Burl Audio B80 Mothership 3 Modular Audio Interface Chassis with BMB4 SoundGrid Motherboard

Transform your music, live sound, broadcast, or film recording efforts with the Burl Audio B80 Mothership 3, a modular AD/DA interface featuring card-based configuration and a capacity for up to 80 channels of analog audio. Bundled with the BMB4 SoundGrid motherboard and one RJ45 SoundGrid port, the B80 supports up to 32-in / 32-out (64 channels total) at up to 96 kHz right out of the box.

The B80 features 10 Daughter Card slots for configuring your interface in almost any way you can conceive, allowing it to tackle virtually any audio application. Load the system up with analog inputs or outputs via the numerous available Daughter Cards (such as the BDA12 12-channel DAC, the BAD8 8-channel AC, the BAES4 AES I/O card, the B22 Orca control room monitor, the B4 mic pre, and many more) in any order or arrangement that you need. Everything is passed through the Burl Backbone for pristine audio throughput. The BMB4 motherboard features two BNC wordclock outputs, one BNC wordclock input, and front-panel controls for sample-rate selection and clock source (internal, external, or SoundGrid). The motherboard also sports a 4-pin XLR power input for the included BP300 power supply, which provides the system with 300W of power and up to ±24V per rail, ensuring even the hungriest Class-A analog circuit gets all the juice it needs.

The B80 Mothership AD/DA converter has up to 80 analog channels of capability. Using a card-based system, and a heavy-duty 4 RU chassis, the B80 Mothership employs 10 card slots with 4- and 8-channel AD/DA cards, all with Class-A, discrete electronics without any integrated circuits or capacitors in the signal path.

With a completely configurable AD/DA interface, a converter for any situation can be realized. If you’re a mix engineer, load up the B80 with eight BDA8 cards and a BDA4M, for 68 channels of sonic fidelity. If you track live, eight BAD8 cards will give you 64 line-level inputs, or 10 B4 mic pres loaded up in a single B80 Chassis will give you 40 channels of mic pre and A/D conversion.

Digital interconnect is completely configurable and controlled by a swappable motherboard. The BMB4 features an Ethernet port for 64 IO channels of Waves SoundGrid connectivity. SoundGrid is an audio-over-Ethernet networking and processing technology developed by Waves.

SoundGrid provides extremely low-latency, high-channel-count audio processing using standard Intel CPUs and 1 Gb/s Ethernet networks for studio, live sound, and other real-time professional audio applications. Real-time audio processing is performed on standard Intel-based plug-in servers, running a Waves-customized real-time version of Linux. Waves SoundGrid audio-over-Ethernet technology is a robust, proven system for audio-over-IP networking. Amongst the competing standards for audio over IP, SoundGrid boasts impressively low latency.

The technology that makes this all possible is the Burl Backbone. The Burl Backbone is a high-bandwidth backplane delivering incredible digital audio throughput. Master clock travels directly to each Daughter Card eliminating the need for individual PLLs.

Configuring a B80 Mothership is literally a snap. Slide the Daughter Card into the card guide, snap it into the Burl Backbone, turn the thumbscrews, and you’re there.

Powering a unit like the B80 Mothership takes some juice, so Burl designed the BP300 to drive the 80 channels of Class-A analog circuitry. With a 300W continuous power capability, and ±24V rails, a multichannel AD/DA converter is finally getting the power it deserves.