Sonicue sound system software addresses the entire system and encapsulates Dynacord’s core design philosophies of simplicity, clarity and transparency. Its unique interactive design provides a clear and comprehensive system overview, making it quicker to set up, tune and operate sound systems with minimal effort.

Dynacord significantly expands the scope of Sonicue with the version 1.2 update. The new release fully supports the new MXE5 matrix mix engine, which completes the sound system by providing input, routing and mixing functionality, as well as sophisticated DSP functions. When integrated with Dynacord IPX series amplifiers, MXE5 can serve as a system head for overall system supervision, monitoring and control.

System logic supports communication with other OCA devices, including third-party products. Running as independent apps on desktop PCs and the TPC-1 touch panel controller, Sonicue 1.2 adds customization features for user control panels and system logic for advanced tasks.

Sonicue’s new control panel designer is a comprehensive toolbox that allows the creation of standalone, lockable applications. The design of the user interfaces is customisable and assignable with different functions according to the required user type, such as system and sound engineers, facility managers or service personnel in hospitality areas. Together with the new system logic and customising functions, the applications can be loaded with dynamic content for specific application modes, raising the user experience to a new level.

The logic editor is quick and easy to operate for the system designer and produces advanced system tasks without requiring coding skills. System integrators and AV installers can address project requirements for fixed installations in a more efficient and effective way via by Sonicue’s intuitive, highly flexible interaction concept, which is based on a guided workflow and direct access of all system parameters.

This update also includes an activated update routine for loudspeaker databases and a handy overview that displays the current firmware versions of all supported devices. The software is available now as a free download from the Dynacord website.

My, how the humble powered ‘brick’ has grown up! Prior to lightweight Class D amplification coming of age, the portable powered mixer adhered to a very familiar form factor: 19-inch wide, normally about 4U high, a humble array of basic EQ, knobbage and metering, and heavy enough to suck passing comets into its orbit.

These unglamorous workhorses would be in every PA rental inventory (let’s not forget that powered PA boxes were until this millennia something only Meyer Sound really considered worth the hassle and Meyer never did anything portable), and in most pubs and clubs. When not in use they would prop doors open, and keep corrugated iron roofs from blowing away in the cyclone season.

Powered PAs have eroded the ‘brick’s’ market, making way for more highly featured small format (‘unpowered’) consoles with better EQ, more auxes, and even some basic effects. The brick has had its day. Or has it?

Dynacord has identified a market for a small-format powered mixer that is largely unmet by the current crop of products. The new PM502 is that product and it’s really rather good.

LIGHTS ON

When I first pulled the PM502 out of its box I involuntarily threw the unit up over my head like an Armenian weightlifter. I couldn’t believe how light (4.9kg) and compact it was.

The layout is easy and uncluttered — you don’t need fingers like knitting needles to operate the channel EQ. Plug in a mic and turn up the gain, you’re underway. There are three stereo inputs (including two pairs of RCA), which is more than customary on a compact mixer but is right for the market (think: iPods, DJs, the AM/FM receiver). What’s more you can plug in a USB stick and the PM502 will read and play back music via the LCD.

For the purposes of this review I plugged the Speakon connectors into a couple of passive Bose foldback monitors. Talking into an AKG D880 dynamic mic there was plenty of clean level — whisper quiet even when cranking the 65dB of gain (there’s a global phantom power switch for condenser mics). The amp is rated at 2 x 450W (max. @ 1kHz) into 4Ω, which is perfectly adequate for a 12+horn box in most general purpose applications. No one is contending the PM502’s amplification will set the dancefloor alight or shake the chandeliers, but there’s more than enough welly for any portable application.

I then connected the Master B outputs into a pair of 15+horn active FBT loudspeakers. It was a neat combination. There’s some routing flexibility that means I could send the Aux foldback output to the Speakons rather than the default Master A output. It demonstrated to me how the PM502 can happily jump into any passive/active loudspeaker combo.

After plugging my iPod into a pair of RCA sockets I was able to test some of the bingo call/DJ/aerobic instructor features. The PM502 features a very capable ducker called Talk Over. There are four presets that provide various levels of music attenuation and shape of the ducker’s ADSR envelope.

The compressor is also quite well spec’ed and easy to use. I guess you’d call it ‘master bus’ compression — you can’t switch it in on a per-channel basis. You can select from a handful of presets, everything from brickwall limiting to the more gentle Uplift Soft setting, and then, if you so desire, dig in and make changes to the threshold, attack, release, and ratio via the LCD.

Rounding out the master section features is an effects engine. As you’d expect, every channel (mono and stereo) has a post-fade FX pot, while the master section has FX send and FX return master pots. There’s a handy smorgasbord of reverbs, delays and modulation effects to choose from. What’s more, you can use the footswitch input to turn the effect on/off (handy for mix-it-yourself musicians).