Burl Audio B80 Mothership 3 BMB4 SoundGrid

The Burl B80 Mothership 3 BMB4 SoundGrid is a modular, high-density AD/DA converter designed for professional SoundGrid networked audio environments, offering up to 64 channels of real-time Ethernet-based I/O while preserving Burl’s discrete, transformer-balanced analogue signal path.

Introduction

Burl’s Mothership 3 update transforms the B80 platform into a more powerful and intelligent conversion system, and the BMB4 SoundGrid variant brings seamless integration with Waves SoundGrid networks. This configuration serves high-end studios, broadcast facilities and live sound rigs requiring world-class analogue front-end tone with scalable networked audio routing, ultra-low latency and the flexibility to build complex modular systems.

Channel Capacity and Network Integration

The B80 Mothership 3 BMB4 delivers up to sixty-four channels of audio at 44.1/48 kHz over SoundGrid Ethernet. While the Mothership 3 architecture enables up to sixty-four channels per daughter card slot at base rates, the SoundGrid interface currently supports sixty-four channels total, matching professional SoundGrid network capacity. This architecture suits distributed studio setups, live systems, plugin-server workflows and AoIP-based control rooms that demand uncompromised sound and reliable, real-time network performance.

Automatic I/O Assignment

A new communication protocol inside Mothership 3 enables automatic card detection and I/O mapping. The system identifies each module and assigns channels in sequence from left to right, allowing any combination of BAD and BDA cards in any order without jumpers, DIP switches or slot pairing. The first ADC becomes channel 1 IN and the first DAC becomes channel 1 OUT, dramatically simplifying configuration and making large-system wiring and routing effortless.

SoundGrid Workflow Advantages

The BMB4 motherboard connects directly into Waves SoundGrid networks for real-time audio distribution, high-capacity routing and integration with SoundGrid DSP servers. This allows engineers to combine Burl analogue tone with networked processing, remote I/O racks, mixing consoles and multi-room facilities. It suits studios expanding into AoIP workflows, broadcasters requiring flexible routing and live engineers seeking rack-ready premium conversion in a robust digital ecosystem.

Burl Analogue Design and Modular Flexibility

The Mothership 3 preserves Burl’s discrete, Class-A transformer-coupled circuitry, ensuring the B80 remains a premium analogue centrepiece regardless of network infrastructure. Ten daughter-card slots accommodate any mix of BAD-series ADCs and BDA-series DACs, enabling custom channel counts and future growth. Mothership 3 also prepares for higher-density daughter cards, offering longevity and scalability for large-format analogue-to-SoundGrid conversion systems.

Why Choose the B80 Mothership 3 BMB4 SoundGrid

• Build a powerful SoundGrid-based studio or live network with premium analogue conversion

• Place ADC and DAC cards in any slot and let the chassis handle channel mapping automatically

• Remove configuration risk and eliminate jumper-based setup completely

• Expand to sixty-four channels for broadcast, touring or multi-room routing needs

• Combine Burl’s transformer-rich sound with lightning-fast SoundGrid processing and distribution

• Invest in a future-ready modular system designed to grow as I/O demands scale

• Up to 64 channels via Waves SoundGrid Ethernet
• Mothership 3 system supports up to 64 channels per slot at base rates
• Automatic card recognition and channel assignment
• ADC and DAC cards allowed in any slot order
• No jumper settings or manual slot configurations
• Ten-slot B80 modular chassis
• Compatible with BAD and BDA daughter card family
• Low-latency SoundGrid AoIP platform integration
• Discrete Class-A, transformer-coupled analogue design
• Future-ready Mothership 3 expansion architecture

This item, like everything we supply, comes with the complete support of our expert team. Our excellent technicians have been specifying, building and supporting studios for over twenty years. If you have any problems with installation, setup or everyday use, they’re never more than a click away, and always happy to help.

You can contact them here.