Today's Top Stories:

  Continuing AES conference coverage
We continue today with Part II of our coverage of all that was new and cool at the 119th AES show in New York City.

  M-Audio ProjectMix I/O
Combining a control surface with an audio interface, the ProjectMix I/O from M-Audio turns your computer into a complete digital production station. The 18x14 FireWire audio interface includes eight mic/line inputs, 8-channel lightpipe and 2-channel S/PDIF I/O, MIDI I//O, and two stereo headphone outputs. Eight touch-sensitive motorized channel faders and one touch-sensitive master fader let you get your hands on the mix, while eight rotary encoder knobs and an LCD status strip provide control over pan, sends, or plug-in parameters. Dedicated transport and jog/shuttle wheel make navigation simple. The ProjectMix I/O offers support for Mackie Control, Logic Control, and HUI protocols.

  Universal Audio
The folks at Universal Audio have been as busy as ever, dropping a number of new product announcements at the AES show. Among those was an announcement that UA will be donating $25 from each of the first 1,000 orders they receive for the new Solo mic preamps (see below) to Katrina aid. The money will go directly to Habitat for Humanity.

  Universal Audio Solo Series
UA announced two new mic preamps, the Solo/610 and the Solo/110. The compact preamps feature the classic Putnam 610 and the innovative Precision 110 designs respectively, drawing from the tube and solid-state sides of the equation. The single-channel units are portable, for easy use in the studio, on a desktop, or on stage. Each has an input gain and ouput level control, as well as DI input/thru. Other controls include mic/DI, low/high impedance, phantom power, lo-cut filter, and polarity selectors. These new boxes look to be an affordable way to get into either the classic or cutting edge UA sounds.

  Universal Audio UAD-1 News
The UAD-1 was bumped up to version 4.0. New features in version 4 include Tempo-Sync for automatically locking delay times to and LFOs to a native host DAW's tempo. Turbo-Transfer mode enhances compatibility with multi-processor (dual-core AMD X2 and dual Intel CPU) PC systems. In other UAD-1 news, UA unveiled the UAD-1 Flexi Pak, a "build your own" plug-in bundle that includes the UAD-1 card along with a $500 voucher that can be redeemed against the purchaser's choice of UAD-1 plug-ins. The voucher has no expiration, so you can use it gradually as new plug-ins are introduced. The Flexi Pak is ideal for new UAD-1 users who want to custom-select the plug-ins they want, and for existing UAD-1 users who want to expand their system and add additional plug-ins.

  Universal Audio UAD-1 Plug-in News
The new version 4 software for the UAD-1 includes a fully functional 2-week demo of the Roland Dimension D plug-in. The Dimension D will be available for purchase either separately or, for a limited time, bundled with the Roland CE-1 chorus. UA went to great lengths to preserve the analog "bucket brigade" chorus design and sonic characteristics in the plug-in. Precision Multiband is a new mastering compressor/expander/gate for the UAD-1 DSP card that provides 5-band dynamic range control. Each of the three processors can be selected independently for each of the five frequency bands. Two filter modes offer linear-phase or minimum-phase gain control, for both "digital" and "analog" types of sounds. The graphic design will be easily understood by both novices and experts. Classic tape echo and spring reverb are the hallmarks of the Space Echo RE-201, a meticulous re-creation of the vintage Roland system. The new plug-in captures all the "features" of this complex device, including the characteristic distortion, wow and flutter, phase shifting, and warmth of the tape delay. The RE-201 can even reproduce the unit's self-oscillation, turning it into a unique instrument as well.

  Drawmer S3
The new S3 Three-band Optical Compressor aims to be a "no compromise" design using only the highest quality components. The S3 uses a fully balanced Class A signal path, with 20 active tube stages! The three bands have variable split points, and use temperature-controlled light-dependent resistors to maintain calibration accuracy. There is individual gain reduction metering for each band, and "Air" mode for the high band and "Big" mode for the low band. The master output section includes both gain and stereo balance controls.

  Mackie Onyx 1200F
The latest FireWire interface from Mackie is the Onyx 1200F, a 30x34, 24-bit/192kHz unit that includes 12 of Mackie's highly regarded Onyx preamps, onboard DSP matrix mixing, and an advanced "control room" section with four assignable headphone outputs, two stereo monitor outputs, talkback mic input, and remote switching. The Onyx 1200F has 12 combo mic/line ins, two instrument ins, balanced sends/returns on Channels 1 and 2, eight balanced line outputs, word clock I/O, 2x2 MIDI I/O, dual ADAT I/O, S/PDIF I/O, AES/EBU I/O, and two FireWire ports. Monitor switching and talkback can be controlled with footswitches. Onyx 1200F comes with Tracktion 2, as well as the Mackie Final Mix CD Mastering Toolkit.

  Coleman Audio
The SM5.1 multi-channel VU metering system has six independent channels, each with its own VU meter, for monitoring levels of a 5.1 surround system. Thru jacks allow audio signal to pass through to a subsequent device. Although aimed at surround systems, the SM5.1 can be used anywhere that six channels of metering are required, or for monitoring three stereo signals. Each meter can be aligned with a front panel-trim control, and +4 and -10 operating levels are supported.

  Eventide
Following in the footsteps of the successful Ultra-Harmonizer processors, the H8000FW offers 24-bit processing and 1,588 preset algorithms. The H8000FW has two processors, which can be used separately or together in "Monolithic Tandem" for 5.1 reverb or up to eight channels of discrete processing. Eight channels of digital I/O are supported via AES/EBU, ADAT, and FireWire, at up to 96kHz sample rates. In addition to analog and digital I/O, the FireWire port allows direct connection to a computer-based system. Windows and OS X graphic preset development tools are included.