The Rane HAL1x Expandable Multiprocessor is reviewed by Sami J. Janho of Advanced Solutions in Jordan.
Why did you choose this product? It is powerful, flexible and easy to program. The Rane configuration software is very easy to use while most of what is available in the market is complicated in terms of programming. Interfacing it with third-party systems like Crestron is also very simple. Both of these things mean we can save time on every project. You also have an edge with HAL because not every manufacturer has remote input and output interfaces which Rane calls RADS. These are digital so you just connect one Cat5e shielded or Cat6 shielded cable to that RAD and there you go. You can connect analogue or digital inputs to different RADs and transmit up to two in + two out on one CAT5e/6 shielded cable which saves on cabling as well. What many others offer is Dante or CobraNet interfaces which are sending multi-channels of audio over Cat5e/6 but that is more expensive. If you need that with HAL you can still add a separate HAL/Dante module and have that in addition to your DSP. What is also important for our market is that the products are made and shipped from the US. A lot of people in the Middle East prefer to deal with products made in the US or Europe.
What do you like about using it?It is predictable and reliable. When an engineer goes to site he’s not worried about whether or not it will work this time, or whether there are going to be problems with the programming or interfacing with third-party systems. They can easily estimate how long it will take them to do those tasks - there are no surprises.
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