WEBSTER, New York, April 21, 2021 — Ashly Audio has launched another major update to its new AquaControl™ software suite, free-of-charge. Key among the new software capabilities is a powerful upgrade to the ducking feature on the Ashly Audio mXa-1502 integrated mixer amp. This new feature readies the mXa-1502 for integration into even more locations.

“As always, we are making upgrades based on partner feedback,” said Noel Larson, EVP of Sales and Marketing at Ashly Audio. “One of the ways Ashly supports the needs of our partners is to continue update our control software and to make those upgrades free whenever possible. We want to add the capabilities that empower more effective integrations, and this new ducking feature does exactly that.”

The original ducker in AquaControl software offered 12 levels of priority, user-adjustable threshold, attack and release, duck depth, and could be triggered automatically by the incoming priority signal or by electronic contact closure triggers found on the rear panel of the mXa-1502.

Those features remain, but now offer the following improvements:

• Priority Source Control – Ashly has assigned ducking parameters to the source rather than the ducked program, allowing different trigger sources to control the ducked program in more varied ways.
• Hold Time – A new HOLD parameter is adjustable in 1-second intervals, up to 60 full seconds. This holds the ducked program at the assigned ducking depth after the trigger source is removed and allows the adjustable ramped return to begin after that hold period has concluded. This eliminates slow ramp times and gates to mask the fact that the ducked program is slowly returning in the background as soon as the ducking trigger is removed.
• Independent Ducker Assignment – Independently adding or removing input channels from the ducking hierarchy is now enabled. This makes it much easier to interpret the relevant settings by eliminating unnecessary data. You see only the settings of channels involved with the ducker and nothing more.
• Increased Return Dynamic Range – The original ducker had the return ramp level jump from mute to -30dB in a single step and then began the adjustable return time in 1dB steps from -30 up to 0dB. Ashly has improved this by allowing the ducking ramp to use a dynamic range of 100dB in 1dB increments. This provides for smoother, less abrupt transitions from muted levels.

The result of these upgrades is a priority ducking system that offers flexibility and smoothness of operation, free from incorrect triggering and uncomfortable volume changes. This enables greater customization of priority signal management to deliver a better customer experience in schools, hotels, retail stores, and restaurants.

The new ducker is part of AquaControl firmware release v1.1.8 and is available as a free download.