Key Articles
Stardraw Partners with Digigram for EtherSound Control
 Stardraw.com and Digigram, a world leader in innovative digital audio network solutions, are delighted to announce the formation of a strategic partnership around EtherSound, Digigram's patent-pending technology for audio distribution over standard Ethernet.
The EtherSound protocol provides fully deterministic, real-time transmission of synchronized audio channels over standard Ethernet. Up to 64 channels of 24-bit digital audio at 48 kHz, plus bi-directional status and control data, may be transported among more than 60,000 connected devices. Its ultra low latency of only 125 microseconds makes it suitable even for demanding applications such as live sound or broadcast. The technology has already been licensed to a number of different manufacturers across the globe, all of whom are developing EtherSound products for their markets. But what of control? Would it be possible to develop a control system that would be compatible with all EtherSound products, regardless of the manufacturer? A number of meetings with Stardraw.com confirmed that this would indeed be both possible and extremely desirable, and so the partnership was formed. The new software tool, "Stardraw Control", is to be shown for the first time at the PLASA trade show in London.
A key aspect of Stardraw Control is that it offers a unified control framework for the different devices by different vendors that can make up a heterogeneous network; installers can look forward to seamless integration of diverse products using a single control interface. According to Digigram's managing director, Philippe Delacroix, “So far, we've had unanimous support from all the EtherSound licensees who have had the opportunity to be presented with the project, including Auvitran and NetCIRA by Fostex, and we are confident that the others will feel the same way once they have been familiarized with the advantages.”
Stardraw.com CEO, David Snipp, points out, “Stardraw is dedicated exclusively to software development and we have proven many times that we can deliver better solutions, faster and for less than most hardware manufacturers' own development departments. This is the obvious advantage of specialization and Digigram were quick to acknowledge the value we could add to EtherSound technology. In fact, we are so excited by its potential that we have embarked on a true partnership and will develop and deliver the EtherSound control application entirely at our own cost. By this we mean that all EtherSound Licensees and integrators will have free access and distribution rights to the control authoring application. We believe that its versatility and ease of use will drastically reduce the costs of creating custom control interfaces for all types of system; it will remove the need for the integrator to write even one line of code."
Phillippe Delacroix concurs. “This partnership is an important step for EtherSound technology and a great example of how imaginative companies can combine their unique skills to deliver leading-edge solutions. With EtherSound, Digigram has cleared the many hurdles that stood in the way of efficiently distributing audio over Ethernet – rather than being limited to star configurations, EtherSound can use both star and daisy-chain network topologies, or a combination of the two. Ease of installation means that it's an appealing solution for contractors, while flexibility of implementation and operation has attracted more and more manufacturers to adopt EtherSound as their routing standard of choice, suitable for many different uses across many different industries. In the context of delivering a software-based control system for all EtherSound products, partnership with Stardraw.com makes a perfect match."
Simply Reliable Software appointed North American Reseller
Following the announcement in May of Dove Net Technologies becoming Stardraw.com's first US national reseller,
we are delighted to announce the expansion of our reseller network in North America with the appointment of Massachusetts-based Simply Reliable Software.
SRS is known best within the residential installation market where their own application, SRS SmartOffice, offers systems integrators a fully-featured, database-driven software tool to manage the complete business process of custom installations, from contact management, prospect tracking, proposal generation right through to scheduling, billing and project management. Stardraw marketing director Rob Robinson is very pleased to welcome SRS on board. "Once again we have succeeded in marrying two complementary applications to create a balanced and integrated whole; Stardraw adds value to SRS by providing the front-end drawing package for their business management tool while the commercial partnership meets our strategic objectives in terms of penetration into what is for us a relatively new market. The relationship works beautifully for everyone."
SRS creator Jonathan Knapp agrees wholeheartedly. "When I first started SRS, it was with the specific intention of creating a software tool to manage the business process for custom installations firms. The result is SRS SmartOffice. SRS's interest in engineering is to automate redundant data entry and streamline the engineering process. There are several drawing products that my clients use but, unfortunately, the solutions that currently exist in this market were not specifically designed for electronic systems design and have often been described as unsatisfactory, both in terms of ease of use and operation. When I was introduced to Stardraw, I saw the strength of the simple, intuitive user interface, the availability of a significant product library, and the ability to view a project in different views including schematic and rack layout. I am excited to be able to offer this software to my customers."
"The product that is going to make all the difference for me is Stardraw A/V Lite," continued Knapp. “It allows you to create your designs to exactly the same standard as other Stardraw packages since it uses the same intuitive but powerful drawing engine. Furthermore, you can customize your symbols library to select what you require from a vast range of manufacturers. Better still, the SRS / Stardraw interface extracts all of the information contained in the technical drawing within Stardraw and transfers the data to SRS SmartOffice so that the two applications can work together seamlessly. It's an efficient and elegant solution, and because it's based on Stardraw A/V Lite it remains extremely cost-effective. I think this could be the ultimate answer to our customers' needs!"
For more information on Stardraw, please visit www.stardraw.com. Simply Reliable software can be found at www.simplyreliable.com
AudioSales appointed Stardraw resellers for Austria
Stardraw.com are delighted to announce the appointment of leading Austrian pro audio sales, distribution and systems specialists, AUDIOSALES Vertriebs GmbH, as resellers throughout Austria for the entire range of Stardraw's design and documentation software packages.
Located just 15km south of Vienna, AudioSales specialises in four areas of business activity: recording and post-production; fixed installations; broadcast; and professional live sound. The company also has an extremely impressive portfolio of brands under their exclusive distribution including Audix microphones; Drawmer and Klark Teknik signal processors; Midas and SSL mixing consoles; Peavey MediaMatrix; Samplitude hard-disk recording; L-Acoustics and Work loudspeakers.
AudioSales sales manager Reinhard Brummer is pleased to number the Stardraw product range among these brands. "We have a long history in digital recording and a clear focus on fixed installations, working with both architects and consultants, as well as handling professional live sound for theatres and government buildings, " explained Brummer, "so it made perfect sense to look for a range of high quality software products that would both complement our hardware lines, and make our customers' lives easier. Stardraw addresses our target markets perfectly."
Stardraw marketing director Rob Robinson agrees. "When AudioSales approached us to act as resellers for Austria, they actually presented us with a very easy decision. They are already distributors for a number of other contractor-based products in their territory and have a very solid reputation in the installation market for Austria. The addition of Stardraw to their portfolio adds value both for them and for us, and blends extremely harmoniously with the brands they currently represent."
Stardraw Forums are Live
Stardraw Forums offer a freely accessible platform on which to exchange ideas, ask questions and
share experiences. Forums have been established for all Stardraw products, and each forum is continuously
monitored by Stardraw experts so you can be sure that replies to your postings will be timely, accurate and
comprehensive.
The Stardraw Forums are tools for the community; Stardraw applications
are continuously refined and improved and it is only through user feedback that we can deliver the
features
you need. Please make the Forums your own - the busier they are, the better for everyone, so why not make
your first post now? Just click on the link:
Independent Reps Sought
Stardraw.com seeks quality reps in the following territories: AK,
AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MA, MI, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH,
NM, NY, OK, OR, RI, TX, UT, VT, WA, WY.
For more information please email sales@stardraw.com
Feature Update
The latest new feature available to Stardraw subscribers is
Title Blocks:
these are a comprehensive set of borders for US and Metric paper sizes that
can be added to completed drawings. They allow you to clearly identify
all important information about your drawing prior to submittal.
Click on a link to download the self-extracting Title Block installation program.
Stardraw Radio Merges with Stardraw A/V
All features, functionality and symbols
previously only available to Stardraw Radio have been folded into
Stardraw A/V. This means that Stardraw A/V is now
the most comprehensive design/documentation tool ever for professional audio, audio/visual
and audio broadcast systems integrators.
Stardraw Radio has now been discontinued as a separate product
and holders of a current subscription to Stardraw Radio can look
forward to a free upgrade to Stardraw A/V (normally $1750).
Users of Stardraw Radio should contact sales@stardraw.com for instructions on how to receive their free
upgrade to Stardraw A/V
Upcoming Events
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Show: |
PLASA |
Venue: |
Earl's Court, London, UK |
Dates: |
September 12-15 |
Stand #: |
L89 |
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Show: |
LDI |
Venue: |
Las Vegas, NV, USA |
Dates: |
October 22-24 |
Stand #: |
1642 |
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Show: |
ISE |
Venue: |
Amsterdam, Netherlands |
Dates: |
January 26-28 |
Stand #: |
4704 |
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Symbols Updates
In June the following libraries were updated. Click
on a manufacturer name to see full details of that library, or click on a
link at the bottom of the page to update your application
with the latest symbols.
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