Just when we recovered from the Summer NAMM Show, it's time to jump back on a jet and go to San Francisco for the AES Show. For the uninitiated, the AES Show differs from NAMM in two fundamental ways: 1) It is open to the general public, and 2) the equipment is almost entirely high tech studio equipment. At AES there are no drums, flutes, banjos, saxophones or bongos being sold. Instead you will find 96-input Euphonix desks, ProControl editing systems, Studer tape machines and mixers, all manner of hard disk recording technology, and a variety of other high-tech products. Of course, because AES is an Engineering Society, there is a whole wing devoted to papers, seminars and standards. This is where the engineers come together to decide standards and disseminate information on just how the equipment we’re going to see in the next few years is going to work together.

There are a few trends that could easily be observed at the show. One of the most obvious is the shift towards 24-bit, 96kHz recording and converters, and 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound technologies are also big news. Much of this is a symptom of the final DVD standard which was announced at this show and created a big buzz. Most prolific of all are the digital audio workstations. You couldn’t walk 15 feet without running into a company selling their idea of how to record and edit audio on a tapeless system.

One of the most entertaining parts of the show takes place before the show starts. Since Sweetwater was an exhibitor we were able to get in before any public or press were allowed. The day before it started, the floor was filled with giant shipping crates, booth pieces, and occasionally you'd see a technician hovering over some new thing with a scope and soldering iron. One never knows if the problem was shipping related, the product had a failure, or if it just wasn't quite finished yet. You would be amazed if you really knew the time, energy, money, and effort these people have to spend to make a product successful.

At 12:00 the doors opened and the crowd rushed in as if they were trying to get that front seat at a festival seating concert. It was an almost civilized stampede. Here is a smattering of what they saw. This is by no means a complete report. Those seeking greater depth of information need only check out our Web site for the full unedited report.

ALLEN AND HEATH had the new GS3000 32 x 8 mixer (street price around $6500) up and running. This board features faders on both input and tape signal paths as well as two patchable tube microphone preamps built in.

ALESIS essentially hired the brains behind the successful Groove Tube microphone line and then assimilated them as their own. Nice if you can do it! Prices range from $549 for the AM51 to $1299 for the AM62.

AMEK had Rupert Neve in the house showing off his 9098i console. If any of you have about a million dollars you'd like to throw at one of the most amazing desks ever developed, this is the board for you.

ANTARES’ new ATR-1 pitch correction hardware box was being put to the test. I sang through it and it even made me sound on key. Wow! It really works. I can think of some country singers I'd like to give one of these to. See Page 11 for more.

APOGEE gave us a nice demo of their newest stuff. The Rosetta A/D ($1295) is their new budget converter system. It is a two channel unit with built-in ADAT Lightpipe and TDIF connections. It will do 24-bit conversion or lower bit depths with UV-22 process. They also announced plans to release an improved version of UV-22 called UV-22HR. Existing AD-8000 units will be able to be upgraded.

ART debuted a sexy looking new processor called DMU-Pro ($499), which is based on a dual processor architecture. They also have a new Tube mic preamp and a new dual tube EQ, both priced at $499 list.

BEYERDYNAMIC had a pair of their MCD-100 digital microphones hooked up and they sounded beautiful. There is only so much one can hear at a trade show, but I heard enough to make me want to hear more under more controlled circumstances.

DIGIDESIGN, as usual, had the largest, most crowded booth at the show and and shook everyone up with their announcement (and working demos) of Pro Tools on Windows NT machines.

EARTHWORKS had the new SR71 ($399) live cardioid microphone on display. It is housed in a much more rugged case than their precision studio mics.

EMU•ENSONIQ. Get used to seeing those names together. The Proteus 2000 ($1495) looks ready to ship. The 32-channel, 128-voice unit has some real nice sounding built-in effects and looks like it will be a great new platform for their future. Their big news was the Mantis Modular Digital Mixing System ($2500–$9000). The central unit is the mainframe, which houses I/O cards for interfacing to all sorts of equipment.

ETEK gets my award for niftiest product at the show with their 14-channel NoteMix, a notebook style powered mixer. I mean it literally looks like a notebook computer. It opens with the inside lid having all of the mixer controls. It also comes with a gig bag. All of this for around $899.

EVENT showed a new powered $999 subwoofer for their monitor range with 250 watts driving a down-firing 15" speaker. They also announced DSPFX version 5.0, which will include more plug-ins than the previous version while maintaining the $249 price. But the really big news was unquestionably that their Layla system is now totally compatible with the Macintosh. (Editor’s Note: We have them in stock and the drivers are downloadable right from our Web site!)

FOSTEX debuted their new FD-8 multi-tracker ($899). This big brother to the FD-4 adds not only an extra four tracks, but has 16 virtual tracks, an ADAT and S/PDIF digital I/O, and disk to disk transfer ability for archiving.

GEFEN SYSTEMS had a new PC/Mac 241 CPU switcher which allows you to shift effortlessly between Mac and PC using the same keyboard and monitor. Units were widely used around the show by companies showing cross platform products.

GENELEC showed the 1038AC, a tri-amplified center channel monitor designed specifically to go with their 1038 monitors. It has two 10" speakers, a 5" speaker, and a 1" metal dome tweeter with two 200 watt, and two 120 watt amplifiers.

HHB showed the Circle-5 passive ($749) and active ($1399) studio monitors, which are designed for 5.1 and 7.1 applications. The active ones are bi-amped with 120 watt and 70 watt amps. The 8-inch woofer has that distinctive HHB purple color.

JBL had one of the most spectacular audio demos of the show. Their LSR series monitors were set up in a 5.1 configuration with some very well crafted mixes being played. These monitors really need to be heard to be fully appreciated. See Page 9 for more.

KURZWEIL showed a nearly finished version of their long awaited Expression Mate controller system and the K2500 AES keyboard. KDFX for the K2500 was working impressively (See Page 8 of this issue for more on this) as well as Live Mode. We were also shown the undocumented procedure for using Live Mode to turn the K2500 into a full featured vocoder. Stay tuned for details!

LEXICON surprised us by awarding us their Dealer of the Year award. It's always nice to be recognized in this way, but just between you and me, it’s easy to sell products that are this great. Their big announcement was that they will have full ASIO support for their Lexicon Studio recording system. This will make them fully compatible with all of the popular digital audio/MIDI programs around.

MARK OF THE UNICORN was present with their Digital Performer software running on Digidesign's Project II hardware. The new version of the MAS driver is online for free download at “www.motu.com/downloads/DigiPerfMac/mas131”. It gives users the option of using MAS or DAE for playback, each having its own advantages.

NEUMANN displayed the new gold U87 Special Edition and the incredible new M147. After winning their second TEC Award in a row (this time for the TLM103), they stand a legitimate chance, with the M147, of getting the hat trick next year.

OPCODE showed DATport, a new USB interface that provides the easiest possible way to get digital audio into a computer. The interface is brain-dead simple: a USB port on one side and a pair of S/PDIF ports on the other. Simply plug it into your USB port (you can plug it in while the system is hot) on your PC and it's ready to go. No messing with drivers (it doesn't even come with a disk) or DMAs, IRQs or anything.

ORAM caught the attention of many of the "big" console manufacturers with the Series 48 desk. The board employs John Oram’s legendary analog designs, but puts them completely under digital control. There is a microprocessor on every single channel module, which gives him tons of headroom for future enhancements, as well as the ability to recall every parameter on the desk in a mere 8 micro-seconds. There’s lots more to tell you about this, so look for a full report, probably in our next issue.

PANASONIC upgraded their DA7 software to version 1.1 which adds comprehensive MIDI communication, enhanced EQ and surround sound capabilities, and several other improvements. The upgrade is free to all users.

RODE debuted a new tube microphone called the NTV ($1199). It has an edge connected diaphragm like the legendary AKG C12. It seemed to have a very warm and punchy sound while being very low noise for a tube.

SONIC SOLUTIONS is leading the way in developing mastering tools for DVD. Their for a base machine) which is built on an engine many times more powerful than anything Sony has ever done. Data and algorithms are loaded in through a built in CD ROM drive. The unit is specifically designed to produce the most stunning digital reverbs possible - and in full surround.

STUDER had many amazing things in their booth, like the new V-8 machines and V-24 system. This S-VHS machine is based on the Alesis M20 ADAT, but has a different look and slightly different feature set. The V-24 system is comprised of three V-8 machines and a really sexy looking controller on a roll around stand.

SUMMIT showed one of the most attractive new products at the show, the MPE-200 (under $5000) mic preamp. This Rupert Neve designed unit offers discrete solid state components running Class A with transformer inputs and outputs. It is under digital control and has MIDI with SysEx capability.

TANNOY showed an active version of their successful Reveal monitors. The Active Reveals ($449 each) are bi-amped with 50 watts on both low and high frequency transducers. Also shown were the new 800 dual concentric active monitors ($1999) with 90 watts on both the low and high end. A new smaller, active subwoofer called PS-110 ($499) is designed to go with the Reveals and brings up the bottom with a 100 watt driven 10-inch woofer.

TASCAM showed a variety of new products. The CD-RW5000 ($1299) is their new CD burner. It supports all types of media, including rewritable, and has all of the common digital I/O connections. They also have imported a SCSI CD burning package based on a drive from their parent Teac line. The CD Burner 4 x 12 is available in Mac and PC versions (with appropriate software for each) for $630. Still in early development is the TM-D4000 digital mixer ($4299). This unit is currently positioned as a slightly scaled down TM-D8000, but will have 24-bit I/O throughout, built-in effects and all moving fader automation.

TC ELECTRONIC blew us away with the new M3000 ($2495) reverb unit. This one represents years of intensive research on the properties of sound in acoustic spaces. The results of this research have been known for a while, but they actually had to wait until there was a processor powerful enough to efficiently run the algorithms before they could build this box. Also, the Finalizer Express is their budget entry into the final stage limiting/EQ market. With a street price of under $1400 it will be a great addition to any project studio looking to make pro sounding masters.
Well, unfortunately that’s all we have room for here. Keep watching these pages and log onto our Web site often for updates on these hot new products