Facilities upgrades - February 2023.

Apple Mac Studio workstations

We’ve recently installed one of the new Apple Mac Studio workstations in Edit Suite 1. It’s significantly faster than the previous iMac and utilizes Apple Silicon and macOS Monterey. We’ll also be installing Mac Studios in the following facilities over the coming weeks: Edit Suite 2, Audient Studio 1, Audient Studio 2, Audient Studio 3, Audient Suite 1, Spirit Studio, S6 Suite and ICON Studio. There’s currently an incompatibility with Pro Tools HD Native PCIe, which is preventing us from upgrading the intermediate studios. We’ll review this again over the summer.

In addition to the Apple Mac Studios, the Audient Studios will have new MOTU 24Ai and 24Ao audio interfaces and 27” screens mounted on an adjustable arm. For those that are working in the box, you’ll be able to bring the screen much closer to you for a more comfortable experience.

Software

A number of software updates are in the process of being rolled out:

• iZotope Music Production Suite 5 
• Melodyne 5
• Steinberg WaveLab 11
• Plugin Alliance mastering plugins in ICON Studio, S6 Suite and Mac Suite 5 tutor workstation. A number of free mastering plugins have also been added to these workstations, as well as all student workstations in Mac Suite 5.
• Melda Productions MAutoPitch has been installed on the Macbook Packs
• Krotos Audio Sound Design Bundle (this will be installed in the S6 Suite one the new Apple Mac Studio has been added)

Microphones

We’ve added 2x t.bone RM 700 microphones to the sign-out equipment stock, along with 2x Triton Audio FetHead preamps. Not sure how to book them out? Read our re-fresher on the studio essentials.

Upcoming Changes

But that’s not all! We’ve got plenty more exciting updates to come over the next few months.

EditShare

Our current Avid ISIS server isn’t compatible with Apple Silicon or macOS Monterey, so we’ve been working on its replacement for some time: EditShare EFS. 

This non-Avid solution does provide us with a number of advantages. Notably, you will have 50GB of personal storage space, rather than 15GB, and you should notice improved upload and download speeds.

Programme Leaders and Tutors will be introducing you to EditShare over the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you use one of the new Mac Studio workstations and need to access network storage, please see this guide for more information on EditShare and how to mount media spaces.

Wi-Fi

We’ll shortly be replacing our Wi-Fi system with faster access points, and this is expected to take place in March. We’ll send more communications about this in the near future, as we expect some windows where Wi-Fi will be temporarily unavailable during the changeover.