ERGO News: KRK Systems have announced their new ERGO (Enhanced Room Geometry Optimization) digital room analysis and correction system.
The KRK ERGO is compatible with all recording and monitoring systems and improves any studio mixing space by correcting for ‘real world’ acoustic problems. ERGO delivers the most sophisticated room correction at a fraction of the cost of traditional room treatments. Sound On Sound (March 2008) comment:
“As the inexorable rise of the project studio continues, more and more monitor manufacturers are acknowledging that their products are often used in less than ideal acoustic environments, and employing advanced computer technology to help out.”
“The NAMM show saw KRK launch their Ergo digital room-correction system, which consists of a desktop DSP unit and a measurement mic. The DSP unit sits between your DAW and your monitor speakers, and can act as a basic monitor controller thanks to its large volume wheel and ability to switch between ‘A’ and ‘B’ speaker outputs. It also acts as a Firewire audio interface, allowing measurements to be taken from the calibration mic.”
“To set up ERGO, you locate the mic at a number of random positions within the room and run the measurement utility on your Mac or PC. This builds up a three-dimensional picture of the room’s response, and allows it to calculate the frequencies at which problematic resonances reside.”
“This information is then transferred to the Ergo unit’s hardware DSP, which can apply up to 1024 narrow EQ bands to fine-tune the monitor response to the features of your room.”
The KRK ERGO connects to a PC via Firewire when it is performing its room analysis, but since all correction processing resides in ERGO, no overhead is needed from the computer audio system. This means that ERGO can function in pure analogue systems since it can work as a stand-alone room correction/speaker control unit after room analysis is complete.
Nils Karsten, KRK Sales Director EMEA: “We listened to ERGO in different applications, and once you experienced the big benefit – you will never give it away… It makes mixing so much easier and the results are simply better than without ERGO. The good thing, ERGO makes any monitor system more accurate by reducing ‘bad’ room sound, resulting in mixes that translate well to any listening environment.”
The KRK ERGO is now shipping.