Back in February 2020 we ran a giveaway with Audinate to win some of their versatile and super-useful AVIO Dante adapters. These little inline Dante adapters come in six different flavours: Analog in and out in stereo and mono versions, AES3 and USB. While the COVID 19 outbreak caused some delay to the process, we can announce that the winner is Gerdo Nieuwenhuizen from the Netherlands:

As a pre-10 ager I was playing with my dad’s tape machines. As a teenager I bought my own tape machine, mixer and 2 omni mics to do nature, rain and thunder recordings, as well as church organ and choir recordings. When I turned 16 I started recording bands with hired gear at first and later bought my own 16x8x2 subgroup mixer and 8 track tape machine. In 1992 I bought my building and started building a large recording room and control room. In 1994 I bought 3 ADAT Blackface recorders and was using a large format DAYNER mixer. Several years later I added more digital equipment and recording interfaces and computers. At the same time I was doing all kinds of audio work like PA mixing live bands, TV shows, conferences and congresses, 16mm film sound, etc, etc.

There was a lot of music going on in the studio up to a couple of years ago when all the recording stuff got cheaper. Work in the studio went down. In November 2018 I got into a burnout situation that lasted somewhat over a year. When I was sort of recovered and promised myself to do only the work I enjoyed and needed more Dante knowledge and gear I entered your competition and directly after that Corona time!!! No more work but new gear to check out thanks to you and my investment in a new digital board. The adapters will improve the sound quality of my EMT140st Plate Reverb.

Now there are some poor quality long XLR cables running from the board to the plate and back, the plate sits in the hallway next to the control room but it is still a long cable run. And secondly, I hope to start using the AVIO adapters in live situations to insert audio into DANTE systems or do recordings with them.

Congratulations Gerdo. That’s a lovely plate!