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In an underground in downtown San Francisco, hundreds gathered to ogle new gear and hobnob with their fellow audiophilically inclined. From op amps to large format studio consoles, AES exhibitors were out in force this year.
Of all the buzz around this yearâs convention, the greatest was around ProTools 8. The live demos of the long awaited version were packed in with onlookers. There are a great many upgrades for the newest addition to the family, from new virtual instruments to superbly redesigned workflow and even expansions to the m-powered and LE families.
Although there are more on the way, hereâs some of the new points:
⢠In LE and M-powered, you now automatically get the 48 mono or stereo tracks, and with the addition of either the Production Toolkit 2 or the DV Toolkit 2 you get 64⦠but wait thereâs more! If you buy both (or the rumored combopack) you get 128 mono or stereo, plus theyâve allowed for 7.1 mixing. Again only if you buy both which are about $1250 each , but you also get the mp3 export, timecode, loads of plug-ins etcetera. Now I know what youâre thinking: why not just get an HD system? Because youâd still need the sound card, HD Accel cards, a desktop computer, and all the fun of a new system. Version 8 allows for the continued use of the 002, unlike version 7 which phased out the 001.
⢠System Allocation, lets you assign which system on a multimedia network is assigned to handle video, system admin, dsp processing, audio playback and more.
⢠Ability to run HD video in the session native as well as run avid files without rendering to a .mov first. Not as exciting for the music folks but for those in post houses a great timesaver.
⢠Elastic Pitch, marrying beautifully to the elastic time from 7.4 (trying to take from the Ableton market still).
⢠Music notation software built in, no more buying Sibelius.
⢠Multilane Controller data for MIDI tracks, for many of us this bridges much of the gap to CuBase and Logicâs previously vastly superior MIDI editing.
And more, obviously there are new instruments, plug-ins and customizability options, the upgrade set to retail around $129 for M-Powered/LE and $249 for HD.
The convention had itâs fair share of gear to drool over, Iâm personally a junkie for mics, analog rack gear, and consoles. Vintage King Audio, Rupert Neve Designs, Earthworks, Solid State Logic, Fairlight⦠I was like a kid in a candy store, only mom wonât buy me any. It was all quite wonderful and terrible at the same time.
As for mics, I got a chance to check out , and in some cases listen to, some of my favorites as well as some choice new entries to the fray. Iâve always had a significantly soft spot for Earthworks, specifically the QTC series. The zero handling noise, huge range, availability of some of the most perfectly matched stereo pairs and incredibly realistic sound make for a powerful combo. To add to their arsenal they have extended their range, if you will, to include several types of flex-neck mics called the Periscope series. Utilizing capsules similar the QTC30âs, these beauties make some tight spots easily accessible with a flexible neck and options for omni, cardioid and hypercardioid. The omniâs response is 9Hz-30k while the other two lose some low end boasting 30-30k. The new flexhead mic stand type (whose name escapes me) is similar, the flexible head and omni capsule anyway. This beauty is built into a nice stand, which bends and articulates in some nice spots to work its way near the sound source. The nicest part being that the cable plugs into the base to avoid bulky plugs and things to knock into. Last I checked out the new flexhead drum mics (whose name also sadly escapes me), having a much higher spl handling ability, 90 degree angled head on the flex neck with a conical metal back to the capsule to minimize impact on the mic and not bend it down onto the head.
I was blown away by the new Fairlight system the Xynergi. OMFG, I nerded out over this thing. When I heard there were lcd buttons I knew that they werenât far from audio applications, and here they are in marvelous backlit color! They change back and forth seamlessly from QWERTY keys, to mapped functions all with clear labels⦠ON THE BUTTON. Thereâs even a flashing red light in the corner of the automation engage key when itâs active. The workflow of the system is beautiful too, with virtual channel strips with EQs, filters, sends and the like laid out like they would be on an analog console. If only: a) the Xynergi and Jazzmutant have a kid, the multilevel keys and stepless rotaries alongside a beautiful multipoint, pressure sensitive customizable control surface; and b) it would work for everything, ProTools, Logic, Fairlight, Nuendo, Acid Pro, Sound Tools⦠even my late 80s model TV. Hey, I can dream canât I?
What else, there was so much there on the floor, I could go on for pages and really just be reciting my Christmas wish list. So, thatâs all for now I leave you in the capable hands of your ears.
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