Audio may not always grab headlines, but at IBC 2026, the tools for capturing, mixing, and monitoring sound are evolving rapidly — driven by remote production demands, AI assistance, and the need for broadcast-grade quality in smaller packages.
Calrec’s Type RT: Compact broadcast audio
Audio specialist Calrec is debuting two products in Hall 8. Type RT is a new console range with 6, 12, and 18-motorised faders, while Apex M6 is a compact, cost-effective 1U modular I/O box.
Type RT is a small-format, broadcast-level audio mixer with the inherited architecture of the Argo system and a full broadcast feature set. According to Calrec, it represents the company’s most compact all-in-one digital console.
Henry Goodman, Director of Product Management at Calrec, said: “With the RT, you get the inherited architecture of the Argo system in a package that’s physically smaller. You can use it for a lot of interesting applications — but with the benefit of a full broadcast feature set.”
Designed for audio interfacing, routing, bridging, and network edge connectivity, Apex M6 supports a range of I/O cards including ST 2110-30, AES67, Dante, and MADI.
Shure’s Wavetool 4: 192 channels with instant replay
Shure released Wavetool 4, the latest version of its audio monitoring software. The platform brings audio monitoring, replay, and team communication together in one shared workspace.
The most significant addition is Global Instant Replay, which lets users rewind and review activity across the entire system with up to 30 minutes of history. Instead of guessing what caused an intermittent problem, engineers can revisit the exact moment and confirm the root cause.
Wavetool 4 supports up to 192 channels and eight simultaneous users, making it suitable for large, complex productions. A redesigned interface allows teams to customise their workspace, while collaboration tools including chat, image sharing, and voice notes help keep everyone aligned during fast-moving events.
Jutel’s ClipperAI: Speech separation for radio
New audio processing capabilities are on show for Jutel’s ClipperAI platform, targeting radio production workflows from field recording to playout.
ClipperAI supports recording on iOS and Android devices, with basic mobile editing and direct transfer to playout systems or browser-based post production via ClipperAI Multitrack.
AI speaker separation automatically isolates individual speakers onto separate tracks for easier level balancing and editing of multi-speaker recordings. An AI noise reduction feature improves speech clarity for recordings captured in noisy environments such as outdoor interviews and location reporting.
ClipperAI also includes a broader set of audio-processing tools, including loudness normalisation, EQ, compression, delay, and voice anonymisation, available through simplified presets aimed at journalists and producers working without specialist audio engineering support.
Vanco’s FreeSpeak Cell: 1,000-user wireless intercom
Clear-Com’s new FreeSpeak Cell removes the traditional limit on the number of intercom packs that can be used in a single radio frequency space. The system can host up to 1,000 users on a single network, supporting up to 400 users on a single frame with multiple frames networked together.
The system uses commercially available 5G or 4G networks or private networks as the infrastructure for intercom. “As the demands of broadcast have grown, more people are looking for the ability to have wireless communications so that they can roam more freely around a studio or sporting event,” said Chris Willis, SVP Sales at Clear-Com. “FreeSpeak Cell removes all the constraints around implementing wireless intercom.”
Initially, it works with Clear-Com’s Eclipse matrix, and by the end of 2026 it will also run on Arcadia and Avalon.
Klassifier’s voice AI agents
AI translation specialist Klassifier is demonstrating an enterprise AI voice agent platform designed for broadcasters, media companies, and content providers seeking multilingual voice automation.
The platform combines technologies including ASR, LLMs, RAG, enterprise knowledge retrieval, API-based workflow orchestration, emotion-aware text-to-speech, and voice cloning to deliver low-latency conversational AI that understands context, intent, and user sentiment.
Designed for enterprise environments, it supports cloud, hybrid, and on-prem deployment, allowing organisations to integrate AI voice agents with existing business applications and internal knowledge bases.
“Voice is becoming the next interface between organisations and people,” said CEO Engin Ozer. “Our goal is to make those interactions as natural, multilingual and accessible as human conversation.”
Alogistic’s audio-over-IP transport
swXtch.io also showcased groundSwXtch for audio over IP, carrying lossless native AoIP streams between facilities over standard internet connections without codec hardware. The application transports ST 2110-30 and AES67 in their native formats, with no encode or decode step.
“The audio is already AoIP and the network can carry it, the encode and decode step is cost, latency, and hardware you do not need,” said CEO Brent Yates.
Intinor’s HDR audio passthrough
Intinor’s Direkt series introduced HDR HLG metadata passthrough and NDI advanced configuration. While the primary focus is video, the platform’s support for broadcast-quality discrete audio and video contributions from video conferencing platforms demonstrates the growing convergence of broadcast and conferencing audio.
Deliver.media’s AI music workflows
An AI-powered music workflow platform from deliver.media and US partner MusicMaster covers the music workflow from discovery through to playout. The platform, musiccompanion, breaks information from trusted sources into small, verifiable content units called Molecules. Each Molecule contains a single fact about a song, album, or artist.
The editorial team verifies each one before it goes on air, with its source and verification history retained. Discovery tools identify tracks missing from a station’s library using chart and streaming data, while the platform analyses audio files, enriches song metadata, and generates audio markers for scheduling in MusicMaster.
“We combine the speed of AI with the responsibility of experienced professionals,” said Michael Buholzer, CEO of deliver.media.
I am Luca Berton, AI and Cloud Advisor. I work at the intersection of cloud security, platform engineering, and enterprise AI deployments. Book a consultation.