This is our fourth report in our continuing series from the floor of the AES 2000 convention and show in Los Angeles.
The 109th AES Convention is proving to be another success story, both for the manufacturers and for the attendees. Some attendees argue that there are not as many revolutionary new and different products being displayed this year as at one time, many years ago. I counter that argument by stating that nobody can doubt that the technology being shown proves that we work and play in one of the most exciting fields in the world!I guess that with the immediate delivery of the Internet, news of new product development reaches the public much more quickly. Therefore, it is seldom “new” news when we see “new” products at a show like AES 2000.It is still so very exciting to actually see and hear all the great equipment developed by such talented engineers, all under one roof. No matter what the definition of “new” is to you, anyone should agree that the technologies we are all witnessing here at AES 2000 will, most certainly, improve the way in which we all create in the audio business.That is what really matters.
Here are some more of the great “new” developments being displayed at AES 2000:
ALESIS
One of the products that has caught everyone’s eye is the new AirFX. Alesis calls it “something from another planet.” I call it a very interesting tool to add to our real-time control palette. The AirFX is a unique new audio controller and special effects processor all rolled into a device that might be seen in a sci-fi flick. It creates an invisible 3D infrared sphere that allows the user to move the hands, or any other part of the body, through the field to modify any audio signal routed through the analog I/O.The kinds of processing available range from filters to pitch based effects, and nearly everything in between. All I can say is that there is no creative tool created quite like the AirFX. You’ve gotta try one!
Alesis is also showing their new generation of reasonably priced power amplifiers. First, they look great! Second, they dramatically expand the range that has long been occupied by the RA100. They’ve bettered the performance and audio quality while maintaining a very affordable price point across the 3 new models in the line. The new line consists of the RA150 at 75 watts/channel into 4 ohms, the RA300 at 150 watts/channel into 4 ohms and the RA500 at 250 watts/channel into 4 ohms. They all have a convection cooled design with front panel level controls and allow bridged mono operation. They offer unbalanced -10db as well as +4db balanced inputs and are ideal for many studio applications.
To go along with their new amplifier design, Alesis has re-engineered their long-standing and popular near-field reference loudspeaker, the Monitor One. The new Monitor One mkII offers a new 6.5″ low-frequency driver for tighter, more accurate bass response, and a newly designed 1″ silk-dome high-frequency transducer for more detailed response and a broader sound stage.They also redesigned the cabinet, adding magnetic shielding, and re-engineering the port design for more efficiency and response linearity. Overall, this new design makes for a much better performance, over the original Monitor One, and a classy new look.
GT Electronics is showing a great looking and great sounding new tube preamp called the Vipre. Vipre stands for Variable Impedance Preamplifier designed to provide a much better match to any microphone that might be used with it. This class-A all-tube design offers variable input controls for tube, FET, ribbon or dynamic microphones. It has a switch-selectable rise time control, precise detented gain setting control, precision metering and a huge (+30dBm) amount of gain. The wonderful “vintage” appearance, warm and smooth sound, and incredibly robust construction and design make this piece rise to the top of all of our wish-lists. They brought an early prototype of this to Sweetwater many months ago and we were all blown away with it. This is a seriously robust preamp that sounds fabulous on many different types of microphones.
Finally, Alesis is showing their newest keyboard, the Andromeda A6. With more real-time control than is found on most any other synth, the Andromeda A6 offers a 16-voice, 16-channel multitimbral engine with full MIDI control. It offers 2 analog oscillators per voice, with 5 waveforms, suboscillators, hard and soft sync. It has a 2-pole multimode resonating filter and 4-pole lowpass resonating filter per voice. The Andromeda A6 has portamento with nine slopes, extensive mod matrix, multiple keyboard modes and a whole lot more. It also offers 16 outputs (one for each voice) plus stereo main outputs and stereo aux outputs. It really shines with it’s real-time control.It offers 72 knobs, 144 buttons, 61-note keyboard, ribbon controller and an easy to see large backlit display of all values. The Andromeda A6 may be the most advanced analog synth yet!
AVALON
Avalon is showing their new 2-channel, symmetrical Class-A discrete mic preamp, the AD2022. This preamp also has selectable input impedance control for proper mic and cable matching, high-voltage Class-A regulated power supplies, and Teflon/silver point-to-point hand wiring. The features include balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs, variable-passive high pass filter, and 2 high impedance inputs on the front. It fits into Avalon’s line as a more versatile dual channel preamp with the same sonic capabilities and transparency of the famous Avalon M5. In typical Avalon fashion, this piece sounds tremendous!
SHURE
Shure has added a new companion microphone to the successful KSM line. The new KSM44/SL is a multi-pattern large diaphram condenser microphone, designed for critical studio vocal tracking applications. It offers Cardioid, Omnidirectional and Bidirectional patterns with it’s dual diaphram capsule design. The KSM44/SL uses a transformerless class-A circuitry with a 15db attenuation switch and a 3-position switchable low-frequency filter. It comes with a locking aluminum case, shockmount and swivel mount.
AARDVARK
Aardvark has introduced a new group of products to their Direct Pro Series family. The most stunning addition is the new Direct Pro Q32. It has a 1U rack design audio interface with 24-bit/96kHz shielded converters and their well established and phenomenal low-jitter clock along with their shielded PCI card. The interface offers 8 XLR discrete mic inputs with phantom power, 16 line-level inputs, 2 guitar inputs, 4 inserts, 10 line outputs, 8-channel ADAT I/O, ADAT sync, 8-channel TDIF I/O, s/pdif, MIDI, wordclock, adjustable headphone output, and monitor output control. As in all of their Direct Pro Series, it offers latency-free DSP effects and is compatible with most every Windows audio software application. This product lists at only $899.
Aardvark also is showing the new Direct Pro LX6. This piece has the great 24bit/96kHz converters shared in all of their systems, along with the extemely low jitter clock and PCI card.The interface differs in that it offers 4 line inputs, 6 line outputs, s/pdif, MIDI and adjustable headphone output.Like the others, it has latency-free DSP effects and Windows audio software application compatibility.This piece has an MSRP of $349.
The Direct Mix USB 3 is a new USB audio interface designed for Mac, PC and laptop compatibility. This piece is a small desktop design with 2 knobs 3 switches and a fader for easy control. It offers 24-bit A/D converters, a stereo line in/out, guitar and mic input and a headphone output. A perfect addition to a portable audio workstation, the Direct Mix USB 3 lists at only $229.
Tomorrow I’ll have more interesting new products from the floor of AES 2000. “Good Day” from your AES reporter, Clay Stahlka.