Ross updates Carbonite and Acuity with new features: UltraScene, TouchDrive compatibility…

Ross Video’s Carbonite and Acuity range of production switchers is entering a new phase with new creative enhancements that have been widely demanded by users.

Version 7.0 of Carbonite Ultra et Ultrix Carbonite brings important new features, but the highlight is UltraScene, a new “easy to use” layering tool that allows complex compositions to be managed as a single source. With UltraScene, up to 8 layers can be used to create visually interesting compositions consisting of keys, chromakeys, DVE boxes and more. UltraScenes can be inserted into the ME et MiniME as background or key sources, just like any other source on the switcher.

In addition to UltraScene, version 7.0 includes Production Sequencer functionality, which allows operators to automate simple, repeatable elements within a live production. This solution allows a series of tasks, events or device controls to be linked together, while complementing the existing Memory et Custom Control macro capabilities.

Nigel Spratling, VP of Switchers at Vidéo de Ross, sees this upgrade as a “huge leap forward” in terms of new creative possibilities: “Version 7.0 features contained in Carbonite Ultra and Ultrix Carbonite not only allow in-house production teams to deliver more compelling content, but it also allows them to do their job more efficiently since these new features can be easily programmed and recalled using Custom Control macros.”

Acuity, compatible with TouchDrive

The introduction of TouchDrive control surfaces, with high-resolution LCD touchscreens, provided Carbonite operators with “unprecedented” efficiency.

Vidéo de Ross has therefore decided to make the TouchDrive range fully compatible with Ultrix Acuity. This move, according to Spratling, allows it to offer “a more flexible solution tailored to the workflows and budgets of our Ultrix Acuity customers.”

Version 11 of the Ultrix Acuity software, which enables TouchDrive support for Ultrix Acuity, is now available as a free download from the Ross website.