The term “opening a new way” is used in mountaineering when a climber discovers a new path to climb a mountain; we can use it, however, to describe the new Powersoft proposal for the design and control of installation projects
The idea is to offer designers and integrators new ways to develop the design, management and control of installations. The way is simple: Powersoft presented, with a special speech by Business Development Manager Marc Kocks, a series of new functions of its well-known software ArmoníaPlus. This latest update will provide system integrators with the tools to easily manage even the most arduous fixed installation projects, through a dedicated Install Skin, and offering many new features and optimizing existing ones.
Although Live Sound projects in ArmoníaPlus will maintain the same intuitive structure from the original version, Install System projects now reflect the needs of system integrators for sources and zones management, allowing the creation of fully customisable user interfaces and controls.
As well making fixed installation projects easier and simpler, ArmoníaPlus 2.0 can now serve as the gateway into the Powersoft world itself. By registering a copy, users will be able to gain access to the new MyPowersoft online platform through a single sign-in procedure.
Let’s see the main features of this important update. First, the intelligent interaction makes installations lighter: Powersoft amplifiers are now capable of managing mono, stereo and multichannel sources and zones. This allows for decentralised system processing that eliminates the need for an external matrix in many applications, and can also reduce the number of cable runs.
Any analogue or AES3 signal can be converted into Dante and shared over the network through the Dante Matrix, which is now natively integrated within ArmoníaPlus. Patching between amplifiers and Dante sources is only done when needed, which allows the creation of offline sources, and provides a lighter solution for systems that require the selection of Dante sources.
ArmoníaPlus 2.0 then introduces a series of solutions aimed at remotely controlling key system functionalities: zone level control, source selection, and system scene selection. The WM Level and WM Select also can be shared over the network, meaning that a passive wall controller can be connected to one amplifier via GPI and control the parameters of other devices in the same network.
The Views Designer makes it possible to create dozens of customisable user interfaces to control and monitor the functionalities of multiple sources and zones. These can be accessed from any mobile device with a web browser. A dedicated app allows users to control their system Views and to quickly load their ArmoníaPlus project designs to the amplifiers and external controls. The app configuration is also done in the new Views Designer.
As if this wasn’t enough, ArmoníaPlus 2.0 also introduces new features aimed at improving the user experience, including multiple workspaces, a synchronisation mode (which allows ArmoníaPlus to communicate directly with the amplifiers, allowing users to control and monitor their system), and new Control and Views modes that will let WebViews and App Views users choose how they control their system.