Calrec has sold its first Callisto audio console, a new console making its U.S. debut at AES, to outside broadcast (OB) company Token Creek Mobile Television. The Wisconsin-based OB company also purchased a Calrec Artemis Beam console. The Callisto will be installed in a new truck destined to cover high school and college sports and corporate and entertainment events, among others. The Artemis Beam has been installed in an existing HD unit that covers a wide variety of sports and entertainment events.
Token Creek Mobile Television has two other Calrec desks besides the Artemis Beam and the Callisto. Calrec consoles have become widely accepted in Token Creek’s market, so not only do its own operators like them, but freelancers get comfortable using them in a very short time. The consoles also provide the features and flexibility to meet whatever specs clients require. The Callisto, in particular, will allow Token Creek to serve clients who want high production value in a more cost-effective truck.
Token Creek ordered a Callisto console with 44 faders and a 64 x 64 mic/line, 72 AES and four MADI I/O configuration, as well as a GPIO control option. The Callisto's streamlined, efficient design makes it especially suited to the new truck, which Token Creek is building to accommodate clients with smaller budgets who want a high-quality product but don't need all the resources of Token Creek's other HD trucks.
Each of the console's channel strips has only the most essential mechanical controls, featuring a fader, two flexible control cells and a dedicated gain pot. Callisto uses Calrec's award-winning Bluefin2 networking technology at its core, and the same integral 8192 x 8192 Hydra2 router as Calrec's Apollo and Artemis consoles. It also has a highly intuitive GUI suitable for a broad range of operator skill levels.
The Artemis Beam console has been installed in Token Creek's Chippewa HD mobile unit. It is a 64-fader console configured for 256 x 256 MADI, 128 x 128 AES, and 64 x 64 analog I/O, giving Token Creek the flexibility to take in 16 channel sources, mix them efficiently, and distribute them easily in and out of the router. Token Creek uses the console's many main outputs to generate different program and transmission mixes, and the company finds the Bluefin2 networked I/O and flexibility of the control surface especially helpful.
