heart of the new flagship console is the newly-developed RY16-ML-Silk Hybrid Microphone Preamplifier, featuring an analogue section partnered with a 96kHz, 24-bit A/D converter, followed by Yamaha VCM digital modelling of Rupert Neve Designs transformer circuitry and Silk processing. Using the Silk Red and Blue Silk modes and the Texture control in the console’s selected channel, the console can be used to colour and character of each individual input.
With Rivage PM10, Yamaha has also extended its collaboration with other manufacturers. As well as forging closer ties with Rupert Neve in the development of the RY16-ML-Silk, new VCM models of the Rupert EQ773, Rupert Comp 754, Rupert EQ810 and Rupert Comp 830 are featured. Yamaha has worked with TC Electronic to include two reverbs, the VSS4HD room simulation reverb and the NonLin2 stereo reverb, as featured in the TC System 6000 devices. Yamaha has also been working with Eventide to add the H3000 Live Ultra Harmonizer as a future inclusion in the Rivage PM10 system.
The console follows familiar Yamaha console operation but claims more flexible possibilities. One of the most important of the Rivage PM10 control surface is a full Selected Channel section. This was a key element of the PM1D and PM5D consoles and is a fundamental aspect of the design for Rivage PM10’s user interface.
Twenty-four of the control surface’s channel strips extend into the twin, 15-inch touchscreen displays, while rotary encoders feature ‘horseshoe’ ring indicators for optimum visibility. A third display screen can be added via a DVI socket, if required. Further innovations include enhanced Scene functions, dual monitor buses, the ability to run up to 384 effects processors at once and four USB connections for data storage, mouse/keyboard control and two track USB recording.
The backbone of the Rivage PM10 system is Yamaha’s newly developed TwinLANe ring network, which can handle up to 400 audio channels at 96kHz, 32-bits over distances of up to 300m. TwinLANe can connect up to eight RPio622 I/O units and, at launch, up to two CS-R10 control surfaces and up to two DSP-R10 DSP engines.
The RPio622 features six of Yamaha’s new RY card slots, which can accomodate three types of I/O card, providing up to 96 mic preamps per rack. In addition, the RPio622 and DSP-R10 feature the new HY card slots (two and four respectively) for further interconnection, while all three hardware components of the system feature two of Yamaha’s MY card slots.
With the CS-R10 control surface also featuring 8 x 8 local analogue i/o and 8 x 8 AES3 I/O with sample rate conversion, a fully-expanded Rivage PM10 system can accommodate over 3000 I/O ports.
A new, optional HY-Dante card can be used to integrate multitrack recording or other hardware, including other Yamaha digital consoles.
‘For a number of years, the industry has been asking when Yamaha will launch a new, state-of-the-art digital console for large-scale productions. We have always said that, when it comes, it will be as much a landmark for the industry as the PM1D and PM5D were. So I am very pleased to say that, with Rivage PM10, that time has arrived,’ says Chihaya ‘Chick’ Hirai, Director of Pro Audio Business Unit, Yamaha Corporation of Japan. ‘We believe that Rivage PM10 will be another pivotal moment in the history of digital audio mixing. It delivers a system, which will be the most versatile, the most user-friendly and the most reliable for all larger events.
‘We look forward to introducing sound engineers to Rivage PM10 and inspiring them with the dawn of a new age for live sound digital mixing systems.’
