Omnia Forza Overview
From the legendary Omnia team comes Forza, a brand-new approach to the multiband audio processor.
Forza’s all-new AGCs and multiband limiters breathe new life into the traditional five-band processor design, yielding a sonic profile that delivers a consistent and polished audio signature without sounding overly-processed.
Forza marks a deployment turning point in how a “processor” is defined, at once lending itself to existing Telos Alliance hardware and software offerings (such as Z/IPStream X/2 and R/2) while leveraging the power and flexibility of delivery by Docker container.
From a usability standpoint, expertly crafted “launch point” presets and an intuitive yet powerful user interface empowers users of all skill levels and ensures instant sonic excellence for listeners. Central to Forza’s smart UI is its interactive processing logic, seamlessly maintaining harmony between “under the hood” controls and settings. Anyone can confidently drive Forza without a PhD in processing, while professionals will love its powerful simplicity in crafting their unique signature sound. An integrated, target-driven ITU-R BS.1770 loudness controller makes conforming to emerging loudness requirements a set-and-forget process.
Omnia Forza Features
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Legendary Omnia audio quality
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Wideband AGC, 5 bands of multiband AGC, 5 bands of multiband limiting, soft and hard bass clippers, and final peak limiter
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Comprehensive bass management controls
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LUFS target-driven ITU-R BS.1770 loudness controller for compliance with streaming platform requirements
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True Peak limiter
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Omnia’s highly regarded Sensus® conditioning for low bitrate streams
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Carefully crafted Omnia presets ensure great-sounding audio on all types of formats and programs
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“Smart Controls” combine the adjustment of multiple, interrelated parameters into a single knob or slider
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Innovative single-page GUI welcomes less-experienced users while still providing the tools processing experts expect and need
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Browser-based HTML5 UI works on any device, including Windows and MacOS computers and Android and iOS smartphones and tablets
Feature-Rich Processing Structure
Interface
Omnia Forza In Depth
Audio processing software isn’t a new idea, nor is it a totally new concept for Telos Alliance. But for the most part, software processors have historically been based upon existing hardware products, and often limited to a single deployment style. Forza breaks that tradition as a processor that was purpose-built as software.
As such, it is not bound to a particular hardware platform or a specific core operating system. This flexibility is what allows us to offer Forza as a Docker container - ideal for virtualized or high-density installations - and as a new mid tier processing choice in our well-established and highly-regarded Z/IPStream X/2 software and R/2 hardware. An API is also available for custom OEM integration.
Sonically, Forza is the culmination and synthesis of decades of audio processing experience by the Omnia team. The basic processing structure itself - wideband AGC, five band AGC, and five band limiter - follows tradition, but the underlying algorithms are brand-new and employ some of the most advanced and unique approaches to processing we’ve ever conceived. The result is a sound that is perceived as consistent and polished, but at the same time, natural and seemingly unprocessed.
Forza makes its debut as a stereo processor optimized for HD, DAB, and in particular, streaming audio applications. The days of streaming audio living in the shadow of terrestrial broadcasting are over, and as stations report an ever-increasing number of listeners moving to on-line listening, proper audio processing becomes just as essential for this platform as for the FM signal.
Another shift in the radio industry is the presence of fewer “traditional” broadcast engineers who have learned at least the basics of audio processing throughout their careers. In many operations today, streaming audio is deployed and managed by a completely separate department from terrestrial broadcast. These engineers are likely to have much less processing experience, and the multi-layer, multi-page user interface with hundreds of individual adjustments that are appreciated (and even expected) by processing gurus might be intimidating.
A key design goal in Forza was to distill a complex system with hundreds of underlying parameters into a lean, high level control set where the entire UI - including all meters and controls - is presented on a single HTML5 web page. To support this, we embraced the concept of goal-driven “smart controls” that make the kind of individual adjustments to multiple parameters that a processing expert would make, but with a single knob or slider.
Even the most inexperienced user can quickly and easily create a successful sound by choosing one of the carefully-crafted Omnia presets and adjusting one or two controls. Users with more advanced processing skills will find all the tools they need to create a unique sonic signature to meet their needs and expectations.
Omnia Forza Specifications
While “specifications” tend to be a hardware category (unit dimensions, power requirements, etc.), the information below is intended to provide basic operational guidance for software container deployment on a Linux Server.
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Cores needed per instance: 1 core (x86-64 V3, Haswell or later architecture)
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CPU speed requirement: 2 GHz
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Memory requirements: 256 MB RAM per instance
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Latency: 40ms typical; CPU speed, AoIP setup, and other factors will affect system latency
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Required Linux distribution: Ubuntu v20.04 (64 bit)
Support Every Step of the Way
Compared to traditional hardware products, software solutions require a very different approach to ensure success, and Telos Alliance is prepared to help every step of the way. Prior to purchase, we’ll assist with the design of your system to ensure it suits your workflow and meets both your current and anticipated future needs. Our Professional Services team stands ready to work with you throughout the deployment and configuration phase to provide a smooth on-boarding experience. Afterwards, the TelosCare PLUS Service Level Agreement (SLA) provides 24/7 priority access to our Customer Success Team for support whenever you need it, plus immediate access to the software and security updates that are an inevitable part of the virtualized world. Wherever you are on your software and virtualization path, we’re here to help.
Forza is a brand-new multiband audio processor from the legendary Omnia team. Forza is available as software, delivered as a container, and is typically installed on a PC or server running Linux in consultation with Field Application Engineers (FAEs) from Telos Alliance Pro Services. Multiple instances of Forza may be installed and operated simultaneously on appropriate computer hardware. Forza is also being readied for Z/IPStream X/2 (Windows software) and R/2 (hardware) as a new mid-tier processing option in our forthcoming release.
In addition to its flexible deployment options, we designed Forza to reflect the trend in the industry - particularly in streaming applications - where staff with deep audio processing backgrounds and traditional broadcast skills are becoming rarer. To address this we’ve built a processor based on the idea of “smart controls” that, with a single knob or slider, interactively adjust multiple background processes while preventing illogical settings that could result in poor sound.
This “guardrail” approach is akin to getting a seasoned Omnia expert in every Forza instance. IT managers, program directors, and staff with little or no audio processing background can steer Forza to sonic excellence without fear of breaking something. Processing experts can still craft the exact sound they want, but more efficiently and with fewer steps.
Forza includes a wideband AGC, a five-band AGC, a five-band limiter, hard and soft bass clippers and bass enhancer, a final peak limiter, Sensus Codec conditioner and an ITU-R BS.1770-based loudness controller.
The first iteration of Forza is specifically designed for HD/DAB and streaming audio applications. Forza does not have its own FM “back end”, the section of a processor responsible for creating a composite (MPX) signal. However, it can feed a stand-alone stereo generator (such as Omnia.9sg) a processed L/R signal with excellent results.
Unlike FM radio where maximizing loudness is often the main processing goal, streaming audio requires a concerted loudness management approach. Forza’s processing provides consistent levels and spectral balance between sources and includes a target-based ITU-R BS.1770 loudness controller with a True Peak limiter to easily reach a specific LUFS target, an increasingly common requirement when streaming to commercial platforms and services.
As container-deployed software, Forza simply connects via Ethernet to your AoIP network and is able to subscribe to any available AES67 stream. Forza outputs are available and advertised on the AoIP network as well. Standard AoIP wisdom applies with Forza, so you’ll need a qualified Ethernet switch and at least one Axia xNode to provide either a Livewire or PTPv2 clock to synchronize any other devices. Telos Alliance xNodes are well suited to this, and ready to connect with consoles, analog audio devices, and/or AES/EBU digital devices.
Each “Omnia Preset” is effectively its own processing algorithm, covering virtually any format and genre. They are ready to use as-is without modification, or can serve as essential starting points to create your unique sound. The user interface - all of which exists in a single browser page - distills dozens of individual parameters into Forza’s smart control approach. Being HTML5-based, Forza can run on any modern browser, including on smartphones and tablets.
Yes. A common HTML5 GUI controls Forza, and the main control page and preset management is identical between platforms.
Yes. Presets created on the container version can be imported into the Z/IPStream version and vice-versa. Users can easily share presets with other Forza customers.
The container-deployed version of Forza is strictly an audio processor and does not include encoders, but its output can be fed into any dedicated stream encoder. In ZIP/Stream X/2 and R/2, Forza can be streamed using any of the codecs and bitrates present in those products.
