It’s that time of year again, time for your NAMM Report Staff to break out the black canvas laptop carriers, shine up their shoes, jump in the van and head on down to Nashville to experience Summer NAMM’s abundance of musical riches. There is a lot going on at 2001 Summer NAMM this year, and a lot of new products to cover, so let’s get to it. But first, two items of business.
(1) No Summer NAMM report would be complete without a comment on the weather, but this year we’re completely fresh out of adjectives or points of comparison for the combination of soul-sapping heat and lethargy-inducing humidity that is Nashville in July. Besides, our readers born and raised south of the Ohio River never tire of letting us know what wimps we are (of course, they aren’t exactly rushing to visit us in the middle of January, either).
(2) One more item of business. Please keep in mind that this is not intended as a complete listing of all new or relevant products debuted at NAMM, nor is all of the information here guaranteed to be 100% correct. The key phrase here is “Subject to Change.” In many cases, manufacturers are still solidifying things like price, availability, and features. We gathered all we could from the things that caught our eye. We hope you enjoy this first sneak preview.
SENNHEISER: Their new SKP 30 miniature plug-on transmitter seems very cool. Basically, when you attach the SKP 30 to one of your “regular” mics (one that uses a wire, in other words), the SKP 30 turns it into a wireless mic (with the appropriate RF receiver, of course). This allows musicians on stage to use their favorite passive or phantom-powered performance mic as a wireless. The SKP 30 is built to take a little handling abuse and uses flexible PLL technology and the Sennheiser patented HiDyn plus(TM) noise reduction system for studio-quality fidelity.
WAVES: Waves unleashed their new MaxxStream LX ($1,000), a new entry-level version of their MaxxStream soundcard for radio broadcasting and Internet streaming. MaxxStream integrates audio encode supporting multiple encoders formats and bit rates simultaneously with audio capture, processing, archiving and transmission into a single easy-to-use solution. The benefits of MaxxStream LX include broadband sound from narrowband transmission, multiple encoding resolutions, simple integrated solution and customizable “tuning” – the same benefits of their original MaxxStream but with a reduced feature list and a lower retail price.
TC ELECTRONIC: A whole lotta news from TC Electronic! First up from TC Works was the PowerCore ($1299). We’ve been raving about the PowerCore for a little while now, but we dig this card so much that we can’t help but want to spread the news. If the PowerCore is news to you, you really need to check it out! Designed as an open DSP hardware platform TC PowerCore is a PCI card that acts as a DSP Turbo, letting native users run hi-end effects without draining the computer’s available CPU. Using some of the latest Motorola 56K DSPs specifically designed for audio, the TC PowerCore provides significant performance advantages over sole native processing, adding roughly the equivalent power of four Mac G4 processors on a single card. The included processing tools are nothing less than the FX-package TC TOOLS, featuring MegaReverb, TC EQSat and TC Chorus/Delay. It also comes with SparkLE mastering software and Master X, TC’s phenomenal multiband mastering compressor software (essentially a software version of the Finalizer).
TC-Helicon showed us their new VoicePrism Plus Human Voice Modeling|Formant Processor ($1898), a full solution vocal processor for stage and studio. At the heart of VoicePrism Plus is Voice Modeling(tm) technology, which essentially allows you to “resynthesize” and “reshape” the human voice. This lets users process voice input in an astounding number of ways, including the ability to add breath, growl, rasp, head and chest resonance, inflection or vibrato.
They also unveiled a programmable MIDI foot controller designed for guitar processors called the G-Minor ($159). The G-Minor is not to be confused with the G-Major, their rack mount guitar processor they showed us Winter NAMM (and is now shipping), but it’s sort of a companion piece to that. It’s multi purpose MIDI triple foot switch that allows for specific remote control of all the G-Major’s basic functions like program changes, tap tempo, and on the fly guitar tuning. But it’s not only limited to the G-Major. It also allows for programmable parameters for all purpose MIDI utility. Inputs and outputs are standard and it’s MIDI inputs are fully capable of merging MIDI data from other devices, even a second G-Minor, with the possibility of daisy chaining several G-Minors together in an advanced system.
We got a few details on their new AIR Series of intelligent monitors. Features of the AIR Series include built-in DSP, networking intelligence and digital amplifiers. They’re designed to cover the entire gamut of audio production applications: post-production, broadcast, film, mastering and recording studios. The first AIR series products will be the AIR6, a bi-amplified two-way near-field monitor (6.5″ woofer and 1.1″ soft dome) and the AIR15 , a bi-amplified two-way near-field monitor (9″ woofer and 1.1″ soft dome). More news on these as we get it.
But wait! There’s more! TC Electronic also announced a couple of upgrades. Their System 6000 Multi-channel Signal Processing Platform is now going on version 2.0. Enhancements include VSS-4 Stereo Reverb – an all new generation of VSS room simulation technology; and Unwrap – an algorithm that implements professional stereo to 5.1 conversion. There’re also extended preset management and storage via PCMCIA card, improved surround reverbs, and additional factory presets.
Also making the jump to version 2.0 was Spark, their editing, processing and mastering software for Mac OS users. Among the brand new additions to version 2.0 is an enhanced file editing speed and an increased powerful FX Matrix for up to 40 instances of realtime plug-in processes.
FOSTEX: They introduced the DV40 Master Recorder, a DVD-RAM-based mastering recorder designed to record and play audio data directly onto a DVD-RAM disc. The menu at Denny’s isn’t as extensive as the list of features on this baby, but we’ll try to be as succinct as possible. The DV40 employs the UDF file format mode that establishes file compatibility between computer-based workstations. You can select either SDII or BWF (.WAV) as the desired audio format and also choose either 24-bit or 16-bit resolution. This means you can take your media out of a DV40 and load it right into a Pro Tools-based computer editing system without doing any file format conversion. The DV40 also gives you internal file conversion between four-track or stereo files and multitrack mono files. File editing modes offer non-destructive edit functions such as Copy, Paste, Insert, Cut and Erase. You can choose between two recording modes, New File and Insert. The Insert mode offers Time Jump UNDO functions supported by time and date. In Tape mode (destructive mode) provides data security for accidental power loss, i.e., previous recording is secured up to the point where the power loss occurred. For back up and archiving a disc duplicate mode is available by installing an optional hard drive, while Audio file duplicate modes are possible on board.
We’ll be back with more info tomorrow and the rest of the week…and possibly into next week. Meanwhile our staff of “web guys” (as we affectionately call them) are toiling away to bring you the full report along with photos on line in the Publications section of our website. By then end of the day today you should be able to find it there.