Key Takeaways
- Calrec and Grass Valley have formed a long‑term partnership to integrate Calrec’s ImPulseV virtual DSP software with Grass Valley’s AMPP cloud‑native live‑production platform.
- The integrated workflow will be showcased at the Grass Valley booth during NAB Show 2026, beginning with ImPulseV connecting to AMPP Control and progressing to a fully native ImPulseV application on AMPP.
- Both companies emphasize software‑defined flexibility, allowing broadcasters to deploy audio resources on‑premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments without compromising quality or operator familiarity.
- ImPulseV runs on commercial off‑the‑shelf (COTS) hardware, public and private clouds, and distributed resources, and is powered by Calrec’s True Control 2.0, enabling a single operator to manage up to five consoles or processing cores.
- The partnership adopts an OpEx‑based deployment model, offering scalable, cost‑effective solutions for micro‑control rooms to global production environments.
Partnership Announcement Overview
At the NAB Show 2026, Calrec (Booth C6907) and Grass Valley (Booth C2408) unveiled a strategic, long‑term partnership aimed at marrying Calrec’s ImPulseV virtual DSP technology with Grass Valley’s AMPP cloud‑native live‑production ecosystem. The collaboration reflects a shared vision that innovation, people, and technology will define the future of broadcast audio. By aligning their roadmaps, the two companies intend to give broadcasters unprecedented freedom to design, scale, and adapt audio workflows without being constrained by legacy hardware or siloed software solutions. The announcement positions the partnership as a cornerstone of both firms’ strategies to lead the industry toward a fully software‑defined paradigm.
Integration Details: ImPulseV and AMPP
The technical integration will first link ImPulseV to AMPP Control, allowing users to invoke Calrec’s audio processing capabilities through Grass Valley’s orchestration layer. Subsequent development phases will deliver a fully native ImPulseV application that runs directly on the AMPP platform, eliminating any middleware latency and enabling tighter coupling between video and audio pipelines. This layered approach ensures immediate value for early adopters while laying the groundwork for a seamless, end‑to‑end software‑defined production environment where audio processing is as agile as video switching, graphics, and media asset management.
Demonstration at NAB Show 2026
Visitors to the Grass Valley booth will experience live demonstrations of the integrated workflow, highlighting how ImPulseV can be spun up on COTS servers or cloud instances and controlled via AMPP’s unified interface. The demo will illustrate typical broadcast scenarios—such as a sports event requiring multiple audio mixes, a newsroom needing rapid re‑configuration, and a remote production leveraging distributed cloud resources—showcasing the system’s ability to adapt instantly to changing production demands. By presenting real‑world use cases, the partners aim to validate the practical benefits of their combined solution and gather feedback for further refinement.
Statements from Calrec Leadership
Sid Stanley, Managing Director of Calrec, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “We are delighted to be partnering with Grass Valley, an organisation that shares our belief that innovation, people, and technology define the future of our industry.” He emphasized that Calrec’s virtual ImPulseV technology, when combined with Grass Valley’s AMPP Ecosystem, creates a powerful proposition that unites best‑in‑class solutions. Stanley highlighted that the collaboration marks the next evolution of Calrec’s strategy, empowering customers with true choice, flexibility, and control in a software‑defined world. He also noted that introducing ImPulseV into the AMPP ecosystem enables deployment ranging from micro‑control rooms to global production environments with speed and precision, allowing infrastructure to be shaped around user needs rather than the other way around.
Statements from Grass Valley Leadership
Adam Marshall, Chief Product Officer at Grass Valley, echoed the sentiment, remarking, “With the integration of Calrec’s ImPulseV into AMPP, we are extending the power of software‑defined production with tier‑one audio workflows.” Marshall pointed out that media organizations can now deploy premium audio capabilities within a fully software‑defined environment while preserving the quality, responsiveness, and familiar operator control expected for high‑value live production. He stressed that the solution operates consistently across on‑premises, cloud, or hybrid deployments, all unified under a single platform. This consistency, according to Murray, reduces operational complexity and accelerates time‑to‑air for live events.
Technical Capabilities of ImPulseV
ImPulseV is a virtual DSP software suite that runs on commercial off‑the‑shelf hardware, public and private clouds, and distributed computing resources. It leverages Calrec’s True Control 2.0 architecture, which permits a single operator to oversee up to five Calrec consoles or processing cores simultaneously, streamlining workflow in large‑scale productions. The software delivers the same low‑latency, high‑fidelity audio processing that Calrec’s hardware consoles are renowned for, including advanced mixing, equalization, dynamics, and immersive audio formats. Because ImPulseV is decoupled from specific hardware, broadcasters can scale processing power up or down on demand, paying only for the resources they consume.
Benefits for Broadcasters
The partnership delivers several tangible benefits. First, it provides unprecedented flexibility: audio resources can be instantiated anywhere—on‑site for low‑latency needs, in the cloud for elasticity, or across a hybrid model for disaster recovery. Second, the OpEx‑based licensing model reduces capital expenditure, allowing broadcasters to treat audio processing as a service rather than a fixed asset. Third, the unified AMPP interface simplifies operator training, as engineers retain familiar workflows while gaining access to advanced audio tools. Finally, the ability to manage multiple consoles from a single station improves staff efficiency and reduces the physical footprint of control rooms, a critical advantage for remote and fly‑away productions.
Deployment Models and Flexibility
Both ImPulseV and AMPP are offered under OpEx‑based deployment models, meaning customers subscribe to processing capacity and software updates rather than purchasing perpetual licenses. This approach aligns with modern IT procurement practices and enables rapid scaling—broadcasters can add extra DSP cores during peak events and release them afterward. The underlying infrastructure can be traditional data‑center servers, edge computing nodes, or major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud). Because ImPulseV is hardware‑agnostic, the same software image can be migrated between environments without re‑certification, preserving consistency in audio quality and latency across deployments.
Future Development Roadmap
The initial phase of integration focuses on connecting ImPulseV to AMPP Control, providing immediate access to Calrec’s audio processing via Grass Valley’s orchestration layer. The subsequent phase will deliver a fully native ImPulseV application hosted within AMPP, eliminating any abstraction layer and enabling deeper integration with AMPP’s media‑processing pipelines, asset management, and analytics tools. Grass Valley and Calrec have indicated that future updates will expand support for immersive audio formats (e.g., Dolby Atmos, MPEG‑H), enhance AI‑driven audio assist features, and tighten synchronization with AMPP’s video‑frame‑accurate timing. Joint roadmap workshops will ensure that both companies’ release cycles remain aligned, delivering continuous value to customers.
Impact on Software‑Defined Production
By marrying Calrec’s renowned audio DSP expertise with Grass Valley’s cloud‑native AMPP platform, the partnership epitomizes the shift toward software‑defined broadcast infrastructure. Traditionally, audio processing has been tied to specific hardware consoles, limiting agility and increasing total cost of ownership. The ImPulseV‑AMPP solution decouples functionality from physical boxes, allowing broadcasters to treat audio as a pliable, software‑based service. This shift not only accelerates innovation cycles—new algorithms and features can be rolled out via software updates—but also fosters collaboration across disciplines, as audio, video, graphics, and data workflows share a common operational plane. In essence, the collaboration lays a technical foundation for the next generation of live production, where infrastructure adapts to creative intent rather than dictating it.
Conclusion
The Calrec‑Grass Valley partnership announced at NAB 2026 represents a significant step forward for broadcast audio. By integrating ImPulseV’s virtual DSP power with AMPP’s cloud‑native live‑production platform, the alliance delivers a flexible, scalable, and cost‑effective solution that meets the demands of modern, multi‑environment productions. With strong endorsements from both companies’ leadership, demonstrable technical advantages, and a clear roadmap for future enhancements, the integrated workflow is poised to become a reference model for software‑defined audio in the industry. Broadcasters seeking to future‑proof their operations now have a compelling pathway to achieve true choice, flexibility, and control—without compromising the quality and reliability that live production demands.