Burl Audio BAES4

The Burl Audio BAES4 is a 4-channel AES/EBU digital I/O expansion card engineered for the B80 and B16 Mothership modular converter systems. Designed to expand your Mothership's digital routing capabilities, the BAES4 provides four channels of AES/EBU digital inputs and outputs via dedicated XLR connections. It allows hybrid studios, mastering suites, and post-production facilities to seamlessly integrate external digital processors, hardware reverb units, or standalone converters like the Burl B2 Bomber ADC and DAC directly into their Mothership environment.

Equipped with advanced AES IN clock recovery circuitry, the BAES4 can recover and sync the entire Mothership system directly to an incoming AES/EBU digital stream. A front-panel rotary switch allows instantaneous switching of the system clock source between the main motherboard clock (BMB) and AES Input pairs 1/2 or 3/4.

By adding BAES4 daughter cards to a Mothership chassis (up to 10 cards for 40 channels of AES/EBU I/O in a single B80 frame), studios can route digital outboard gear directly without incurring redundant D/A and A/D conversion stages. A rear-panel BNC Word Clock Output provides stable sample-accurate clock distribution to downstream digital hardware locked to the incoming AES signal.

Key Features

• 4-Channel AES/EBU Digital I/O: 4 digital input channels and 4 digital output channels (2 stereo XLR inputs, 2 stereo XLR outputs).

• AES Clock Recovery: Ability to recover and lock the Mothership system to incoming digital AES/EBU streams.

• Front-Panel Clock Selection: Hardware selector knob to toggle system clock source between Motherboard (BMB), AES IN 1/2, or AES IN 3/4.

• Dedicated BNC Word Clock Output: Outputs recovered word clock signal to sync peripheral digital hardware.

• Scalable Architecture: Install up to 10 BAES4 cards in a B80 Mothership for up to 40 channels of AES/EBU digital I/O.

• Full Motherboard Compatibility: Works across all BMB motherboard protocols (BMB1 DigiLink, BMB2 MADI, BMB3 Dante, and BMB4 SoundGrid).

Technical Specifications

• Form Factor: Single-Slot Daughter Card (B80 and B16 Mothership Compatible)

• Channel Capacity: 4 Inputs / 4 Outputs (2x Stereo Inputs, 2x Stereo Outputs)

• Digital Format: AES3 / AES/EBU (110 $\Omega$ Balanced)

• Connectors (Rear Panel):

  • 2x XLR Female (AES/EBU Inputs 1/2 and 3/4)

  • 2x XLR Male (AES/EBU Outputs 1/2 and 3/4)

  • 1x BNC Female (Word Clock Output)

• Clocking Modes: BMB Motherboard Master, AES IN 1/2 Sync, AES IN 3/4 Sync

• Sample Rates: $44.1\text{ kHz}$ to $192\text{ kHz}$

• Origin: Made in the USA