Welcome to the first edition of Sweetwater’s AES 2000 convention and show report!
This is your inSync reporter’s 6th annual AES show and it continues to be my favorite trade show each year. For those of you that may not be familiar with the differences between shows like NAMM (and other similar music and audio trade shows) and the annual AES convention, I will take a minute to describe it for you.
The AES show floor is filled with state-of-the-art studio recording equipment. You generally don’t see many guitars, drums or other musical instruments. Likewise, you won’t see any DJ gear, stage lighting or long displays of music books and accessories. Instead, this is a show for the recording studio professional. Also unlike the other shows, this convention IS open to the public. That means the displays and booths are bigger, fancier and designed to really make your mouth water! Here, you’ll see the large format mixing desks from companies like SSL, AMS/Neve, Euphonix, etc. You see the newest and best new digital recording systems, studio microphones and every piece of new processing gear that a studio may ever want. There are companies that modify or re-release vintage recording equipment and companies that are introducing recording peripherals that we haven’t even heard of or thought about yet.
Because the AES show is also the annual convention for the Audio Engineering Society, there are also seminars, meetings and many booths dedicated to exploring the latest technologies and directions in the art of studio recording. It is never unusual to spot the most famous and talented producers, engineers and studio owners walking the aisles at AES.
Today, we have already seen some very exciting new tools being announced by manufacturers. Of course, before we get into the heart of the report we’ll have to state the usual disclaimer: products, specs and prices announced and reported here are all subject to change. Many manufacturers do not yet know compatibility answers and often do not know exact dates when the new products are likely to hit the streets. We’ll do our best to report things as we see them.
Here’s some of what we have seen thus far on the floor of AES 2000:
DIGIDESIGN
- Digidesign has many new products and upgrades to announce. I will cover only the biggest announcement today and come back to cover the rest in more detail later. Their greatest announcement is the release of Pro Tools 5.1 software. Pro Tools 5.1 is the biggest release ever of Pro Tools — it will greatly expand the power of current Pro Tools TDM core system hardware, and will offer many new productivity tools to both the Music and Post Production customers. Some of the highlights of the new software release include fully integrated Surround mixing on Pro Tools|24 MIX and MIXplus systems, Host-Based Processing on TDM Systems with support for TDM and RTAS Plug-Ins (WOW!) along with the ability to have multiple plug-in windows open at the same time. They have greatly expanded their MIDI support with a MIDI Event List, and a new “Beat Detective” editing feature for tempo detection and conforming (TDM only.) By popular demand, they added Multiple Levels of Undo, unique new flexible I/O assignment capability and seriously improved interchange of sessions between Pro Tools systems. Added flexibility will be achieved with the ability to deactivate tracks, plug-ins and I/O assignments without losing settings and automation, too! Pro Tools will now have the ability to slave Pro Tools to 9-pin devices (TDM only) and AVoption customers gain the ability to use multiple video clips and cuts-only editing with both AVoption and AVoption|XL. Digidesign also announced a limited-time bundle promotion for Surround metering and management. Home Studio customers running Pro Tools LE systems will benefit from many of the same features, including the ability to create stereo tracks, the new MIDI features, flexible I/O assignments, and more. Digidesign always has one of the very best looking and most informative displays!
NEUMANN
- Neumann is announcing a couple of new products, a microphone and a preamp. Their new M 150 Tube microphone, the latest in the heralded Neumann M 50 lineage, uses a new, sphere-mounted, all titanium capsule with truly state-of-the-art specifications. The M 150 Tube is an omnidirectional pressure microphone with a transformerless output designed for high end orchestral and acoustic recording. Also being introduced is the True Precision P2 Digital Preamp. This is a high performance, two channel mic pre with 24/96 digital output, multi-channel optical output routing, MS decoding, stereo phase correlation display and front panel discrete FET DI inputs at a realistic price.
TC ELECTRONICS/HELICON VOCAL TECHNOLOGIES
- Helicon Vocal Technologies Inc. has unveiled the first product in its line of voice processing tools – the Helicon VoicePrism Voice Formant and Pitch Processor. The VoicePrism is a full solution vocal processor for both the stage and studio. Unlike simple harmony processors, the VoicePrism has a full range of lead and backing channel vocal processing under preset control. The VoicePrism provides the ability to go directly from a phantom powered mic into its high quality 48V mic preamp to access any of the on-board processes. Some of the on-board processing includes compression, gating, dual fully parametric EQ, 4-voice harmony (with individually adjustable gender controls and humanizing parameters) and a 5th lead-doubling voice for automatic double-tracking. They have 2 separate post-effects blocks (including chorus/flange, delay and reverb with predelay), effects and harmony libraries, preset browser with context sensitive help menus, and you can even audition sampled human voices for preset previewing. Outputs include analog and S/PDIF digital I/O. The VoicePrism also supports an upcoming VoicePrism Expansion Card (available 2001) which will offer the world’s first implementation of Human Voice Physical Modeling as well as both AES/EBU and S/PDIF I/O. Retail price of the VoicePrism is announced at $1299.
SEASOUND
- SeaSound is announcing the release of their new Soloist. The Soloist is a self-contained computer recording solution that features 24-bit/96kHz converters with a Mac and PC compatible PCI card. They’ve included a high quality mic preamp with phantom power, high impedance guitar preamp, preamp trim, level, monitor pan with record assign (L,R) switch, stereo line inputs with gain switch, level controls and record assign switch, six-segment VU meters, MIDI I/O with activity light, input monitor, computer monitor and control room level controls and one loud headphone amp. They also have an expansion port to accept the SeaSound Solo Expander, for 8 input and 8 output operation. SeaSound is known for their straight-forward simplicity and quality sound. They feature “zero latency monitoring” and offer no menus to scroll through, or background mixers to open, just plug in and flip a switch and record your song. Retail pricing was announced at $499.
We’ll have much more exciting news from the floor of AES 2000 Monday, direct from your inSync “cub-reporter” Clay Stahlka.