There are just so many cool products being shown at this year’s Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany that we could easily fill several days worth of inSync. But as the show is winding down, we’re going to give you a quick, condensed report on some of the new gear highlights.
- BIAS announced Peak Pro 6, which is expected to ship in the third quarter of this year. Powerful, but user-friendly, Peak Pro 6 is “must-have” software for audio editors, mastering engineers, sound designers, webmasters, and anyone that needs to edit audio with unsurpassed precision.
- Cakewalk Session Drummer 2 was designed to provide SONAR users with a fast, fun way to create drum tracks that actually sound like a drummer played them. It includes real multi-sampled drum kits and patterns. Build an accompaniment by simply loading a drum kit, then dragging and dropping patterns into your project.
- IK Multimedia announced several new products, including Sample Tank 2.5, a powerful update for their popular sample workstation plug-in that will now include an enhanced effects system. In conjunction with Sonic Reaality, the company also announced a strategic alliance with Moog Music to offer sampled Moog synth sounds. Also new is Sonik Instruments, a series of virtual instrument plug-ins that will focus on rare, top-quality acoustic instruments.
- Novation’s newest entry into the audio interface market is a flexible 2-in and 4-out mobile solution that the company is calling nio 2|4. There are two inputs on 1/4-inch instrument and XLR microphone jacks with phantom power. Direct X technology allows all the unit’s effects to be used in real time.
- RME will be expanding its line of recording solutions for the PCI-Express bus found on current Mac OS and Windows computers. The HDSPe 9632 card comes with the finest 192kHz reference convertors, a 96kHz-capable ADAT I/O, S/PDIF I/O and MIDI I/O plus a separate headphone out.
- Steinberg presented Sequel, an exciting new “one-window” music studio for anyone who wants to create their own music on a PC or Mac with just a few mouse clicks. Inspiration comes from built-in loops, as well as over 600 instantly playable instruments that are perfect for dance projects, urban beats, rock and pop songs, and much more.
- For those who don’t have the room or budget for a full V-Drums kit, Roland unveiled the new HD-1. It’s based on the same technology as the big V-Drums, but is much simpler to use, not to mention incredibly quiet, thanks to the newly designed kick beater, cushioned tom pads, and snare head. The HD-1 is also conveniently compact, quite stylish, and simple to use: Just take it out of the box and play.
- One of the most revered echo effects ever made, the Roland RE-201 Space Echo, has been reborn as the BOSS RE-20 Twin Pedal! Every sonic detail and nuance of the original has been carefully preserved, but you also get longer delay times and a tap tempo pedal. Even the tape flutter and magnetic head sound saturation is duplicated.
- Solid State Logic announced the XLogic Alpha VHD Pre, a rackmount slab of pure analogue attitude. Whether you need to track pristine vocals, crunched drums, or electric guitars on the edge of sonic destruction, the VHD Pre delivers a powerful sound shaping tool kit. Based on the VHD circuit from SSL’s acclaimed Duality console, the VHD Pre adds four SSL mic preamps to any line-level DAW audio interface, turning it into a pro-quality, multi-channel analog recording system.
- Tube-Tech and TC Electronic announced the Tube-Tech CL 1B plug-in for Pro Tools TDM and the PowerCore system. Based on highly advanced, patented component emulation technology, the analog sound of the original CL 1B compressor/limiter is now available to Pro Tools and PowerCore users.
- Speaking of TC Electronic, the company has been busy – very busy! At Musikmesse they announced the C400XL dual gate/compressor, the G-Natural acoustic guitar effects system, and two new Nova Effects Pedals, the ND-1 Nova Delay and the NR-1 Nova Reverb. Other guitar-oriented items include the Vintage Octa Screamer, which produces an octave above the original pitch (think “Purple Haze”).
- Konnekt Live is TC’s audio interface for live performance. It offers the same high quality audio converters and effects of the company’s Konnekt 24D in a performance-ready package. We could easily fill this page with all the awesome features of just this one product – it’s the perfect interface for any venue.
- If you sing and play guitar, the Harmony Control|Guitar by TC Helicon allows you to control your vocal harmony processor while you play. Essentially, this awesome little box “reads” your guitar playing and tells your MIDI-equipped harmony processor how to sing the correct notes. Meanwhile, there are now two VoiceTone pedals for vocalists: VoiceTone Correct combines pitch correction with dynamic tone shaping that delivers a studio-quality gloss in live situations. VoiceTone Create features 99 preset combinations of reverb, delay, thickening, and other vocal enhancement effects.