Blackmagic's Fairlight Live audio mixer is now available, with ATEM Switchers 10.3 adding direct USB audio support for select ATEM models.
Following its April announcement and a period in public beta, Fairlight Live is now available. The latest ATEM Switchers 10.3 software update released last week, added direct USB digital audio support for the software across selected ATEM models.
ATEM Switchers 10.3 also adds direct streaming to Blackmagic Cloud Stream Router, including global signal routing, multi-platform delivery and remote source contribution on selected ATEM models. But it is the Fairlight functionality that is the major story here.
The update lets users route audio from ATEM Mini Pro, ATEM Mini Extreme, ATEM SDI Extreme, ATEM Television Studio and ATEM Constellation 4K switchers directly into Fairlight Live via USB-C, without the need for a separate interface. Audio follows video (AFV) camera selection is supported for up to 100 cameras, with bi-directional microphone gain control keeping levels consistent between the switcher and the mixer.
Fairlight Live is a software-based live audio mixer with spatial audio mixing and SMPTE-2110 broadcast workflows. It scales from stereo productions to large multichannel, surround and immersive mixes, and is billed as being capable of handling up to thousands of audio channels. It includes audio follow video, mix minus, snapshots, cue playback (16 audio cues and 16 MIDI cues), up to 128 VCA groups, an output matrix supporting up to eight simultaneous mixes, third-party plug-in support (30 native plug-ins plus AU and VST), and configurable redundancy, alongside support for Core Audio, ASIO, and 2110 workflows.
Three dedicated Fairlight Live Audio Panels (10, 20 and 40-fader models) are also available for customers who want hardware control. These start at around $2500. Very much in keeping with the model that Blackmagic has pursued with DaVinci Resolve, Fairlight Live software is a free download for macOS and Windows.