Recording - January 2012 - 10

New gear in New York
The 131st AES Convention took place at the Javits Convention Center in New York City this past October 20–23. The exhibitor hall was located in a different part of the Javits than its usual home, and seemed a bit smaller than usual, but the smaller size interestingly did not translate to “lower traffic” or “a weak show”. Everywhere we went, the exhibitors on hand were commenting on how slammed the show was from the moment it opened, and how the people visiting were interested and educated buyers, indicative of the industry’s slow but ongoing rally after the slump of recent years. There were a lot of new products on display, many of which will be reviewed here in upcoming issues. We had to leave out a bunch of exhibitors, who either didn’t have anything brand-new for the show, or whose new products weren’t directly relevant to Recording’s readership (e.g. wireless or headset mics), or whose press materials didn’t get to us in time for this issue. Time to hit the aisles...!—MM
A-Designs Audio (adesignsaudio.com): The JM-3001 ($TBA) is a 1U rackmount mic preamp with instrument input and equalizer. The instrument input is fully separate from the preamp and eq and can be used on its own, as can the eq, which has its own transformer and 3 parametric eq bands.

Report by Mike Metlay

ADAM Audio (adam-audio.com): The A77X ($1399 each) is a new monitor with the famous X-ART ribbon tweeter with frequency response to 50 kHz, as well as two 7" woofers, one for bass below 400 Hz and the other for the midrange, eliminating interference between the two drivers. ADK (adkmic.com): The HA-FX is a transformer-based body for the 3 Zigma CHI modular microphone system, expected to sell for roughly $100 more than the transformerless HA-TLII body. AEA (ribbonmics.com): The RPQ500 ($649) is a 500-Series version of the RPQ preamp, offering 80 dB of quiet JFET gain, input impedance above 10 kilohms, and CurveShaper tunable high- and low-frequency filters. AnaMod (anamodaudio.com): The Realios A9052 ($TBA) is a 500Series module that faithfully recreates the very musical equalizer in the vintage Olympic Studios recording desk, but with a wider dynamic range (about
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RECORDING JANUARY 2012

6 dB greater than normal for 500 Series modules thanks to step-down input transformer and step-up output transformer). API (apiaudio.com): A proprietary automation package is now available for the 1608 console with moving faders, data storage on SD cards, automated Mute and Solo switches, unlimited fader groups with two dedicated Group Masters, unlimited mix restore points, and DAW control with unity-gain audio bypass (no computer is needed to automate the console). Introductory pricing starts at $11,900 for a 16-channel console, $5900 for a 16-channel expander, and the system can be expanded to 48 channels. Apogee Electronics (apogeedigital.com): The Duet 2 ($595) is a 24bit/192 kHz USB 2.0 audio interface for the Mac with two inputs, four independent outputs, a full-color OLED display, configurable touchpads, soft limiting, monitor mono and dim, and more. Look for a review soon. Audio-Technica (audio-technica.com): The AT2022 ($439) first previewed at Winter NAMM is now shipping. It is an X/Y stereo condenser microphone with 80 Hz rolloff switching whose coincident elements can pivot for a 90- or 120-degree stereo pickup pattern, or fold flat for storage/transportation. Avid (avid.com): Arguably the biggest news of the show was the release of Pro Tools 10 in Native ($699, $299 upgrade from PT9) and forthcoming HD formats, with a wide variety of new and upgraded features—like Clip Gain, realtime fades, improved disk handling, support for multiple file types per project without conversion, a new Channel Strip based on the Euphonix System 5 console, and much more. Avid also announced the new HDX Series of DSP cards to replace the now decade-old HD cards, with new complete systems starting at $9999. Look for reviews of the new hardware and software very soon.

Top to bottom: Avid Pro Tools 10, ADAM Audio A77X, AEA RPQ500

http://www.apiaudio.com http://www.adesignsaudio.com http://www.apogeedigital.com http://www.audio-technica.com http://www.adam-audio.com http://www.avid.com http://www.adkmic.com http://www.ribbonmics.com http://www.anamodaudio.com

Recording - January 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2012