Report by Mike Rivers
New York, September 24-26 1999
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Any gear slut in the industry alive on September 24 probably knows by now that the talk of the show was the hard disk recorders introduced by TASCAM and Mackie, but that’s not all, folks (not even from those two companies). Surround sound is thriving, at least in the minds and production lines of the equipment manufacturers, and, yes (sigh!), there are still new mics, preamps, and front end processors being introduced following last year’s rush. Here’s the scoop, as I saw it. URLs are included for your convenience. Some info may get moved from the “hot news” sections where they were when I looked them up, and some information wasn’t posted on the manufacturer’s web site at the time I wrote this. Hard Disk Recording There’s no doubt that this is the age and the rage. I’m not ready to seal the fate of tape yet, but its major advantages of transportability and off-line storage are being eroded as the price per track-minute of disk drive storage drops, even with increasing word length, below that of 2” tape. Once we solve the problem of identifying a disk drive and playing out its audio 50 years after it’s been recorded, we’ll be there. But for those living for great functionality today, multitrack hard disk recording is well within the realm of the small studio. In estimated order of appearance on the shelf, here’s the dope on this show’s hot items. For a few years now, TASCAM has had a joint venture with TimeLine, a long time maker of synchronization products primarily for the video and film post industry. The MMR-8 and -16 disk recorders for film sound dubbing introduced two years ago was the toe in the water and now the two companies are firmly joined in a long term product development partnership. Products coming from this alliance will bear the TASCAM by TimeLine brand name rather than a single name. And first out of this box we have the MX-2424, a 24-bit 24 track recorder with a non-accessorized price of $3995. That gets you all the functionality of a 24-track recorder with the types of added capability that we’ve become accustomed to with digital recording - random access for instant operation, clipboard-based cut-and-paste editing, up to 100 levels of un-do (can you remember what you did 99 takes ago?), chase lock sync to either SMPTE linear time code or MIDI time code, a jog wheel for locating and data entry, and, best of all, a user interface that looks just about like a “real” recorder. Although similar in concept to the “dubber” style recorders in the TASCAM line, this one is designed to be operated by musicians rather than film editors, so its controls and functions are labeled accordingly. If you know how to operate any multitrack recorder, you should be able to start working with this one immediately, learning the tricks and features as you need them. To me, that’s the way to break into a new technology. The recorder comes with an internal 9 GB hard drive which, If you put all channels into Record and let it run, would hold roughly 45 minutes of 24-bit 44.1 kHz audio. With the typical track density of a music recording, you’ll probably come close to doubling that project time in real life. There’s a front-accessible SCSI port for a drive on a slide-in carrier that allows you to have removable storage for backup or to put a project-in-progress on the shelf for a while. The external port can address a conventional hard drive or a DVD-RAM drive. The MX-2424 has the ability to write WAV or Sound Designer files to disk, so you can record at home and bring your tracks to a ProTools studio or transfer them to other DAWs for further massaging and processing. Basic I/O is a pair of AES/EBU connectors. That’ll let you lay tracks with an outboard set of converters, then take your tracks to another, but that’s bound not to be sufficient for most users. Optional I/O plug-ins are 24 channels of TDIF, 24 channels of ADAT Lightpipe, or 24 channels of 24-bit analog. You can install one digital I/O option plus the analog option. While TASCAM doesn’t use the conventional term “virtual tracks”, you can punch-in in one of two modes. In the destructive mode, it’s just like analog tape - the new part replaces the old part, and the old part is in the bit bucket never to be played again. In the non-destructive mode, the new part is saved as a new file (as is the old part) so you can work with alternate takes and edit between them. Unlike other track structures where you have a set number of virtual tracks below a single physical track, this one lets you work up to the limit of your available disk space. It’s really the same sort of capability as other hard disk recorders provide, just a different way of looking at it, without a specific limit to the number of virtual tracks. I think. The explanation was pretty quick, but that’s how I interpret it. If a specific count is vital to you, check with TASCAM on the latest operating system capabilities. What’s a software-based piece of hardware without software updates? The MX-2424 has an Ethernet port to connect to another computer for loading new software. There’s also a slot to accommodate loading from a SmartMedia card like the ones used by some digital cameras. A promised-real-soon upgrade is the ability to operate it in a 12-track 96 kHz mode. Accessories include a full function multi-machine remote controller and a Java-based software program for both the Mac and PC which will open up new graphical editing features as well as remote control. This looks like a very cool box. Don’t get fooled into thinking that you’ll have a complete 24-track digital recorder for the basic price though. You’ll want to accessorize it depending on other equipment that you’ll be using with it and the kind of projects that you do, and I suspect that you’ll end up with a street price of around $4500 by the time you’re happy. That’s still a great price for the capability, though. Across the way, Mackie introduced their new HDR24/96, a similarly-featured hard disk recorder. It’s also 24 tracks, 24-bit 44.1/48 kHz system with the planned capability of operating at 96 kHz sampling rate with 12 tracks. The basic features are all you’d expect, essentially identical to the TASCAM MX-2424. Like the TASCAM, I/O is through your choice of optional plug-in cards. The HDR24/96 can certainly stand on its own, but it’s clear that Mackie intends for it to be a companion to their d8B digital console, combining the two to make a powerful integrated workstation. It uses the same I/O cards as the d8B console, and three cards (8 channels per card) can be accommodated. One place where the two recorders diverge in philosophy is in external control and editing expansion. While the TASCAM requires the use of an outboard computer and software, the Mackie HDR24/96 has the processor and software built in, requiring only a keyboard, mouse, and SVGA monitor to add the functionality of drag-and drop track editing, waveform editing, and access to the eight virtual tracks associated with each physical track. This might be a duplication of function to those already working in a computer workstation environment, but will be a revelation to those new to non-linear recording. The interface looks very clean and there’s little that isn’t obvious or that doesn’t work in the obvious and intuitive way. The on-screen display provides a full set of transport controls and metering, too. And since all it takes is a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, there’s no fan or disk drive noise associated with the display. While it was impossible on the show floor to get a sense for how noise the recorder actually is, it does have a fan and at least one disk drive. If it whines disturbingly (a problem that DAW users often don’t recognize until they find that they’ve recorded their computer’s motors), you can move it to another room or stuff it in a corner, leaving just the silent monitor where you want things quiet. Good thinking. Diskwise, the HRD24/96 uses the less inexpensive IDE drives locally, with a 20 GB internal drive provided as standard equipment, and a front-accessible slide-in drive bay for use with outboard IDE drives. A SCSI port is provided on the rear for things that won’t fit in the IDE cage. A 3.5” floppy drive takes software updates (so does the rear-panel Ethernet port) as well as MIDI tempo maps imported from an external sequencer. There’s a large LED time code display as well as a more detailed LCD information panel (for things like selecting I/O and data format) with scrolling keys and four “soft” buttons which select the function displayed above them. Transport controls are completely conventional including auto-input monitor switching, all-input, all-repro, and all-safe (keeps from overwriting any channel even if you push the wrong button). In keeping with its analog recorder image, there’s a “rehearse” function which switches from repro to input monitor and back to rehearse a punch-in without actually recording, though with all those virtual tracks and more layers of undo than you can remember, I don’t quite see the point - unless you’re painfully short of disk space, you might as well record a rehearsal. It might be the best take you get. http://www.mackie.com/AES/HDR2496.html It’s inevitable that these new Mackie and TASCAM offerings will be compared, contrasted, and picked apart, but they both seem to be good approaches. TASCAM says theirs will be ready in January, Mackie says “early next year” at a price “below $5000”, so I suspect they have a bit further to go with development yet. Also, with both you’ll need to spend some more money to get all the I/O you’d like to have. (remember when cars didn’t come standard with radio and heater?) It’s going to be nice to have products like this accessible on the project studio budget, and it’s even nicer to have a choice. Good luck, guys. Not to left behind in the 24-track glitz, Roland introduced another unit in their Virtual Studio series The VSR-880 is, as the designation hints, a rack mounted version of the popular VS-880 8-track integrated recorder/mixer/workstation. I/O is similar to the VS-880 tabletop workstation, with 8 pairs of RCA jacks for line inputs and outputs on the rear, plus 1/4” mic and line level inputs on the front. A/D and D/A converters have been updated from the VS-880 and are now running at 24-bit resolution. On the digital I/O side, the VSR-880 incorporates Roland’s R-Bus which they introduced on their line of digital mixers. It connects directly to an R-Bus mixer, or to an outboard R-Bus adapter for TDIF or ADAT Lightpipe interface. While the VS0 880 mixer is still in the software, the faders are gone, and we’re left with a straightforward 2-rack-space recorder with fairly conventional controls. Mixing can be controlled by MIDI commands. Though Roland anticipates that this recorder will be used with an outboard mixer, there’s a slot for the COSM effects processor card that goes with the 1680 workstation so that effects can be added on-board if desired. There’s a front panel accessible bay for a removable IDE hard drive, as well as a SCSI port for an external SCSI storage drive or CD recorder. A new addition to the operating system makes creation of a CD direct from a mix on the VSR-880 a more direct process than on the VS-880, allowing creation of the CD image file from which a CD is recorded to be generated in the background while mixing, rather than having to do it as a separate operation. http://www.rolandus.com/PRODUCTS/NEWPRODS2.HTM Tape Is Not Dead We’ve all been waiting patiently for TASCAM to upgrade the DA- series modular digital multitrack tape decks to more than 16 bits, and this is the year. The DA-78HR is a 24-bit reworking of the DA-38, providing much more for about the same price. Unlike their DA-45 24-bit DAT which works by doubling the tape speed, the DA-78 runs at the same speed as the 16-bit version, so the 108 minute recording time per tape is retained. The format was reworked but there’s no compression. The DA-78 will play and record standard 16-bit DA-38/88/98 tapes as well as the new 24-bit 44.1/48 kHz format. In addition to 24-bit resolution, the DA-78HR now includes MIDI time code and SMPTE synch, plus word clock sync, formerly available only with options on all but the DA-98. It also incorporates a basic MIDI-controlled mixer with level and panning controls for on-board track bouncing. If you’re short on track space and confident of your bounce mix, the 78 reads before writing, so you can actually bounce tracks on top of existing tracks (which of course get replaced by the bounce). As well as the traditional analog and TDIF I/O, there’s also a S/PDIF output assignable to the mixer’s stereo output, so you can bounce or rough mix digitally to a DAT or CD-R. The price? $2995, same as a DA-38, shipping in October. And, in case you’re wondering, yes, the DA-38 will eventually go away. On the top end of the scale, TASCAM also announced the DA-98HR, a 24-bit update to the DA-98, their heavy duty 8-track MDM that’s a standard in the video and post field. All the built-in sync features of the DA-98 are retained, plus a stereo S/PDIF output has been added. It’ll be ready in March. Euphonix has updated their R-1 24-track hard disk recorder to Version 2, which now adds 96 kHz sampling rate. Since 48-track recording is pretty popular, they now have a new remote controller for the system which controls and displays status for two machines. Other Recording Thingies While most project studio people scoff at anyone who doesn’t use his computer and an inexpensive CD-R drive to create audio CD’s, the rest of the world is enjoying the multitude of stand-alone CD recorders available today. Yamaha pioneered this product line (their initial entry was a $20,000 unit about seven years ago), and their newest is the CDR-1000. It’s a marvel of versatility, able to burn a CD from virtually any source. Internal sample rate conversion allows digital inputs from 48 kHz down to 29.76 kHz, and if you’re within 150 ppm of 44.1 kHz, it politely steps out of the way. It accepts an external word clock for use in a larger system. Recording from a 24-bit source? Apogee UV-22 encoding, considered by many to be the most graceful way of shortening data to the required 16 bits, is incorporated. The input is buffered so that you won’t undercut the start of a track. Analog I/O is on balanced XLR connectors, switchable between +4 dBu and -10 dBV levels. While not an erase-and rewrite unit, it’s compatible with both CD-R and CD-RW blanks. http://www.yamaha.com/proaudio Stage Tech has been making a CD error checker for a couple of years now, but new this year is a verifier for Exabyte tapes used in CD pre-mastering. Not only does it allow checking of the tape for errors and logging them, but it also allows playing audio directly from an Exabyte tape through any Windows-compatible sound card when used with a PC software program supplied with the unit. If you’ve been the path of 96 kHz sampling rate, you probably already know that there are two ways of shipping it around, on two AES/EBU connectors at the standard (48 kHz) rate or a single connector at non-standard double sampling rate. The Gambit Hydra from Weiss Engineering has two AES/EBU inputs and two AES/EBU outputs and converts back and forth between single and double connector formats. It also serves as a splitter for one source to two outputs, either format. Eventually the format will be standardized and the need for a gadget like this will go away, but for those on the bleeding edge, it’s nice to know that it’s available to hook two pieces of equipment together. http://www.weiss.ch/gambit/hydra/hydra.htm Another TASCAM by TimeLine Product is the TL-Sync, a super sync box which integrates the synchronization of TASCAM DTRS sync, ADAT sync, SMPTE linear time code, MTC, Sony 9-pin serial, TimeLine’s Lynx bus, and MIDI machine control. It also has the ability to generate word clock sync both at native (44.1/48 kHz) frequency and multiples up to 256x Superclock. It’s a real Swiss Army knife for tying multiple devices together and keeping them locked. Consoles On the high end of the scale, this was the first showing of the new Euphonix System 5 digital console. It’s a two-box system with a control surface (the part that looks like a console) and the digital Core, a separate rack for the audio and processing. Like the Mackie only bigger, it’s designed to work in conjunction with thier R1 multitrack hard disk recorder as an integrated workstation system. Digital interfaces are MADI, and for those analog inputs and outputs, it shares the same converter modules as the R-1. This is an SSL-class-studio console, not yet a hot ticket item for the project studio, configurable from 52 to over 200 inputs, and up to 48 busses, depending on how many modules of digital core are installed. Your intrepid reporter moans about digital consoles that are shy on knobs. This one has enough! Mackie now has Version 3 of their d8B digital console which offers such enhancements as a 48-channel (all the faders) fader view on an outboard monitor, routing to sidechain inputs on the internal dynamics processors, and a parametric equalizer insertable in the sidechain for frequency dependent processing such as de-essing, and enhanced MIDI commands. There’s also a new plug-in card, the UFX, which provides four channels per card (up to 4 cards can be installed in the mixer) of DSP to power third party effects. New effects partners that this card supports are t. c. electronic (reverbs from the M2000), a Massenberg parametric equalizer, Antares Autotune pitch corrector, and a Drawmer-designed dynamics processor. Although you have to keep spending money, this is a realization of the promised expandability of a software-based console. http://www.mackie.com/AES/Vers3.html Yamaha introduced a new line of digital consoles with a common control surface and digital processing racks configurable for recording or live sound applications. The PM1D is a live sound reinforcement version designed to take over when the users of the popular PM4000 want to take advantage of digital mixing and preset capability. Roadies will appreciate the reduced weight and fixed system installers will appreciate the simpler cabling between stage (where the audio modules can be stashed) and house (where the control surface belongs). Not exactly a console, but the Yamaha DME32 digital mixing engine provides pre-programmed mixing and effects processing for fixed-use systems such as found in churches, multimedia displays, and corporate boardrooms. Once programmed for specific setups recallable from a built-in keypad, it becomes a hands-off, nearly idiot-proof system to perform dedicated tasks. This isn’t a studio product (compare it to the Peavy Mediamatrix), but Yamaha has a way of applying technology developed in one product to another. Can you see a studio console coming out of this? I can. http://www.yamaha.com/proaudio Several Spirit 328 small format digital consoles have found their way into live sound applications due to their compact size, light weight, ease of use, and ability to store and recall presets easily. The Spirit folks have reworked the software to better suit this application and created the 324. Almost indistinguishable at a glance from the 328 (you’d better be sure you walk out of the shop with the right one!), the 324 features the same 16 analog inputs. There’s a pair of TDIF I/O connectors for adding two more 8-channel mic/line input expanders. They’re also available to feed tape decks from the direct or bus outputs. While like it’s mate the 328, the 324 incorporates two Lexicon-designed effect processors, four auxiliary send busses per channel are available for external effects. There are four busses which can be used as subgroups, and four matrix outputs which are mixes of the four subs, the two main L/R outputs, and a mono bus. The set of tape machine control buttons of the 328 have been re-labeled and reworked so that they now step through snapshot scenes so that presets can be selected quickly without having to go to a menu or be switched by MIDI commands. Good thinking, folks! http://www.spiritbysoundcraft.com/products/products/324_frameset.html What started life as a custom mixer, the Manley 16/2 Tube Mixer is now available as a standard product. It’s a simple mixer, 16 inputs to stereo output, no EQ, no Aux sends and returns, just 16 channels of clean gain spanning mic to line levels, a pan pot, and a level control. This is a blend of solid state (input) and tube (bus output) technology designed to provide some extra inputs direct to track, or to mix your $30,000 collection of keyboards. While this is a no-frills mixer, the hooks have been built in to add a “sidecar” EQ if there’s a demand. Like all Manley gear, it’s quality first. http://www.manleylabs.com/whatsnew99.html#16/2 In a similar vein, Cranesong showed their new Spider, a basic 8-channel stereo mixer for mic or line levels. The preamp is derived from their Flamingo, with a limiter, a meter, and the “Fat” switch on each channel. There’s an analog output available as well as S/DIF stereo and TDIF direct digital outputs with 24-bit A/D converters and sample rate from 44.1 to 96 kHz, or to follow an external word clock. A DSP analog tape simulator is offered, as well as selectable output word length from 15 to 24 bits. Dithering is with a new noise shape that’s based on the Fletcher-Munson loudness curves, said to produce a very “analog-like” sound. http://www.cranesong.com/contest.html Apogee introduced A/D and D/A converter cards to upgrade the performance of the Yamaha digital consoles. The cards are of the MY format used in the 01V, but are supplied with extenders to allow them to work in the 03D and 02R’s YGDAI slots. Unlike the Yamaha cards which occupy two slots, the Apogee cards require only a single slot, leaving room for additional expansion in the 02R. These cards use the same technology as the AD-8000 converters and have the soft-limit feature, selectable on a per-channel basis. http://www.apogeedigital.com/yamaha.html Two project studio sized digital consoles previously announced (and reported on) but now shipping are the Roland 7000 V-Mixing system and the TASCAM TM-D4000. Preamps and Processors The great wave of mic preamps and front end processors has passed, but there are still a few coming along from the well established manufacturers. First on hand is the Aphex Thermionics Model 1100, a dual channel mic preamp with a solid state front end and, as its name implies, a couple of tube stages following. In addition to conventional analog output, it also features a built-on 24-bit A/D converter providing AES/EBU output with up to 96 kHz sampling rate. There’s a switchable limiter on each channel, and a built in test tone generator for level calibration. Gain isn’t continuously adjustable, but has 4 dB steps from 21 to 65 dB with a 20 dB pad. Both continuously adjustable gain and fixed steps have their fans, and for those who want finer adjustment, the output level control is a three-turn screwdriver adjustable (but front accessible) pot. There’s a stepped low-cut filter ranging from 30 to 195 Hz. Aphex is the first manufacturer I’ve run across who state in their literature that the output is impedance balanced, meaning it’s balanced, but not differential. That makes a difference when interfacing to certain equipment and it’s a credit to them that they acknowledge this issue. If you’re the sort who buys equipment on spec, you might be disappointed with the numbers, for example: Analog dynamic range 97 to 101 dB depending on gain setting, Analog signal-to-noise ratio 76 dB typical referenced to +4 dBu. Very honest, but not whiz-bang-looking. It’ll be interesting to see how this one works out in practice. http://www.aphex.com/press/pressarchive/19990924-1100/1100Spec.pdf The new API 7600 is a single rack space package of their 212L mic preamp, 550A stepped frequency equalizer, and 225L compressor, all components of the Legacy console. If you love the API sound as many do, this is a good introduction for a single track, or as many as you want to add to your system. While it has applications in the project or broadcast studio for a single channel, API also has in mind that one might want to build a “sidecar” with several 7600’s to use together with another console. It’s available in the conventional horizontal mounting, or for a “console in a rack”, in a vertical configuration - the same panel with the legends rotated 90 degrees. Coming along to accompany this configuration is the Model 7800, a master module in a rack panel which includes a summing bus, solo, talkback, and metering functions. With that, you can build up a high quality small console that can expand to fit your needs. http://www.apiaudio.com/7600.htm http://www.apiaudio.com/7800.htm Manley Laboratories showed what I call the poor man’s VoxBox, the Langevin Dual Vocal Combo. This all solid state box combines two channels of transformer input mic preamp, low and high frequency shelving equalizer, and electro-optical compressor/limiter. The preamp and EQ are descended from the Langevin AM-4, perhaps the first of the “channel strips”. The compressor is a solid state version similar to that used on the VoxBox. An extra bonus is a pair of front panel mounted high impedance instrument inputs. http://www.manleylabs.com/whatsnew99.html#dvc Millenia Media’s STT-1 Origin, first displayed at July’s NAMM show is now in production and we should be getting our mitts on it within the next couple of months. Normally I don’t mention the same product in two sequential show reports, but this one is just so beautiful I had to say something. Well . . . OK, Dan Kennedy’s chocolate was good enough to remind you that while there’s nothing new yet from Great River Electronics, their mic preamps are still a good buy if you want clean, quiet gain and prefer to get your anomalies (some call it “warmth”) from other sources than the mic preamp. (see, I CAN be bought) http://www.mil-media.com/origin.html http://www.greatriverelectronics.com/audio.html The classic UREI 1176 and LA-2 compressor/limiters have been creeping up in price as the lust for vintage equipment grows. People are home building their own copies, and the Purple Audio MC76 has become a well respected commercial re-creation of one of the flavors of the 1176. Well, if someone’s going to start making them again, why now someone with close ties with the original manufacturer? Bill Putnam, son of M. T. “Bill” Putnam, the founder of Universal Audio in the 1960’s, has brought the company back into the manufacturing business, introducing new versions of the classic equipment, completely true to the originals in design and performance. The manufacturing drawings and lab notes are still in the family and have been used in the construction of the 1999 versions of the 1176LN and LA-2A. Each unit is hand built, and while modern resistors and capacitors are used to provide the stability that we expect today, the components that really determine the sonic character have been faithfully reproduced. The output transformers were the most difficult part, but armed with design notes and test data, they were able to get a contemporary manufacturer to duplicate the original performance accurately. Price? About the same as you’d pay on the vintage market, but you get a new unit that doesn’t need repair or recapping, and know that it’s built right. There’s a new class of equipment that’s emerged recently (or rather, a new term for an old class), the “bus compressor”. This is a stereo compressor that isn’t really tailored for compressing a single track in a multitrack project (though there’s no reason you can’t use it in that application), but is intended to compress a stereo mix, usually associated with the mastering process. A couple of new entries on the scene are from API and Pendulum. The API 2500 stereo bus compressor is a new design, not a repackaged standard API console compressor. It features RMS detection with the twist of “Thrust”. This is a high pass filter in the detector circuit, a technique borrowed from API’s new parent company, ATI, and used in the Paragon consoles. It adds low end punch, and of course can be switched in or out. The compressor offers a choice of feed-back compression control such as used in the API 525 and UREI 1176 designs, or feed-forward compression such as used in more modern compressors (dbx, SSL). Combine this choice with a choice of hard or soft knee onset-of-compression characteristic and you should be able to get a pretty wide range of sounds out of it. Unlike a conventional stereo link which uses either a single channel or the sum of both channel detector inputs to control both channels, the 2500 has a variable amount of stereo coupling, plus a switchable high pass filter to reduce cross-coupling of low frequency peaks. It features API’s automatic gain makeup, so that the amount of compression is adjusted by adjusting the threshold or ratio without affecting the output level. There’s a trim control on the output of the left channel to compensate for imbalances that might crop up when compressing with the channels loosely coupled for stereo. There are some good ideas here, from a designer who knows his compression and rock-and-roll. http://www.apiaudio.com/2252.htm The Pendulum Audio OCL-2 is another new stereo bus compressor. Tube-based, with a photo-optical gain control element with soft knee characteristic and feed-back design, it has all the usual controls and expected characteristics. Pendulum is perhaps better known over on the MI side of the house for their high quality direct boxes and instrument preamps, but they’re bringing their designs over to the studio side. Looks nice, sounds pretty clean and effective. Lexicon introduced a new middle-of-the-line effect processor, the MPX-500. It uses the same Lexichip as the PCM-91, 24-bit A/D and D/A converters, S/PDIF in and out, and the as-expected Lexicon sound and wide range of effects and control. At $600, it sits between the low end but still very nice MPX-100 and the full blown PCM-81/91. t.c. electronic previewed two new processors. The D-Two is a multi-tap delay based on their now classic TC-2290. It has a tap button which will not only establish delay based on a fixed tempo, but also based on a tapped-in rhythm pattern. The M-One is a dual effects processor with the clean user interface typical of t.c. and effects based (as far as I can tell - details are a little sketchy) on several of their stomp boxes, but with 24-bit resolution. Both units feature both analog and digital (S/PDIF coax) I/O. The Drawmer 1960 mic preamp and compressor combination has been around for a while. I didn’t think there was anything new with the one I saw on the stand at the show so I slipped by it, but Fletcher of Mercenary Audio pointed out that what was on display was the special Mercenary model of the 1960, a variation that he had a hand in designing after liking it enough to wish for some modifications. The meters and panel layout is the same as the stock 1960, but there are some significant differences. Here’s Fletcher’s blow-by-blow description of the 1960 Mercenary Edition: The mic preamps are based upon a Burr Brown op-amp. We added a polarity reverse switch...something previously not included in the original 1960. The preamp stage is followed by a J-Fet based compressor. The attack and release times are based on the 6 settings found on the infamous Fairchild 670, with a couple of twists. Unlike a single response time switch on the Fairchild, the attack and release time switches are separate, allowing greater flexibility and better sonic tailoring. Second, the design started with the same time constants as used in the 670, but were tweaked by ear then measured to insure a very musical response. With the 'Stereo Link' switch engaged, the compressor ties to true stereo, meaning that a single set of controls covers both channels. This insures superior tracking and identical setup between the two channels for stereo operation. Finally, a 12AX7 gain makeup amplifier rounds out the picture...netting the user the size and balls one would expect from a Mercenary Audio product. http://www.transaudiogroup.com Digital modeling of analog functions based on impulse response isn’t a new concept. A while back, Sonic Foundry introduced the Acoustic Mirror program which allowed users to replicate acoustic spaces and processors (including analog tape recording) by building signature files from a recorded sample of the response to an excitation pulse. The process was carried into dedicated hardware with the Sony DRE-777 sampling based reverb unit (which, by the way, this year has some new models of concert halls available), an extremely realistic sounding though high ticket reverb. Now, a new, and admittedly high ticket process comes to us from Sintefex Audio in Portugal. Principal designer Mike Kemp, who was one of the original designers on the SADiE team, has packaged software and SHARC processing to produce the FX8000 Replicator. The concept behind this product is that there is now enough processing horsepower available to accurately model the response of almost any signal processor, given enough well recorded samples. The process involves creating several hundred samples, changing a control by a small increment for each sample. It’s a bit like sampling every key on a piano at numerous attack velocities to build a very accurate sampled piano. Anyhow, with patience, he’s sampled, for starters, a couple of classic equalizers and reverbs, and has presented them on a built-in display with their controls as originally labeled. Even the knobs look old-timey. The concept here is that a producer or engineer who normally carries a rack full of classic EQs and compressors to use on a session can now carry this one box and have a model of each one. That doesn’t help, of course, if you want to use them all simultaneously, but it does make the characteristics of several different units easy to carry around. As the computer processing gets faster and cheaper, we can expect to see this technique being applied to more equipment, and I expect it will be finding its way into the hands of those further down the food chain. Mics and Speakers The flood of inexpensive “U87-like” condenser mics seems to be receding, with only Marshall Electronics’ new entries catching my eye at the show. Marshall is best known as a major distributor of Mogami cable. This is a fairly new venture for them, though they have some “contractor” type mics - podium mounted, gooseneck, boundary, and the like, companions for their line of tiny CCD video cameras. Like others, they’re distributing another version of a Chinese-built mic, and like others, are adding their own brand, packaging, and quality control. There’re two mics in the current line, the MXL2001-P and MXL2003, with the 2001 being the budget mic of the pair, though both are below $300, perhaps a new low for this type of mic. The 2001 has a 6 micron gold-sputtered diaphragm, transformer output, and comes with a screw-on mic stand adapter, with a shock mount available as an option. The 2003 has a 3 micron diaphragm, switches for low-cut and 10 dB attenuation, has a little bump in the lowest octave where the 2001 rolls off a bit, and the shock mount is included. I think the 2003 is the better buy between the two, though I couldn’t hear much difference between them on the show floor. Marshall also displayed a couple of other yet unnamed mics with those capsules mounted in more classic round bodies with different grill shapes. They’ll probably be available later in the year, offering a slightly different sound for the same ballpark price. These Marshall mics came to my attention at the show when I ran into a friend who’s the chief of audio production for a major TV network. He mentioned that he bought half a dozen of the 2003’s for a trial run and found that they were quite useful. He’s using some in his voice-over booths, and was pleased with their sound in the studio when he was cutting some orchestral string tracks. At the price, he considers them “disposable mics”, good enough to use, but cheap enough not to worry if one gets damaged or stolen. An interesting concept. Like the sound of a large diaphragm condenser on kick drum but reluctant to use your prized vocal mic? Put one of these Marshalls on it and if your drummer rips the diaphragm to shreds with a lead foot, it’s only a couple of hundred bucks and it sounded great while it lasted. http://www.mars-cam.com/mxl/mxl2001.html http://www.mars-cam.com/mxl/mxl2003.html Last year, Wes Dooley of Audio Engineering Associates (AEA) introduced me to his remake of the classic RCA 44 ribbon mic, the R44C. Wes loves and restores those old mics and, seeing the increasing interest and demand, now has added the R44CX, a version with 6 dB higher output, to the stable. It’s faithful to the original design and construction but the higher output brings the system noise level down to “digital-quiet” levels. I may have said this before, but if you’re attending a show where AEA is exhibiting, don’t pass up an opportunity to chat with Wes. He has a wealth of knowledge under his belt when it comes to recording in traditional ways and is always willing to share tales and technical information. http://www.wesdooley.com/news/AESpr91799.html Neumann is attempting to grab a portion of the high end vocal performance market with their new KMS-105 cardioid hand held stage vocal mic. It has a full range, smooth frequency response (so you don’t have to EQ out the 58 “bump”), as well as excellent off axis and distant response, so that any leakage that does come through will at least sound good. Handling noise is reduced with a new suspension system and some diaphragm tensioning trickery, and breath noises are tamed fairly well with its built-in windscreen. It’s hard to unseat the SM-58. Many experienced performers just aren’t happy walking up to anything else, but at least Neumann has a confidence-building reputation that should get it a fair trial. While at $595 it won’t obsolete all the SM-58’s, nearly every live sound engineer has wished that his talent was singing into something else, and I suspect that as budgets allow, you’ll start seeing more of these. Watch your TV and next Spring’s live shows to see if it catches on. Incidentally, if you heard it at the show early on, you may have been underwhelmed. The mic on display apparently had a problem. It was running on all eight cylinders by mid-day Saturday after someone came in from the lab and replaced a component. It was cool that he was able to do that right on the show floor. http://www.neumannusa.com/105.htm Microtech Gefell GmbH has consistently offered good value, and three new entries in their M-900 series should continue that tradition. The M-930mt and M-940mt are cardioid and hypercardioid variations of the same basic mic. These are compact side-address mics with a slight high-presence rise in the 7-12 kHz range and list for $800 each. Also new this show is the M-990, a cardioid mic with a tube preamp and carrying similar specs as the 930 and 940 with exception that it’s about 6 dB noisier - but you don’t buy tube mics because they’re quiet, you buy them because they’re warm. $1,700 will get you one. Microtech Gefell showed another mic that’s not going to be an instant hit because of it’s price (about $7,000), but is interesting none the less. It’s actually a phased array of eight capsules arranged in a vertical column similar in design and performance to a columnar loudspeaker array. While the pickup pattern of a conventional single-capsule mic is controlled in one axis, the pattern of the KEM-970 is controlled in both the horizontal and vertical direction. It’s a cardioid, but rather than looking like a balloon that someone poked a mic into, it looks more like a fan, having reduced sensitivity beyond 30 degrees above or below the axis. It’s found applications for choir pickup in concert halls where reflections from the ceiling or floor are particularly nasty and can’t be satisfactorily attenuated. When they figure out how to make a mic like this at lower cost, it should be just the ticket for theater use. http://www.microtechgefell.com Soundelux introduced the U99, a $2,000 large capsule multi-pattern tube condenser mic that’s been getting a lot of good preliminary reviews. The U99 is evolved from their well respected U95 and now has smoother frequency response, lower noise, and new electronics for better transparency. Worthy of mention so you’ll know it’s not yet another Chinese mic, Soundelux has chosen Blue to supply capsules for the U99. They also have a new and improved version of the U95, the U95s, which uses another Blue capsule. Speaking of Blue (Baltic Latvian Universal Electronics), this is one sound-consicous company who’s never afraid to try something different, and most of the time they come up winners. Their unconventional looking Blueberry and Bottle mics, while on opposite ends of the price scale, have won a lot of respect. This year they were showing a special low frequency design which looks like a fairly conventional front-address large capsule condenser mic mounted down in what looks very much like the bell of a tuba. It’s intended to be the low frequency pickup for the bass channel of a 5.1 surround system. My humble opinion, when I listened to it on headphones, was that it picked up all the stuff that I try to eliminate with mic placement and low frequency filtering, but users have found that putting it in the LF channel of a surround mix, particularly in a live recording situation such as a sport event, provides realistic low frequency information without having to derive something artificially. Also new from B.L.U.E. is the Dragonfly, a 1” diaphragm condenser with a swivel head on a small diameter tubular body to make for easy positioning in tight situations. And another is a combination of (doubt-of-memory here) their Mouse electronics and their spherical-boundary capsule to make a compact, accurate omni mic. Their intended application for this one is in the Decca Tree configuration which has recently enjoyed a bit of attention due to its regular use recording the TV show Sessions at 54th Street. While B.L.U.E. manufactures a lot of mic hardware, they’re looking to AEA, who already makes a nice solid Decca Tree mount. While arguments about the effectiveness of tweak mic cables continue, B.L.U.E. has added a practical twist with their Champagne tube mic cable. The signal is carried through a premium construction shielded twisted pair, with five additional conductors outside the shield (but in the same Champagne-tinted jacket) for powering the mic. This cable is available with connectors for their own mics, they’ll fit it to a vintage tube mic, or probably even sell it to you by the foot. AKG began the inexpensive large diaphragm condenser craze with their C-3000, and now there’s a C-3000B. The case is the same except for a red strip (consistent with AKG’s latest designs), but the capsule arrangement has been streamlined. The original C3000 had a second smaller capsule to provide a hypercardioid pattern as well as a cardioid, and that’s been removed in the 3000B. AKG decided that cleaning up the insides made for a better cardioid and this was preferable to having a two-pattern mic that didn’t have as good a cardioid as it could. So it’s now cardioid-only, but should be better sounding off axis than the original model. The price remains unchanged, and they’re throwing in a shock mount. Another update from AKG is a new waterproofing job on their tiny actor-worn CK77WR. This is a common mic used in wireless theater and dance productions, and sweat in the mic capsule has been a frequent cause of failure or noise. The trick is to keep the sweat out while still letting the sound through, and this mic is the result. http://www.akg-acoustics.com/english/microphones/index.html Ribbon tweeters have always sounded nice, but haven’t been too popular in pro sound applications due to the difficulty in making them loud and rugged. A German company, A.D.A.M., showed a new line of control room monitors based on their update of the Heil Air Motion Transducer which enjoyed some fame in high end consumer audio. The A.D.A.M. Accelerate Ribbon Technology provides a relatively large piston area for a tweeter, reducing the amount of linear motion required to move a volume of air. They’re building this technology into both a tweeter and midrange unit, packaging them with a conventional cone woofer in a wide range of two and three way passive and powered systems. Fostex showed their new NF-1 monitor featuring a woofer with an unusually shaped cone and surround. The cone is made of a paper-like blend of wood pulp, carbon fiber, mica, a few chemical fibers, and banana pulp. (I felt sorry for the rep who had to say that a hundred times a day and keep a straight face). The surface isn’t smooth, but rather sculptured a bit like the sections of a grapefruit. The surround has both thin flexible segments and more rigid damping segments. It’s difficult to describe, but it looks really cool. It’s called a hyperbolic pareboloidal diaphragm, and will be available in stores near you early next year. The basic version will be in the $1000/pair ballpark, with a powered version coming along a little later. Thanks to my dealer, Greg Lukens at Washington Professional Systems for offering up his take on the new Meyer monitors. Greg says: “I had a chance to demo the new Meyer X10 studio onitors. They use an advanced servo control system and are phase and frequency flat from 18 Hz to 18 kHz. They sound way spooky. My first impression was ho hum so I started moving around looking for the sweet spot and that was when I was blown away. There isn’t a specific one, the sweet spot is as big as the whole room. I could do left to center panning predictably while standing in front of the right speaker. They are very unforgiving, poor sounds like shit and great sounds great. I think the mastering crowd will flock to them, but the $30k price will slow some of us down.” In the I-know-you-want-to-know-and-I-do-too department, JBL announced a new small studio monitor in their LSR series, the LSR25P. I might have seen it, but I’m not sure. There was a small, unidentified monitor on the same display stand as the other LSR’s, looking a lot different than the others, gray instead of black among other things. JBL was one of the stands where it was impossible to get any attention if you weren’t a dealer or rep, so I never found this one. After seeing this report on line, JBL’s David Kimm filled me in a bit on this new speaker. The reason it looks different from the rest of the line is because the whole case is the heat sink for its power amplifier. It’s designed to go down to 70 Hz, work with a subwoofer, and be similar in timbre to the bigger LSRs. http://www.jblpro.com/pages/recording/lsr25p.htm Computer-Based Recording It’s still alive and thriving with new hardware and software everywhere. Not being strongly immersed in this technology, I’ll just mention a few highlights without going into much detail. Digidesign introduced ProTools 5.0, but that seems like old news already. Lots of enhancements, with integrated MIDI support being the one they liked to talk about most. Now, ProTools users no longer have to pop out to an external sequencing program to incorporate MIDI tracks into their productions. You may have a more favorite sequencer, though. On the other end of the scale, Digi001 brings some of the functionality, as well as the look, feel, and project data format of the full blown ProTools to the sub-$1,000 users. This is PCI card mated with a single rack space two channel audio interface (analog and S/PDIF I/O) with convenient front panel mounted phantom powered XLR mic inputs. It’s bundled with ProTools LE, a light version which works much the same as the full ProTools and supports host-based plug-ins, but doesn’t support the TDM DSP farm that separates ProTools from the rest of the pack in processing speed, power, and number of effects that can be applied simultaneously. It does incorporate the MIDI tools, however, and interchanges project files freely with ProTools. This new budget priced system makes it possible for a user to split project work between a professional and home studio without spending a lot of time transferring or converting files. For instance, you could do some tracking at home to MIDI tracks, take the project into a ProTools studio for real drums, pianos, string sections, maybe vocals with mics you couldn’t afford, take it home for editing, and finally bring it back to the ProTools studio for mixing. It’s on the Mac now, with a Windows version promised after the first of the year. Soundscape has updated their product line with the introduction of a new workstation, R.Ed, with hardware to support up to 32 tracks with 24-bit resolution and up to 96 kHz sample rate. Up to 28 inputs and 32 outputs can be configured. Additional hardware boxes can be cascaded for even more tracks and I/O if desired. The R.Ed hardware can be supplemented with inexpensive Soundscape Mixtreme cards for additional DSP mixing and effect processing power. It uses two fixed and two removable EIDE drives for inexpensive storage, and is supplied with an enhanced version of Soundscape’s Version 2 software for their SSHDR-1 system. Soundscape runs on Windows 95/98/NT, and doesn’t use the host system for much more than display and control, so all the audio processing is independent of the host system. For those interested in a pro-level system but don’t need (or are not able to afford) the latest technology, Soundscape intends to keep the SSHDR-1 systems in circulation for a while yet, with refurbished systems from a trade-up program becoming available at a bargain price as new R.Ed systems are fielded. http://www.soundscape-digital.com/Products/Red/Intro/index.html Frontier Design introduced the WaveCenter/PCI, a new entry to their pioneering and popular WaveCenter series. It features a single 8-channel ADAT lightpipe I/O, a S/PDIF coax I/O (the lightpipe doubles as S/PDIF optical), and a digital connection to an internal CD-ROM drive. Also included is a 2-in, 2-out MIDI interface. All the digital paths support up to 24-bit data, with sampling rates of 44.1 or 48 kHz. It’s intended to be an interface to digital mixers for the workstation user, a means to transfer between an ADAT and computer, or, with outboard converters, as a computer audio interface. It supports Windows applications, and comes with an ASIO 2.0 driver as well as a Gigasampler driver. http://www.frontierdesign.com/ Sonorous was showing their new MEDI/O, probably the most fully equipped PCI sound card you’ll ever see. In a single slot, and with a giant squid breakout cable (a rack mount connector panel is in the works), you get a pair of balanced mic level inputs on XLR connectors with switchable phantom power, compressor, limiter, and gate on each (not highly tweakable, but there if it works for you), 4 balanced 1/4” line level inputs (2 stereo pairs), a high impedance instrument direct input with compressor, limiter, gate and cabinet simulator, CD-ROM audio in, stereo 1/4” balanced line level output, stereo 1/4” headphone or little speaker output, and there’s more. Digital I/O includes ADAT lightpipe up to 24 bits, S/PDIF coax, also up to 24-bit, word clock in and out on a BNC connector. There’s also a header for internal connection to sync it up to a Sonourus STUDI/O for even more digital I/O. And, yes, folks, there’s MORE - a 64-voice DirectX synth/sampler, 2 MIDI ins and thrus, 6 MIDI outs, and a header to plug in a WaveBlaster board. Software is Windows drivers for 95/98/NT4, Direct Sound, ASIO and WDM drivers for Win2000. Since the Sonorous folks like to play with computers a lot (and a lot of computers), BeOS, MacOS, Linux, and EASI drivers are coming. http://www.sonorus.com/medio/index.html Aardvark has been updating their audio interfaces every few months, it seems. The Direct Pro 24/96 introduced at the July NAMM show now has a new software interface that’s even more console-like with real time compression, multi-band EQ and reverb. To refresh your memory, this is a 4-in-4-out interface with all four inputs handling either mic or line signals, balanced, either XLR or 1/4” TRS, with switchable phantom power. The analog I/O is in a well shielded external box (a rack mount panel for one or two I/O boxes is optional) with S/PDIF coax I/O on the PCI host interface card. As the model number implies, 24-bit, up to 96 kHz sample rate. An update to the Aark 20/20, in a similar physical package the Aark 24 offers 8 analog line level inputs and outputs, S/PDIF in and out, ADAT lightpipe (doubling as S/PDIF optical), MIDI in and out, word clock in and out, and ADAT 9-pin sync for sample accurate transfers and overdubs when working with both the computer and ADAT. http://www.aardvark-pro.com/pc_audio.html Mark Of The Unicorn was displaying their line of follow-ons to the successful 2408 multi-channel AudioWire audio interface, most of which have been out long enough so that you’ve probably heard about them already. The 1224 is an 8-channel (1/4” balanced +4 dBu TRS connectors) analog I/O with an additional stereo analog output on XLRs and a single AES/EBU input and output. Word clock in and out are also provided. It can either be used alone (together with the PCI-324 AudioWire host adapter card) or as an expansion to the 2408. The 308 is a 24-channel digital-only I/O box also in the AudioWire series. This one has four AES/EBU pairs, four S/PDIF coax pairs, and four S/PDIF optical (TOSLink) pairs as well as word clock in and out. Not an analog connector in sight on this one. Like the 1224, it will pass up to 24 bits at 44.1 or 48 kHz sample rate. Since this is the Late Edition of this report, I’ll sneak in one from MOTU that I didn’t see at the show. Either I just didn’t notice the 24i or it was hidden and really wasn’t released until the October 1 press release date. Another in the AudioWire series, this is for the person who wants to record the whole band live but doesn’t own a mixer. It has 24 balanced 1/4” TRS inputs and stereo outputs. The outputs are analog, S/PDIF coax, or S/PDIF optical, but as far as I can tell, all carry the same signal. There’s also word clock in and out. Like the others in the series, it can either be used alone with the 324 host interface card or tied in with others in this series on the AudioWire bus. Packaging is similar, a single rack space with front panel LED meters for all the channels and an internal (no wall wart) power supply. Last January I gushed over the SeaSound Solo, a rack mount box and PCI card which provides stereo audio in and out of a computer, but incorporates many of the functions for which many people ultimately end up buying a small mixer in frustration. It provides mic, line and instrument level inputs, channel inserts, separate stereo outputs for main mix, control room, and 2 headphone jacks, with the ability to mix mic and line inputs both for recording and playback, metering, and true zero-latency (direct input to output) input monitoring. It’s taken most of a year, but the first lot of Solos was undergoing final test during the show in preparation for shipping. Coming later on from SeaSound is the Ensemble Pro, an 8 channel interface with 4 mic inputs, and a similar collection of mixing and monitoring features. We were surrounded by lots of software supporting surround sound from panners to processors. My prize for best new manufacturer name, Kind of Loud Technologies introduced the RealVerb 5.1 ProTools plug-in, a room modeling program with complete control over reverb parameters, and the ability to morph from one space to another. It provides controls for using the reverberant field to place a sound in the 5.1 surround field, changing its distance from any wall. Another cool name, Mac the Scope, turns your Mac into a fairly complete spectrum analysis system including a function generator. I guess (at least I hope) it’s been around for a while since Release 3 was new for the show. Why can’t we PC guys get cool software tools like this? http://www.channld.com/mts.html InMotion 5.1 Surround Producer from Human Machine Interfaces, Inc. provides an intuitive means of preparing sound-motion scenes for multi-channel surround sound. The user imports a WAV file, draws the desired movement of the sound on the screen, and the program generates a multi-channel output. In addition to straightforward level panning, the program integrates reverb and tracks changes in ambiance as the sound moves in the field. Move it fast enough and a realistic Doppler pitch can be generated. Draw in a barrier or absorber and the amplitude and frequency response will change as the sound source moves into the barrier’s “shadow” on its trip across the sound field. This isn’t something that you’d put your final mix through, but rather something you’d use to process a sound effect or moving dialog source when doing a surround mix in post-production. http://www.humanmachine.com/hmi_inmotion51_brochure.htm As an extension to their Mx51 5.1 authoring software supporting the Yamaha DSP Factory, Minnetonka Software has introduced the Surcode Dolby Digital surround encoder module. This takes the output from Mx51 (or any six WAV files) and encodes them to two channels using the Dolby Digital process. A version for DTS Digital Surround is coming in December. Before you scream about the price ($995), remember, Dolby extracts a healthy licensing fee for use of the encoding process, regardless of who writes the software. http://www.minnetonkaaudio.com/SurCode_3.htm DigiFoN has introduced what they claim is the first real time software-only audio codec. The program turns any computer (presumably a laptop since this is a field technology) into codec compatible with the broadcast standard MPEG codecs such as the Musicam, Roadrunner, and Telos Zephyr. This is an interesting concept, with potential for accommodating new compression formats as they appear, or be able to talk to a variety of codecs simply by choosing another type from a menu. A note for those concerned about the future of PARIS in light of the recent realignments at E mu/Ensoniq - they’ve signed a new development agreement with Intelligent Devices, the company that’s been working the software side of the PARIS workstation. Planned updates are up to 128 real time track capability, DirectX and VST plug-in support, and 24-bit data paths throughout the system. By the way, the company now has a new logo to go with their mouthful of name. It includes the E-Mu, Ensoniq, and Creative Labs names, based on the stylized E-Mu “E”. An Interesting Concept GMICS (Global Musical Instrument Communications Standard, pronounced “gimmicks”) is a new concept spearheaded by Gibson and making use of standard computer networking technology. The GMICS chip incorporates A/D and D/A converters, network interfaces, and probably some processing. It’s designed to interconnect musical instruments and other components, digitizing right at the instrument and connecting units with Category 5 LAN cable. The data rate of the system can handle 16 channels of 32-bit 96 kHz audio data, so there’s room to expand from what we’re using today. The system is bi-directional and does D/A and A/D conversion on both ends, so you could, for instance, connect a fully miced drum kit to a mixer and return a monitor mix to the drummer all on a single cable. Or run a 100 meter long cable between your guitar and amplifier. Obviously something has to power the chips, but it can be a central point in the system since the GMICS standard provides for phantom power on the cable pair. 9V power can even be taken off the GMICS chip to power such things as equalizers or preamps built into a guitar or bass. Batteries need not be included. This is obviously a technology looking for real world applications and commitments on the part of manufacturers, so don’t go rushing down to your music store LAN cable in hand, looking to try out the latest amps. Evaluation boards will be available to qualified developers early next year. http://www.gmics.org/thisisgmics.html Gimmicks and Goodies This is my favorite part of the show - clever solutions to nagging problems that you never knew you had and things you don’t need but it’s neat to know that they exist. Your computer is too noisy. You know that. You can’t record with it in the same room. You throw blankets over it, try to shove it in a corner, and it’s still too loud. You’re not clever enough to build an enclosure and even if you were, you’d worry about whether it provided enough cooling for your computer, or just how effective it would be. The Isobox from Studio Construction and Supply will solve all your problems. This is a gorgeous piece of furniture to house your rack mounted workstation gear, and the designer has thought it through very well. The rack rails are shock mounted to absorb vibration and keep it from being transmitted to the case. There’s a diffusor for the quiet, low speed ventilation fans that’s lined with Corning 703 insulation. The cabinet is lined with 1” Aurelex acoustic wedge foam. The glass front door is hinged on one side, while the rear panel is hinged at the bottom for easy access. There’s a thermometer with a built-in digital display visible through the front glass, indicators that show that (and when) the thermostatically controlled fans are running, and it has a beeper (defeatable) to warn you of an impending meltdown. Available in 12, 16, or 20 rack space sizes, it’s not cheap (starting at around $1,000), but those of us who have packaged equipment for reliability know that cases represent a significant but worth while investment. http://www.custom-consoles.com/ I’ve been a fan of DK-Audio’s elegant level meters with integrated phase/balance displays. They’ve always been just too far out of reach, but there’s a new one this year that’s a bit over $1,000 and that’s getting closer. Their MSD-100 series is a monochrome LCD panel that displays two channels of level metering with your choice of seven different scales and responses, plus an interchannel phase display. Since it’s software based, it’s upgradeable. A spectrum display with either FFT or 1/3 octave bands is optional, as is digital inputs. Our friend Bob Katz of Digital Domain presented an interesting workshop on level metering which emphasized the relationships between meter response, loudness, and headroom, and metering such as DK provides can offer what Bob says is necessary. http://www.dk-audio.com/msd/msd1.html My favorite little gadget at last year’s show was Neutrik’s Minrator MR1, a hand held multi-function audio generator. I was told that this was the first of a series of hand held test instruments, and this year we have the Minilyzer ML1. Slightly larger than the generator, the Minilizer measures RMS or peak level in dBu, dBV, or volts over the range of -90 to +20 dBu. It also indicates level relative to what you give it as a reference, for example, to make frequency response measurements at any given level without calculating. Speaking of frequency response measurements, since the Minirator provides a frequency sweep, the Minilyzer will track the sweep and display a frequency response graph. It also measures total harmonic distortion (10 Hz - 20 kHz) and frequency over the range of 5 Hz to 24 kHz. One interesting but less common measurement it makes is common mode balance between a balanced pair. This can tell how closely balanced your balanced output really is. All the functions weren’t fully implemented on the models on display at the show, but it’s expected to be on the boat by early next year. The MR1 is one of the handiest tools in my tool case and I’m eager to get my mitts on this one. For the chipheads (I know you look under the hood of your new gear just as I do), THAT Corporation was showing off their new InGenius 1200, 1203 and 1206 (0, -3, or -6 dB of gain respectively) high CMRR balanced line input receiver chips based on a boostrap input circuit designed by Bill Whitlock of Jensen Transformers. One of the problems that’s starting to haunt us in the digital-quiet age is that gozoutas aren’t quite as perfectly balanced as they should be, preventing a balanced input from providing the high common mode rejection ratio of which it’s capable. The InGenius is intended to provide a high CMRR even when driven from a poorly balanced output. If manufacturers start dropping this chip into the front ends of their gear, it could improve noise performance considerably. http://www.thatcorp.com/1200pg.htm http://www.jensen-transformers.com/an/ingenaes.pdf Finally, I just had to say something about the tube Nagra. No, there isn’t a tube version of the industry’s most successful professional portable analog tape recorder, it’s really a line of audiophile power amplifiers and preamp. Like the Nagra recorders, these are built like a fine watch, and retain the classic aluminum case and rugged styling of the recorders, down to the dual pointer meter which first caught my attention as I walked by it at the show. Honk if you love Nagra. http://www.nagra.com/nagra/Audiophile%20title%20page.htm Back Home As another show draws to a close, I realize all the stuff I didn’t see, think about all the friends I didn’t get a chance to stop and talk with, and give some thought to where this is all going. It’s clear that manufacturers want to sell us surround equipment - wouldn’t you? It means more speakers going out the door at Circuit City. A few engineers that I’ve spoken with who have mixed surround projects say it’s a real hoot. Some of the projects played in the show’s demo rooms were quite effective, though others were clearly gimmicky, like the ping-pong stereo of the late ‘50’s. While the technology is close to maturity, the applications are, for the most part, still in kindergarten. I’m sure it’s going to stick, but I’m not sure in what form yet. Studer displayed one of what they say will be the last production run of the 827, last of their 2” 24-track recorders. The few times when I passed the booth, I saw youngsters viewing it with a sort of reverence, and old timers a bit saddened by its demise. The bean counters have decided that it’s no longer economically feasible to keep it in production even with studios advertising “now featuring analog”. Rest comfortably, Mr. Studer. You did good. For many years, AES has been a technical show. It’s the place where you could talk to the designers and application engineers at the display booths about their products, kick around new ideas, discuss problems and solutions, and you really felt like an engineer. This is still the case with the smaller companies, but more and more of the majors are leaving the engineers at home or sending them off to meetings with potential business partners or high profile clients, leaving the marketeers and less technical (but feature-knowledgeable at least) product specialists to staff the booths. Maybe it’s a good thing. If I could talk tech at every booth that caught my eye, I could spend a month at the show. Still, it’s nice to be able to get the real scoop from the smaller companies. They’re the innovators, just as it always has been. Lastly, I’d just like to say thanks to whoever it was who, when I moaned about the cost and mediocre quality of NYC hotel rooms suggested staying across the river in New Jersey. The ferry is faster, less crowded, and more reliable than the AES show busses, parking at the hotel was free, the room was spacious and comfortable, the free breakfast was pretty good, and best of all, the hotel didn’t lose my reservation. |
