After spending too much time fighting with SCSI drives stricken with slow transfer rates and recurring meltdowns, mix engineer Tony Maserati decided it was time for a change. Looking for a drive that could handle 96k sample rates and intense file transfer demands, Maserati opted for the Fibre Channel-based A/V SAN™ drive system from Studio Network Solutions®.
Mr. Maserati, who spends much of his time working at The Hit Factory’s Studio 3 in New York, used the A/V SAN recently for sessions with Beyonce Knowles, Christina Aguilera and Destiny’s Child.
“I transfer files either from CDs or SCSI hotswaps,” explains Mr. Maserati. “Whole projects fit on one A/V SAN drive, which allows me to manage everything completely and easily.”
“On the Christina Aguilera sessions, I never once had to think about the drive, which is optimal for me. No matter what stress I put on the A/V SAN, it simply never stops working.”
The A/V SAN™ system, which uses fibre channel to achieve extremely high transfer rates, is capable of eliminating almost all hard drive and I/O-related PCI bus errors. This means that engineers such as Maserati, whose work demands are intense and deadline driven, can increase their workflow and productivity by not having to stop and and deal with hard-drive system failures.
“I have my own A/V SAN that I cart around with me from studio to studio,” says Mr. Maserati. “I will not go into a session without it; it just works. I don’t have to do anything! I don’t ever have to initialize or defrag the drives. In fact, I’ve never defragged the drives and I’ve had it for a year and a half. It works flawlessly every single day of the week, and I work a minimum of six days a week.”
The A/V SAN can deliver 128 tracks of 24-bit/48k audio from a single drive. It provides up to 400 MB/second of throughput, and concurrent access for multiple users. It can also do simultaneous data back-up while the drives are in use for production.
The A/V SAN package includes a 1U enclosure, up to 4 Fibre Channel drives, a Studio Network Solutions PCI card, custom SNS Software and optical cables.
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.