What is a Audio Router?

What is a Audio Router?

Routers? Insert Boxes? Mastering Switcher? Electronic Patchbays?  What exactly is a router?

Crookwood makes 3 audio routers, covering analogue routing, digital routing and both. However the term audio router conjures up an image of a technical box that sits in a machine room somewhere. In practice Crookwood routers offer a lot more creativity.

This guide gives you an overview of what a well designed router can do, and the extra features you get with a Crookwood R class Audio Router.

Broadcast Routers

Routers use to be electronic boxes that replace patchbays, analogue or digital, depending on the type. Traditionally they were built for the broadcast market, where they have loads of patching to do, and were a bit industrial in use.

In the music world, we had good old bantam patchbays and big consoles that did all of the routing inside them.

Then came the DAW...

Welcome to the Digital Audio Workstation

DAWs are now everywhere, you just can't avoid them. With them has come lots of clever software, so a lot work can be done "in the box". If you use plug in's you can do all of the routing inside the DAW, and you can even route it's inputs and outputs likewise.

But here's where the problem arises.  The DAW has to interface with the outside world, you just can't transfer files everywhere. Examples?

  • Interfacing with legacy equipment. If you want to do a simple copy, do you want to go through a DAW and DSP?
  • Limited inputs and outputs. Not all DAWs have lots of IO. A router can be useful to sit in around the DAW and interface it to the real world
  • Surround work. Loads more IO, and lots of discrete machines involved. Ideal router scenario
  • Analogue equipment. DAWs are digital, to route between analogue gear, multiple converters need to be used. DAW converters aren't always the best, and do you really want loads of them inserted in series?
  • External control. Sometimes you want to route quickly, like when you choose sources to monitor. It's much quicker to use a set of buttons than a mouse.

Crookwood Routers

We design routers to glue together all of these discrete elements of a studio so they work as one ergonomic unit, sonically pure and very efficient, like a console of old, a true production machine. All Crookwood products are designed to be very quick to use, allow you to easily experiment with different chains, and to comprehensively diagnose audio issues.  This catalyses your creativity, and helps you push the work through on time.

All our routers have these features:

  • Modular construction. Expand them or change them easily, as your needs change.
  • Sonically pure. As with all our equipment, we impose the minimum of electronics onto the signal path. Digital or analogue, we keep it clean.
  • Real control panels. We have compact, real control panels with real buttons to let you operate the routers quickly and efficiently.
  • Creative. The feature set and speed of use allows you to try things out and choose the best approach.

Think Routing? Think Crookwood!