FOSTEX - Their new addition to the CD recorder market is the CDR-300 ($1,425). It reads and writes CDR and CD-RW, has a full-featured I/O, and has several erase modes for CD-RW discs. They also introduced the D-108 ($1,495) 8-track hard disk recorder. It comes with a 5.2 gig hard drive and can write .wav files so its easily interfacable with your PC.
GENERALMUSIC - The SK-880 and SK-760 are new keyboards based on the SK-88 and SK-76 respectively. These instruments offer 16Mb of ROM sounds, (over 1200 sounds) and 192 new accompaniment styles on board. There will also be "Power Station" versions of both instruments which will feature a hard disk drive pre-loaded with songs, styles and new sounds. New versions of the Equinox synthesizer were also shown; the Equinox 76 being an extended keyboard version of the Equinox 61 while the new Equinox 88 Pro offers all of the features of the standard Equinox but includes the piano / rhodes / wurlitzer sounds and physical modeling technology from the PRO2 piano. The Equinox Pro has 88 fully-weighted keys, 8Mbytes of sample RAM, SCSI interface and an internal hard disk drive.
GIBSON - showed a new 15-watt class-A tube amp with reverb, a blond ES-135 ($1,700), and a new hollow body Les Paul with F holes. They also had some 1959 40-year anniversary Les Pauls in various states of completion on display.
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HHB CDR-850 see larger |
They also showed us a new line of tube gear they are distributing in the states. The Radius line includes a four-channel tube mic preamp, two-channel tube EQ, two-channel tube compressor/limiter, and a tube mixer channel with EQ and compression. Prices start at $789. The Classic line includes even higher end versions of the devices above with the addition of a stereo tube preamp that has transformer I/O and a pentode tube doing the gain control. Sounds sweet. It is $1,850. Both the Radius and Classic lines look and feel very sophisticated and expensive, yet are priced competitively.
JOHNSON - A new 2 x 12" amp, the JM-120 with 60 watts per channel and all new effects will begin shipping in about a month.
KORG - Their slogan of "there is more than one way to groove" couldn't have been more true. The EA-1 ($499) drum synth and ER-1 ($499) rhythm synth produce modeled analog sounds that are quite nostalgic and powerful. Nothing like that analog low end.
LEXICON - Introduced the LDI-10T ($799), a eight channel A/D box. It has balanced inputs switchable between -10dBv and +4dBu and outputs a 24 bit S/PDIF signal.
LINE 6 - The new Boxer amp should be really popular. It appears to be based on a sound set similar to what is in the Pod module that is now shipping. A single 12" version is $399 and there will be a 2 x 10" version for $467.
MACKIE - Mackie had 20 new products at the show. First there were new versions of the CR1604, 1402, and 1202 mixers. The new "pro" versions have redesigned mic preamps. They introduced a killer new series of powered mixers. They all have dual graphic equalizers and built in digital effects. The 406M ($699) has six channels and 500 watts. The 408M ($799) is 8 channels with 500 watts, and the 408S ($899) is the same, but with stereo 500 watt amplifiers. The 808M ($899) is 8 channels with a 1000 watt amp, and the 808S ($999) has two 1000 watt amps. Those are PA heads basically, but they also introduced desk style boards in 12, 16, and 20 channels with even more features. As amazing as all these mixers are, and they are really amazing, they were somewhat overshadowed by Mackie's new PA speakers. The most notable was the SRM450 ($799), a 2-way bi-amped system with a 12" speaker and long throw horn. They sound fantastic. The C300 ($399) is the unpowered version. The MAS 1530 is a 3 way tri-amped system with very high fidelity. The SRS 1500a is a powered 600 watt 15" subwoofer designed to be used with the above systems. Then there is their new Fussion series pro audio line of speakers. The Fussion 3000 ($4,499) is a tri-amped 3 way system with a total of almost 2000 watts of power. Drivers include four woofers, a mid horn, and HF horn. To go with them they have two woofers, the Fussion 1800a ($1,250) with one 18" driver, and the 1800sa ($2,499) with two 18" drivers. They will also bring out a little brother to the Fussion 3000 called the (surprise) Fussion 2000. Additionally, they have a very nice 250 watt stage monitor in this series called the Fussion 800wa. Most of these speakers will not begin shipping before April, and some will take quite a bit longer. On the power amp front they have added the economical M800 ($599) to their line. It has 275 watts per channel at 4 ohms. Last but not least, they unveiled version 2.0 software for the D8b digital mixer. We saw this version last fall while it was still cooking. There are some amazing new features as well as many improvements to existing features and, yes, there are even some bug fixes. There is a new screen that shows the entire configuration of one channel at a glance with some very sexy looking graphics. This new version also makes the board and all of its interfacing fully 24 bit. It should be released in the next month.
MARANTZ - Amidst the plethora of low priced CDR machines they have taken the high road with the new CDR-640 ($1,800) mastering CDR. They claim greatly improved A/D converters and a 1MB buffer for true frame accurate recording. They claim this is potentially the only true "press and forget" machines on the market, meaning it is stable and robust enough to make perfect CD's every time. Of course it can do CD-RW as well. The price of the CDR-630 has understandably dropped to $999.
MARK OF THE UNICORN - They gave attendees a sneak peek of a new feature called POLAR, which will be built into Digital Performer 2.6 when it ships in a few months. POLAR (Performance-Oriented Loop Audio Recording) is a RAM-based, multitrack sampler for the Mac, allowing you to lay down grooves, rhythm tracks, solos, and overdubs in real time. They didn't talk specifics, but the demo was awesome. They also say they are about to catch up on backorders for their 2408 system. It should become much easier to get one than it has been for the past six months.
MARTIN - They always have tons of beautiful guitars on display, but one was especially nice this year. The Steve Howe model (around $2,500) is probably the best playing acoustic guitar I've ever laid my hands on. We expect these to be in extremely short supply throughout its limited production run.
MARSHALL - The MG-115RCD ($449) and MG-130RCD ($549) are new guitar amps that have line inputs for a CD player for playing along with discs. They also showed a new 400-watt all tube bass head.
MID ATLANTIC - had a whole new series of workstation furniture called Multidesk System II. They have a lower (26.5") height for easier access when sitting and are more modular and configurable than past models. They include overbridges that come with the desks and side racks and use table legs on the desks that look much better than previous solutions.
MIDIMAN - Their new USB 2 x 2 MIDI interface ($129) was shown and should begin shipping within the next month.
NOVATION - On their own now as a separate entity from Music Industries, their SuperNova ASM (Analog Sound Module) can now be had in a tabletop version for $1,499. This version sports two audio inputs and the same audio engine as the rack version, but has 12 voices, 6 parts, and 6 outputs.
OPCODE - They showed several products to go with their DATPort (which is supposed to be shipping in February). OpticalPort is an optical to USB converter that also has two 1/8" analog inputs for easy entry into the computer from analog sources. DATPort Plus is just like DATPort, but will have analog converters as well. MIDIPort 64 (4 x 4) and MIDIPort 128 (8 x 8) will add to their line of USB MIDI interfaces started by MIDIPort 32 (a 2 x 2 interface announced recently in inSync), but both will have SMPTE capability. There is also talk of a USB 4 x 4 interface with two audio inputs, four outputs, SMPTE, and word clock, but the details are still being finalized.
OVATION - The electronics in many of their new guitars now include a digital tuner with muting and balanced outputs. They have also introduced a round sound hole version of the famous Adamis guitar.
PARKER - They made some huge waves with their MIDI equipped NiteFly guitar. I don't mean MIDI equipped like you have to have some interface to do MIDI. I mean there is a standard five pin MIDI DIN connector right on the guitar for you to plug into the module or keyboard of your choice. They also showed the new Spanish Fly (no jokes please) nylon string guitar.
Dragon 2000 see larger PRS Guitars see larger
PRESONUS - They are about ready finally ship their MP-20 ($649), two-channel microphone preamp. It has exactly the same I/O and features as their popular M80 unit with the addition of a DI input on the front of each channel. They have lowered the price of the hugely successful Blue Max compressor to $199.
PROCO - showed a new cable tester. The (get this name) Chek 123 ($139) monitors all connection options for any combination of balanced and unbalanced connections. The really interesting thing is that it gives a simultaneous readout for all of them so you can see at a glance exactly how a cable is wired. There is also a terminator that allows it to be used on snakes and other long cables where both ends aren't handy. And finally, it has built in test tones with variable level.
PRS - Paul Reed Smith Guitars showed a beautiful new raspberry color that is just stunning. They have a new piezo pickup system in many arch top models that allows the player to recreate even more realistic acoustic sounds (especially on the hollow body models) and stunning clean electric sounds. This is the best sounding system we've heard to date. Also, in the "take your breath away" department were the limited edition Dragon 2000 guitars ($20,000). Only 50 will be made. We got our order in for numbers 35 (red) and 36 (amber), so if you're in the mood for a collector's item just let us know. No photograph can do the exquisite inlay work on these justice. Also, they have solid Brazilian rosewood necks, which understandably have no dots or bird inlays.
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