Sound Devices Astral ARX16 firmware v1.55

Fixed

Rare, intermittent inability to lock to transmitter RF signals.

Transmitters not always reconnecting to NexLink after going out of range.

Sound Devices Astral ARX16/ARX8 v1.54 Firmware Released: November 16, 2023

New

Added a Waterfall display to the Web App RTSA for monitoring the RTSA history.

Added RSSI Peak Hold to Web App RTSA.

Added new RF History option, RSSI + Q, to the Web App and ARX front panel RX views.

Added ‘The screen is locked’ popup when a screen is touched in ‘Show Mode’.

Added ability in the Web App to click and drag a transmitter/receiver pair to a new frequency in the RTSA.

Changes

Changed RSSI ‘B’ antenna metering and RTSA color to white to clearly differentiate it from the blue of antenna A.

Web App RTSA – new button layout to accomodate Waterfall and Peak Hold features.

RSSI meters behavior changed so that they stay active even with no carrier lock.

Fixed

Improvements to NexLink reconnection after transmitters are powered down or go out of range.

Various RF tuning and diversity enhancements.

Export Trace CSV format modifications for improved compatibility with database programs such as IAS, Wireless Workbench, etc.

Fixed bug in power source selection where PoE warning could pop-up even with DC powering

Sound Devices Astral ARX16/ARX8 v1.53 Firmware Released: September 13, 2023

New

Touch can now be disabled to prevent inadvertent switching of the screens to different views.

Press and hold the Headphone Knob for > 2 secs to disable and re-enable.

Disabled touch is indicated by a thin orange bor​der surrounding the four OLEDs.

The Headphone Knob and Triangle button remain active when touch is disabled.

Fixed

Rare distortion with very low frequency signal sources no longer occurs.

Random freezing of the Web App Scan view no longer occurs.

Sound Devices Astral ARX16/ARX8 v1.52 Firmware Released: August 24, 2023

New

Support for new Astral TX RF on/off toggle switch option

Sound Devices Astral ARX16/ ARX8 v1.51 Firmware Released: August 10, 2023

Changes

Extended Gain range to -6 to 60dB and removed now superfluous ‘Gain Range’ button.

Increased Audio Offset range to +/- 20dB

Web App UI improvements

Meter scale improvements

Fixed

NexLink improvements

Sound Devices Astral ARX16 v1.50 Firmware Released: July 25, 2023

New

Support for the Astral TX transmitter

Support for receiving VHF transmission

Added ‘Show Mode’ to the Web App. This is a read-only mode that prevents inadvertent changing of settings.

Added transmitter names to the Web App RTSA.

Support for Privacy mode

Added TX View menu for monitoring and setting TX-only functions, even when transmitters are not assigned to receiver channels.

Added Audio Offset and Gain Range buttons to the 1RX View, which are accessed by pressing the ‘More’ button on OLED2.

Changes

Increased maximum number of paired transmitters to 64

Transmitters no longer have to be assigned to a receiver channel to be monitored and controlled over NexLink.

Multiple transmitters can now be assigned to the same receiver channel.

Enhanced TX List menu with transmitter battery level, frequency, NexLink RSSI and TX View.

Edit transmitter names directly from the TX List by tapping the name.

The NexLink RSSI meter is now white for a powered-off transmitter. A powered-on transmitter’s NexLink RSSI meter is still green.

The collapsed 4RX views in the Web App now show audio meter, Q-meter, transmitter name and battery level.

Added audio meter scale markings

Various UI layout changes to the 1RX View and its Gear menu to accommodate new Audio Offset and Gain Range buttons.

Mode button (RF Only, REC only, REC+RF) moved to the new TX View menu.

Fixed

Audio metering release time improved.

Sound Devices Astral ARX16 v1.40 Firmware Released: May 16, 2023

Important: After installing the firmware, it is essential that Astral Minis are unpaired, then re-paired with the Astral ARX16.

Note: To ensure best performance, always run the latest version of Astral ARX16 with the latest version of Astral Mini.

New

Added a Tone Generator with adjustable level

Added ‘Show Audio Off Warnings’ toggle in System Menu page 2. When the toggle is off, the Astral ARX16 does not show warnings that audio will stop when switching Tuning Bands and when switching to Scan mode.

Added transmitter mute status to the 4RX, 8RX and All Views

​Added combined Rec/Mute icon (blue circle with red border) in the 4RX, 8RX and All Views and Web App overview screen to indicate when a transmitter is simultaneously recording and muted.

Changes

Added Polarity confirmation popup to prevent accidental polarity changes in 1RX view.

Web app Audio and Q meters moved to mimic their position in the Astral ARX16 OLED screens.

Audio metering range for Astral Mini received audio signal changed to –100 to 0 dBFS to better scale to the wide dynamic range of GainForward.

Fixed

Faster communication with the Wisycom LFA smart antenna.

When set to ‘Never’, the Screensaver no longer comes on after several hours.

Various ARX16 and Web app improvements

Received audio signal from an A10-TX in LR mode is now at the correct level.

A10-TX audio metering level is now displayed correctly.

Sound Devices Astral ARX16 v1.30 Firmware Released: April 12, 2023

Important: After installing the firmware, it is essential that Astral Minis are unpaired, then re-paired with the Astral ARX16.

Note: To ensure best performance, always run the latest version of Astral ARX16 with the latest version of Astral Mini.

New

Added Scan capability to the Web App RTSA view.

Ability to define the AutoAssign Start/Stop range within the tuning band.

Added 60 Hz option to the HPF. HPF not available when using the A20-QuickDock

Changed

Added RF On/Off toggle to the Set Frequency popup so that the RX channel can be turned off to save power while keeping the last frequency setting.

Added the ability to edit a Nexlinked transmitter’s name when the TX is powered off.

Added ‘Are You S