2008 AES show gear highlights

2008 AES show gear highlights

6 October, 2008 | 10.00AM

• Written by: francispreve
• Filed under: Music News: audio engineering society, technology, tradeshow

Last week, the 125th Audio Engineering Society tradeshow was held in San Francisco, California.

Unlike the twice-yearly NAMM tradeshow, which focuses on all types of music and club gear, the AES show highlights studio and recording products, so there weren’t a lot of DJ or synth toys on hand.

Instead, the focus was on plug-ins, microphones, hardware effects, monitors and the like.

While the toys on display may not be as glamorous as flashy tone generators, this gear is an equally important component of a producers arsenal.

Here are some of the announcements that caught our attention.

Cakewalk SONAR V-Studio 700

The Roland-Cakewalk marriage is starting to take shape in interesting new ways.

The duo’s big AES announcement is their SONAR V-Studio 700 hardware/software suite that evokes ProTools-style integration between SONAR 8 and the new VS-700R audio interface and VS-700C studio control surface.

In addition to its 20x26, 24-bit/192kHz audio i/o with high-end converters and pre-amps, the VS-700R sports the nifty inclusion of an integrated Roland Fantom VS hardware synthesizer.

Combined with SONAR’s Rapture softsynth, this system offers a shocking amount of tone-generating power.

Knob-twiddlers and fader freaks will undoubtedly get all lathered up by the hands-on possibilities of the VS-700R control surface which allows mouse-free access to a slew of SONAR features.

It doesn’t hurt that the VS-700R is also quite sexy looking in that “big studio” kind of way.

The full suite includes:

- SONAR 8 Producer + the full version of Rapture
- The VS-700C V-Studio Console
- The VS-700R V-Studio I/O
- The Integrated Roland Fantom VS hardware synthesizer
- Direct control of EDIROL video hardware such as the DV-7 line of nonlinear video editors and other hardware with V-Link support

If all this studio power has you feeling a little lightheaded, here are a couple of details that might help snap you back to reality.

The SONAR V-Studio 700 package won’t be available until February 2009.

And it will set you back a cool four grand (US).

Ah, the price of power.

Arturia Origin ships!

After a seeming eternity of stunning product demos and more buzz than a Dutch beehive, Arturia has finally delivered on its promise of their Origin hardware synth – a beast that incorporates Arturia’s award-winning virtual synthesis technology.

According to the press release, “Origin goes beyond the traditional definition of synthesizers. It is a hardware DSP system that houses several synthesizers in one machine. Some of these synths come from the past, such as the Minimoog, some are totally new and innovative.”

In plain English, this means that the combined might of their vintage Moog, Arp, Yamaha, Sequential, and Roland softsynths is all rolled up into a knob-laden hardware device that virtually screams “fondle me.”

The Origin’s full specs are fairly extraordinary, so if you have a spare $3200 US lying around and a taste for hardware, the Origin is an impressive machine.

Universal Audio LA-610 Mk II

In addition to the Moog Filter plug-in we covered last week, Universal Audio announced their second generation update to the LA-610 channel strip – a fully analog signal processor that incorporates real tubes for real warmth that digital gear still can’t quite nail.

Based on Legendary Bill Putnam 610 Tube Mic Pre and EQ (with an integrated Teletronix LA-2A-style T4 Opto-Compressor, to boot) the LA-610 Mk II adds the following subtle features to the original specs:

- True Bypass of the Compressor Circuit
- Larger and Better Lit Metering
- Improved Output Signal Performance
- Auto-Sensing Universal Power Supply
- Improved stability with feedback-style shelving EQ
- Improved consistency with Input Gain values
- LED Jewel Light Never Needs Replacing

With a street price of $1599 US, this wholesome tube goodness isn’t for everybody, but if you’re recording audio of any sort it’s certainly worth a closer look.

Blue BottleRocket Stage One & Two Microphones

And speaking of recording audio, Blue unveiled two new BottleRocket microphones.

Beatportal readers know that we’re definite fans of Blue microphones (especially the über-portable Snowflake), so the BottleRockets look quite promising.

The Stage One BottleRocket is a transformerless solid-state microphone system with the that’s fully compatible with their Bottle Caps interchangeable capsule system and comes with their versatile B8 capsule, as well as a custom shockmount and wood storage box.

The Stage Two BottleRocket is a transformerless tube microphone with a distinctive warmth and character.

Like the Stage One, the Stage Two is also fully compatible with the Bottle Caps and comes with Blue’s versatile B8 capsule as well as a custom shockmount, high-definition 5-conductor tube mic cable, power supply and an ATA-style flight case.

The BottleRockets will be available at Blue pro audio retailers on October 31, 2008 for $899 US (Stage One) and $1999 US (Stage Two).

SPL Launches Analog Code Plug-Ins

Transient designers are one of the coolest implementations of audio compression technology, so Sound Performance Lab’s new Analog Code plug-ins got our spider-sense tingling.

As a well-known manufacturer of analog hardware processors, this foray into software plug-ins are a first for SPL.

The Analog Code series consists of the Transient Designer tool and a set of three EQs: Vox Ranger, Bass Ranger and Full Ranger, which are based on the passive graphic equalizers of the SPL RackPack.

The plugs will be available as RTAS, VST and AU versions, with TDM versions available shortly thereafter.

SPL’s CEO Hermann Gier gives the rationale behind the jump into digital:

“We always knew that our analog designs have a big potential in the digital domain. Our greatest advantage is that we have developed some of the industry’s most iconic products. Latest methods for the high-precision modelling of their circuit designs give us results beyond pure mathematical approaches. Our new digital products are so amazingly close to their analog equivalents now that we call them The Analog Code™ plug-ins”.

Both the Transient Designer and EQ Rangers plug-in packages will retail for around $300 US.

iZotope Announces Ozone 4

While it won’t ship until January 2009, iZotope’s Ozone 4 update includes a slew of incremental upgrades that should entice both existing users and new producers who are looking to polish their final mixes.

In addition to Ozone’s current features, Ozone 4 adds the following noteworthy upgrades:

- New Intelligent Loudness Maximizer mode provides full-sounding masters while handling transients with unprecedented clarity
- New Perfect Reconstruction crossovers combine analog character with digital clarity
- New mid/side processing adds a whole new dimension of power to Ozone’s EQ, dynamics and harmonic exciter by letting users process different parts of the soundstage separately
- True Envelope dynamics processing introduces a new alternative to traditional Peak and RMS-based dynamics processing for exceptionally transparent compression, expansion and limiting

Available in Pro Tools 7 (RTAS/AudioSuite), VST, MAS, Audio Units, and DirectX formats, Ozone’s compatible with pretty much everything out there.

As further incentive to check out the Ozone processors, customers who buy Ozone 3 after October 1, 2008 are eligible for a free upgrade to Ozone 4 when it is released.

Existing Ozone 3 customers will be able to upgrade for only $79 (US).

iZotope Ozone 4 will be distributed worldwide by M-Audio, and will also available direct from iZotope online.

For a full round-up of the show’s press releases and product announcements, pop on over to Harmony Central’s AES page.

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