The Malaysian radio network has upgraded and expanded its facilities to accommodate two new radio stations, and installed Lawo’s Virtual Radio Consoles in its new studios
With a need to keep pace with the rapidly evolving FM radio industry, Astro Radio, a Malaysian radio network, has upgraded its studio systems with Lawo’s Virtual Radio Consoles. The installation has now taken Astro Radio to its third generation of consoles for its new studios in Kuala Lumpur.
The upgrade began in 2017 when Astro Radio acquired two new radio stations, and needed space for new on-air studios, producer workstations and equipment room. These are in addition to its existing 13 on-air studios, seven news studios, three voice booths, eight audio production studios and edit suites, as well as six equipment rooms.
Bala Murali Subramaney, CTO of Astro Radio, explained: “We wanted to radically re-imagine what an on-air studio would look like, including what to fit inside the studio and what to leave out. The studio environment would impact how the on-air talent uses the technology inside the studio with the new virtual console as its focal point.”
Astro Radio’s mixing requirements were met by Lawo’s Virtual Console, which features a software-driven control surface, as well as a multi-touch interface on a computer display. Subramaney also pointed out that one advantage of the Virtual Console is the elimination for the need for console spare parts and accessories.
“In addition to the standard Virtual Console control features, Lawo’s VisTool-PC also shows all the virtual modules of both touchscreens — a user can control all channels, faders and buttons on the touchscreen from the VisTool-PC interface,” he added.
