Welcome to part two of the Summer 2001 NAMM report. We’ll keep these coming piece by piece in inSync for you, but be advised that the whole report is on line now in the publications section of our website.
Aardvark
Aardvark has jumped into the 21st century of fashion and design with the release of the very cool Q10 audio interface. The newest addition to the great DirectPro Series, this rack mount beauty has eight phantom powered inputs and eight outputs via combined XLR/TRS 1/4″ jacks. The first four channels have inserts, too! The Q10 is scheduled to become available within the next several weeks. Retail: $999.
Akai
Users of Akai’s MPC series who have been wishing for realtime analog controls now have something to celebrate. The MFC42 analog filter module includes three channels optimized for stereo drums and mono bass loops, but able to spice up any analog input, with dual filters and large dedicated knobs for great control. The MFC42 has 4 different filter types with 2, 4, or 8 pole curves and dedicated controls for cut off frequencies and resonance. You’ll now have a tremendous amount of flexibility to shape your sounds. It even includes a phono input so you can plug in a turntable! Look for it mid-fall for only $579!
AKG
Ever need a simple but effective solution for automatic mixers for conference systems and other similar installations? AKG is now shipping four rack mount options which are modular, simple to install and even simpler to use. The AS 4+3 single rack mount unit is extremely user-friendly – seriously, a smart pet could operate this unit. It sports four gated, 24-V phantom powered XLR balanced mic inputs and three unbalanced RCA line level inputs. If you need more than four mic inputs, these units easily daisy chain via an expansion port. Retail: $998. The AS 8 and AS 8 TC units are single rack mount units with eight balanced and RF filtered inputs. What makes these two units unique is the patented Adaptive Proportional Gain mixing algorithm. In a nutshell, this is an automatic, intelligent algorithm that allows the microphones with the highest signal levels to receive proportionally higher gain than inactive microphones. Retail: $1417/$1600. The AS16X12, two-space rack unit, rounds out the pack with sixteen balanced/unbalanced mic/line inputs. Along with a slew of other features, setup and operation is simplified with the supplied AKGNet software and RS-232 (no knobs on this unit anywhere). Retail: 3,783. A nice addition to the AS series is the DFM4X4 digital signal processor. This is a single rack unit with four channels of feedback elimination. Additionally, it sports compression, limiting and audio delay on each channel. Control is via the RS-232 serial port.
Alesis
At this point virtually anyone who would care knows that Alesis is under new ownership. We were thrilled to see them at this NAMM show in force. It sounds like production is ramping back up and we’ll soon be seeing lots of new Alesis products on the shelves.
Key among those is their new ProLinear820 reference monitors. These self-powered speakers have plenty of power and are bi-amplified, but they didn’t stop there. They include a cool new DSP control system with a digital cross-over, 4 band parametric EQ, 8 factory presets and 8 user presets, and front panel controls. And if that wasn’t easy enough, you don’t even have to run around to each speaker. With the intelligent RS232 jacks included on the units you can interconnect them all and control them from one unit’s controls, or even a PC computer (Mac software to be available soon!). And let’s not forget that they are shielded, include combination XLR/1/4″ jacks, and have an amazingly flat frequency response for only $750 each! Watch for these to become available by mid-fall.
Apogee
Still blazing the trail with the highest quality digital converters on the market, Apogee introduced two new units at this summer’s NAMM show. The DA16 digital to analog converter is sure to provide excellent quality analog audio with sample rates of up to 96kHz. Even cooler than that, the input sample rate is detected automatically which makes the unit easier to use than ever before. Also featuring the new IntelliDAC technology to provide rock solid Apogee proven timing, the converter’s “intelligent” two-stage re-clocking system de-jitters both the incoming word clock and data. Besides making the systems clocking source ultra solid, IntelliDAC also helps make the system less sensitive to phase errors between synchronous digital sources. Also entering into the music technology arena from Apogee is the twin brother in the AD16 analog to digital converter. Also able to operate at sample rates of up to 96kHz, the AD16 utilizes the same 2 stage re-clocking IntelliDAC technology system to clean up nasty jitter entering the unit. Look for both of these units to be available this coming fall!
ART
Applied Research and Technology, a company that has been producing some extremely popular (and affordable) tube preamps in recent years, has what appears to be another winner on the horizon. Scheduled to ship in late September, the DPS is a dual channel microphone preamp that features balanced analog or High -Z inputs and balanced analog and your choice of digital outputs: S/PDIF, TOSLINK or ADAT (front panel selectable) at a variety of selectable sampling rates (44.1-96k), or sync to external wordclock. This unit will also have Variable Valve Voicing (V3), analog output level meters on each channel, Output Protection Limiting, phase reverse switches, separate gain control on the analog and digital outputs, and an insert loop on each channel for additional signal processing. A ton of value in a 24bit/96kHz ready, single rack space dynamo. Watch for it!