Soundcraft Broadway

Announced in 1995 and first installed in 1996, the Soundcraft Broadway was billed as the 'first digitally-controlled theatre sound console'. Its bet: keep a fully analogue signal path (4U/6U Eurocards housed in remote 19" 18U racks under the stage) while delivering the total recall and automation previously associated only with digital desks. The mic preamp and 4-band parametric EQ were designed by Trevor Stride (Focusrite).

The architecture is modular and 'building-block': add input racks (40 channels each, up to 80 A/B inputs and beyond), 32 'GrAux' busses assignable as groups or auxes, LCRS master routing, 3 PFL busses, a 40 x 20 matrix and 20 VCA groups (32 with the VCA Extender surface). For the operator: motorised faders throughout, a detachable Assignable Channel Strip, a touchscreen Main surface and an unlimited number of input surfaces. Racks and surfaces talk over a dual coaxial digital control network, with audio racks linked by 48-pair balanced multicores; networked PCs can drive the whole system via dedicated Broadway software.

In practice, the Broadway ran into the limits of 1990s data networking. Installed at London's Prince Edward Theatre for Martin Guerre (Cameron Mackintosh, 1996), it never actually mixed the show's audio: as soon as data traffic between the stage racks and the front-of-house surface grew, the system fell over, and a backup Cadac J-Type carried the production. The project was dropped shortly after, incoming Harman management judging it too resource-hungry. It remains a landmark — and a cautionary tale — of the analogue-to-digital transition in theatre sound.