Summer NAMM 2000 Report
Part 2
Welcome to the second part of our adventures at Summer NAMM 2000 in Nashville. When we last left you, your NAMM Report staff was tracking down the hot new releases from the world’s top manufacturers. Today’s episode finds them checking out some cool mixing systems, discovering whole new species of MiniDisc recorders, and taking a turn on the wheels of steel (well, that last part is a stretch…). Once again, this in no way represents a complete or even totally accurate listing of all the new gear at NAMM, just what we could get from what we saw.
TC WORKS: A plethora of cool new stuff at the TC Works booth, including two great-sounding “virtual analog synths.” First up was a new VST Instrument called Mercury-1 ($199), a Mac/PC Virtual Analog Software Synthesizer. It’s a monophonic synth with four engines, each of which has a dual oscillator and an additional sub oscillator. With any kind of VST Instrument, the name of the game is authenticity. The Mercury-1 has authenticity in buckets. We saw it in action and the sounds were incredible; close your eyes and you’d swear those fat bass lines and bubbling leads were coming from a “real” analog synth.
The second was the Spark Modular ($99), a new modular virtual analog synthesizer for TC Works’ Spark editing, processing and mastering system for Mac OS users. Spark Modular can be used integrated within the realtime digital audio editor application Spark, or as a stand-alone VST instrument within any Macintosh application supporting VST instruments. It’s an excellent tool for anyone who enjoys the creativity of building their own synth. Inside Spark Modular is a special VST instrument version of Spark’s FX machine so you can run it with any sequencer supporting VST instruments. The open-ended design of the FX machine means you can design a synth with the included TC-O oscillator, TC-F filter and TC-A amplifier modules; you decide how many oscillators, filters or amplifiers you would like, and in which order you would like to combine them. The TCO monophonic dual oscillator module gives you all the essential waveforms, along with Pulse Width Modulation, a Sub-Oscillator, Oscillator Sync, Ring Modulation and an integrated LFO.
Finally, they released the Master X 3+ 5 Bundle ($995) featuring an all new 5 band dynamics processing plug in – MasterX 5, bundled along with the original studio standard original MasterX 3 band plug in. The new bundle includes the entire set of features and improvements found in version 1.5 which are now available in both plug-ins. MasterX 3+5 Bundle provides integrated multiband expansion, compression and limiting, all optimized for mastering applications within Digidesign’s Pro Tools.
DYNAUDIO ACOUSTICS: We got an ear and eye full of their very cool mixing system, the BM5.1A Complete 5.1 Mixing System ($9,497). From what we saw and heard, it looks to be an excellent system for postproduction, broadcast and audio for film facilities. Basically, the system consists of five matched dual 100W amplified BM6A nearfield monitors and one active (and very powerful) BX30 Bass Extension System. The low pass networks on the BX30 are designed to meet Dolby, DTS and THX criteria for theaters.
GEMINI: Two turntables and a microphone? Well, the turntables at least. Gemini has made quite a reputation for itself as a manufacturer of distinctive turntables for professional (read DJ, but not necessarily) applications. Their PT Series of turntables look set to win a few more high marks with the debut of the PT2100 ($429) and the PT2400 ($499). Features on both include 33/45 RPM speed selection, high-torque direct drive platter, quartz speed lock, and locking reverse button. There’s also +/- 10% pitch control, soft-touch start/stop button, pitch bend, arm-lift height adjustment, and up to 7 grams of adjustable tone arm pressure. Finally, you get a strobe illuminator, removable headshell, and dust cover. What’s the difference between the two models? The PT2400 features a large LCD display and can play at 78 speed – presumably so you can go buck wild on your grandparents’ Bull Moose Jackson records.
AURALEX: Have you ever seen that sweet set up on the cover of the Auralex literature? You know the one I’m talking about: lots of panels, MAX stands, and a window panel WITH the window. Well, now it comes in one convenient package. The MAX-Wall 831 Kit comes with 8 20″x 48″ panels, 3 MAX stands, and 1 window panel with window included. All that for a list price of $749!
SONY: The Sony booth was heaven for fans of the MiniDisc recorder in all its many variations. In the “big-things-in-small-packages” department were two nifty portable, compact Minidisc recorders. First up is the versatile MZ-R70, which looked suited to practically any audio application you can think of. An extensive list of features includes stereo or mono recording, digital recording, 40-second shock resistant memory on playback, up to 6.5 hours recording/12 hours playback, digital recording level control, LCD wired remote, and tons more. Next is the MZ-B50, the ideal MiniDisc recorder for “on-location” or “in-the-field” recording. Features include stereo or mono recording, and built-in mono mic and speaker, and much more. But the coolest feature had to be the voice-activated recording.
If you ONLY want to record voice, you’ll be excited about the ICD-MS1 Memory StickT Voice Recorder. It’s an extremely portable, solid-state digital voice recorder that uses Memory Stick media storage that lets you transfer your recordings to PC. It has a HUGE memory (up to 965 messages in 340 file folders, 63 min SP/131 min LP-w/supplied 16MB Memory StickT), as well as backlit LCD display, Voice Editor software, Built-in microphone and speaker, and advanced digital VOR with no “clipping.” For a non-portable (but still cool) MiniDisc recorder player, they had the MDS-JB940. Some of its features include 24-bit A/D converters using Wide Bit Stream technology, digital and analog record level control, pitch-control, optical and coaxial digital I/O, 6-second time machine recording, and 25-track programming. They were also showing off their brand new professional CD Recorder, the CDR-W33. Designed for the studio/broadcast market, the CDR-W33 features a 24-bit AD/DA converter and Super Bit mapping (SBM-provides near 20-bit quality). There’s also a PC keyboard interface, coaxial digital S/PDIF interface, analog unbalanced RCA I/O, 32kHz-48kHz sample rate converter. Other features include 2 times FINALIZE, and a wireless/wired remote. It accepts both CD-R and CD-RW media.
Finally, they had a new, full-featured DSP Digital EQ/Processor called the SRP-F300 ($1,800). It’s a 24-bit/96kHz, 2×6 full-featured DSP processor. Features include fully programmable 31-band EQ, 6 full parametric 3-band EQ, 12 crossover filters, 6 peak limiters, RS-232C, and more. The outstanding feature of the SRP-F300 is it’s audio performance, frequency characteristic extends to more than 40kHz and dynamic range (A-weight) is more than 110dB. With an all-balanced XLR interface, this unit is definitely geared for the professional market. It comes with control/setup software.
That’s all we have time for today. We’ll be back tomorrow with more cool new stuff from NAMM.