Is your PC audio still stuck in the XLR Age?

Way back when enormous cart machines still roamed the earth freely, we used XLR connectors to get recorded audio into the console. But when PCs replaced the cart machine, we... continued to connect to their sound cards with plain-Jane XLRs and a thick bundle of discrete wires that can't carry logic, PAD or any of the useful information that PC playout systems provide. What's up with that?

There's a better way. (Several, in fact.)

The PC is the heart of the modern radio studio. And Axia gives you lots of ways to connect to it.

Choice 1: The Axia IP-Audio Driver for Windows. It works like this: using a special Windows driver, your digital audio is fed directly from your PC's Ethernet port, through the Livewire network, to an Axia Audio Node, where the WAV-to-IP Audio conversion is performed. Up to 16 stereo playback channels and 16 stereo record channels (32 streams total) can be accessed using our multi-stream driver that's provided by your favorite digital delivery system provider; a single-play/single-record version is available for audio workstations.

Axia Audio Nodes are professional audio devices with broadcast audio specs that rival those of any professional audio console; choose the Analog Line Node or, for a fully-digital solution, the AES/EBU Digital Audio Node. And, like any professional audio device, they're rack-mounted, with internal auto-sensing power supplies and the additional convenience of front-panel confidence meters.

Choice 2: AudioScience has recently joined the ranks of Axia hardware partners (companies with broadcast gear that features built-in Livewire support) to offer another way to connect PCs to Axia networks. Their new ASI6585 Livewire Sound Card is a "Super Audio NIC" that installs in your PC and integrates with your playout software the same way a regular AudioScience card would — but instead of a bundle of cables for output and GPI/GPO, you just connect an Ethernet cable from the ASI card to your network switch.

Along with having 8 stereo record/playback channels (16 channels total), logic and PAD on one skinny Ethernet cable, you also get the advantage of AudioScience's realtime MPEG encoding/decoding, time stretching and on-the-fly pitch adjustment. The streams are sent directly to the network without passing through an Audio Node.

Choice 3: Use your old faithful sound card. Yes, your existing cards will work just fine with Axia: simply bring the output of your sound card into an Axia Audio Node like any other source, and send control logic through an Axia GPIO Node.

Even though sending PC audio over Ethernet offers you lots of convenience and control, Axia systems let you do things your way. After all, it's your studio! And you still get the benefits of Audio-over-IP: once your audio is in the Axia network, you can share and access it anywhere in your connected facility.

Deciding how PC audio gets into your network is your job.
Making it sound great — that's ours.

Axia clients tell us that an all-digital playout path helps make their audio sound clearer, cleaner and better than ever. Our Audio Nodes were engineered with some pretty great specs too, to make sure your audio sounds the best it possibly can.

Howdy, partner.
Some of the industry's top audio hardware and software vendors have partnered with Axia to integrate Livewire functionality into their newest offerings. See the full list of Axia software and hardware partners, or browse some new broadcast gear that's Livewire-ready.

Say no to cables.
Standard sound cards require a big mess of cables tightly jammed into the back of a noisy, dusty, already-crammed-full-of-other-stuff PC. With Axia, all your digital audio data travels over a single Ethernet connection, so you can put your PC wherever you like.