WINTER NAMM 2007
Lines Between MI and Pro Keep Fading, as Developers Go Native
By the Mix Staff

NATIVE ARRIVES
Much of this technology trend is driven by the ever-increasing price/power ratios of current laptop and desktop computers—both PC and Mac. Today's multicore CPU designs and a couple gigabytes of RAM under the hood are ideal for native processing applications. Need proof? We visited the MOTU booth (www.motu.com), where Digital Performer V 5.11 ran on a stock Mac Pro tower with Quad Intel Xeon processors. A nice setup to be sure, but it was running 1,000 plug-ins without a hiccup. Not that anyone would want to, but still…

At last year’s NAMM, the buzz surrounded apps revving up for Apple's Intel-based machines. That trend certainly continues, and on the cusp of the official release of Microsoft Vista, there was a lot of interest in the new OS from PC aficionados, too. Cakewalk (www.cakewalk.co) is now shipping SONAR 6.2—the first native DAW application with Windows Vista support. The free update for SONAR 6 users also adds new features such as MIDI input quantize, X-Ray Windows, Bit Meter plug-in, AudioSnap™ and ACT™ (Active Controller Technology) enhancements, interface and workflow improvements, field recorder support, color scheme import/export and more.

MOTU, never seeming to slow down, is now offering Windows Vista drivers for its PCI, FireWire and USB audio and MIDI interfaces. MOTU has also posted Vista-compatible public beta versions of its cross-platform (Mac/Windows) virtual instruments.

Sony (www.sonyplugins.com) has also looked at the increased power of Native processing and made its Oxford plug-ins, which can demand a lot of space/memory, in Audio Units, VST and Pro Tools formats.

Anyone wanting to go native on the Mac with true portability should check out Apogee's Symphony ExpressCard (www.apogeedigital.com), a $595 PCIe card interface providing direct connectivity from your MacBook Pro to Apogee’s Rosetta 800, Rosetta 200 and AD-16X and DA-16X converters. It’s compatible with CoreAudio software applications such as Logic Pro, Cubase, Nuendo and Digital Performer and provides up to 32 tracks with 1.6ms latency.

To simplify life for other mobile users, Universal Audio (www.uaudio.com) announced the UAD-Xpander, an ExpressCard DSP system for laptops. The UAD-Xpander will be offered in three versions: the UAD-Xpander Xpress ($999 including a $500 UAD voucher), the UAD-Xpander Xpert ($1,399, with $1,000 UAD voucher) and the UAD-Xpander Xtreme ($2,199 with all UAD plug-ins to v4.5—a near-$3,000 value).

Getting In, Getting Out
Solid State Logic (www.solid-state-logic.com), in only its second NAMM appearance, is obviously looking at the front and back end of whatever DAW you choose, unveiling three 48-channel, 24/96 A/D/As in its XLogic Alpha-Link converter line, designed to operate standalone or with the new Soundscape Mixpander PCI card to create flexible I/Os for Native PC-based workstations. SSL also showed an 8-channel line mixer/summing box in its Xrack series and the Delta-Link 128-channel MADI-to-Pro Tools format converter—just the thing for interfacing a MADI console to your PT rig. Described as providing “kick-ass drum processing,” SSL's $299 Drumstrip plug-in for Duende offers gating, LF/HF enhancement, transient shaping and Listen Mic Compression.

Focusrite's (www.focusrite.com) Saffire Pro 10 I/O puts eight mic/line preamps, eight balanced line outs and stereo S/PDIF I/O in a single-rackspace case. The unit can be bus-powered or run from an AC adapter and includes the Saffire plug-in suite (EQ/compression/reverb/amp simulation in AU and VST formats), 24-bit converters and controls for headphone and control room monitoring. Phonic's (www.phonic.com) FireFly 302 is a portable, 5-in/6-out FireWire interface with 24/96 converters, S/PDIF digital I/O, MIDI I/O and XLR mic pre with phantom power. It's bus-powered and retails at $119. On the back-end is Dangerous Music's (www.dangerousmusic.com) D-Box, with eight channels of analog summing and a programmable monitor control section with analog and digital inputs, D/A converter, talkback, headphone amp, speaker switcher and more.

STAYIN’ IN CONTROL
In keeping with NAMM's portable/powerful theme, several compact DAW controllers debuted. Mackie (www.mackie.com) showed its next-generation control surfaces. The $1,549.99 Mackie Control Universal Pro connects to a Mac or PC and has nine motorized, touch-sensitive Penny & Giles faders, eight V-Pots, more than 50 master buttons and a large LCD. An $899 Mackie Control Extender Pro can add eight more channels, for up to 32 channels total.

The Alesis (www.alesis.com) MasterControl combines a control surface and FireWire interfacing with two XLR mix inputs, six line ins, 18 digital inputs (lightpipe and S/PDIF at 44.1/48 kHz—or 10 ins at 88.2/96 kHz) and three stereo outputs (reconfigurable as one 5.1 out). MasterControl has eight channel strips (with solo, record-enable, mute and select buttons), a jog/shuttle wheel and dedicated transport controls.

MICS AND MONITORS
Last year, pro products for podcasting were hot, and mics with USB outputs continue to be popular, with units from RØDE, Samson, Blue and MXL reporting brisk sales. At NAMM, MXL (www.mxlmics.com) showed a slick $99.95 accessory that lets you connect any mic to a computer's USB port. The cool part? This cigar-sized device uses patent-pending technology to supply phantom power from the USB bus—no simple feat.

Blue (www.bluemic.com) showed its soon-to-be-shipping Woodpecker active ribbon mic, a handsome model with a wooden body and blistering 136dB SPL handling. Sennheiser (www.sennheiserusa.com) bowed its updated e602II, which is better optimized for kick drum and other low-end apps. SE Electronics (www.seelectronics.com) had a smaller version of its Reflexion filter that keeps problem reflections from returning to your mic. ADK (www.adkmic.com) showed the very affordable A-6 ($230), which takes the electronics from its Vienna and Hamburg models and spins it into a fixed-pattern condenser. For field or studio use, RØDE's (www.rodemic.com) M3 condenser runs on standard 48V or a 9V battery. The $399 CV-12 from Avant Electronics (www.avantelectronics.com) has a cabernet red finish with a 9-pattern tube condenser mic under the grille. The mic includes three tubes (6072A, ECC81 and ECC83) that are interchangeable for different tonal signatures.

NAMM has always been a show of extremes, offering everything from 50-cent kazoos to $41,000 Disklavier 2 systems. Ocean Way Studios' (www.oceanwayrecording.com) owner Allen Sides teamed with Sonic Reality (www.sonicreality.com) to create Ocean Way Drums, with samples from some of the world’s best drummers—impeccably recorded at 48 and 96 kHz, in one of the world’s most notable studios, Studio B at Ocean Way. To show them off, Sides brought in one of his custom monitoring systems, now offered through GC Pro (www.gcpro.com). The monitors’ $60k price may seem steep, but it includes acoustic space evaluation and room correction. Other high-end monitor debuts included Phil Jones’ AAD model 7001s (www.aadsound.com), a passive design at just $12,500/pair; or KRK’s (www.krksys.com) update on its near-field flagship Exposé E8B, retailing for a mere $5,995/pair. For a little less (okay, a lot less) dough, there’s always M-Audio’s (www.m-audio.com) new AV40, a powered desktop system from its popular Studiophile series at only $199/pair.

HARDWARE…WITH SYNTHS, TOO!
No, hardware is not dead. Forest Audio, a new division of Radial Engineering (www.radialeng.com, $2,500) showed Q6, a 6-band, passive-coil EQ with an active front end. It offers +4/-10 dB or instrument-level connections plus a Drag control to simulate the guitar/amp relationship. Little Labs' (www.littlelabs.com) LMNO Microphone Preamp ($1,680) has up to 74 dB of clean gain and a LF resonance control to create a tunable proximity effect without being close to the mic. Creation Audio Labs' (www.creationaudiolabs.com) MW1 is a do-almost-everything single-rackspace box with a transformerless DI and signal splitter, impedance matcher, re-amper and buffered signal booster to your amp. It also lets you use line-level gear in your signal chain before your amp. After much tweaking, Crane Song (www.cranesong.com) released the Egret 8-channel mixer/converter with balanced direct outs, AES single-wire output at 192 kHz and S/MUX out to 96k, cue send, color control, panner and level for each channel. Bomb Factory founder Dave Amels and Pendulum Audio's Greg Gualtieri have formed AnaMod (www.anamodaudio.com), a company that uses analog modeling technology to create complex analog circuitry. Its first product is the ATS-1 ($2,995), a 2-channel analog tape simulator, with user-installable upgrade cards that mimic the sound of different recorders. A-Designs' (www.adesignsaudio.com) EM-PEQ is a $1,500 module that puts the sound of Pultec's famed EQP-1A into the compact 500 Series module frame size, without compromising the original design.

Virtual instruments remain hot, but we were surprised by the number of new hardware synths on the floor. Waldorf (dist. by Qtec Designs, www.qtecdesigns) is back with limited-edition models of the MicroQ, Q, and Q+, but showgoers were jazzed by Blofeld, a compact MIDI module with 1,000 classic Waldorf sounds and a street around $500; the Stromberg keyboard hybrid analog/digital synth (around $4,000); and Zarenbourg, a Rhodes-like 76 wood-key controller with electric piano sounds. Known for its software emulations of classic synths, Arturia (www.arturia.com) unveiled Origin, a hardware MIDI sound module that re-creates sounds from…classic synths, but lets users mix/match sections of each, like Minimoog oscillators with filters from an ARP 2600, etc.

Kurzweil (www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com) is back with the PC3, an 88-note keyboard with 128-note polyphony and hundreds of sounds, including the famed Triple Strike Grand Piano, basses, drums, guitars, vintage key sounds and 250 pro orchestral and string programs. Roland's (www.rolandus.com) new flagship V-Synth GT uses a dual core V-Synth engine to combine Elastic Audio Synthesis, Articulative Phrase Synthesis, VariPhrase and Vocal Designer Technology in real time. The Korg M3 (www.korg.com) workstation/sampler borrows technology from its OASYS cousin, including low-aliasing oscillators, a powerful new filter topology, envelope generators and second-generation KARMA functions. It will be offered in 61/76/88-key versions starting in June. Yamaha's Motif XS synthesizer workstation (www.yamaha.com) includes new Xpanded Articulation sounds featuring 355 MB of wave ROM and an Integrated Sampling Sequencer with up to 1 GB of memory for creating complete MIDI/audio productions.

LIVE SOUND
New midpriced, handheld live sound mics were everywhere. AKG (www.akgusa.com) debuted its supercardioid dynamic D 5 ($156) and cardioid condenser C 5 ($299). Audio-Technica (www.audio-technica.com) showed its AT2010 ($169), which brings the sound of its 20 Series to the stage. Listing at $299, the Audix (www.audixusa.com) VX-5 has recessed onboard switches for -10dB pad and bass roll-off. RØDE's S2 is designed to provide the clarity of its TEC Award-winning S1, but at a more affordable $149 street price.

Sabine (www.sabine.com) floored us with its Phantom Mic Rider. Barely larger than an XLR connector, it packs an FBX Feedback Exterminator, automatic gain adjust, control of proximity effect and plosives and infrared mic gating—all in a phantom-powered $119 inline accessory.

Bring on the mid-priced, pro-level speakers! Community's (www.loudspeakers.net) SONUS line includes four full-range models (all switchable for biamped or passive operation) and two subs priced from $599 to $1,399. The PRX500 Series from JBL Professsional (www.jblpro.com) has five models priced from $1,359 to $1,799, all with 500 to 650 watts of onboard Crown Class-D amplification. QSC's (www.qscaudio.com) HPR122i is pole-mountable or flyable with a 12-inch woofer, 1.4-inch compression driver and 500 watts of bi-amping in a birch-ply cabinet that streets at $799.

Designed for mixing FOH, monitors or both, Crest's (www.crestaudio.com) CV-20 console has 24/32/40/48/56 inputs with four-band EQ, 12 aux sends, eight subgroups, LCR panning, 128 VCA assignments, 144 mute scenes, 11x4 matrix and dynamics on all subgroups and main buses. Another slick console debut was Allen & Heath's (www.allen-heath.com) WZ3Monitor, a 16 mic/line input monitor mixer. With onboard passive mic splitting, 4-band EQ and 12 mix outs assignable as mono or stereo pairs it's perfect for in-ear monitoring.

We'll present more products from NAMM in upcoming issues of Mix and at www.mixonline.com. Meanwhile, NAMM returns to Austin, Texas, July 27-29 for the 2007 NAMM Summer Session. Mark those calendars now! MIX CERTIFIED HITS NAMM's Top 10 Cool Picks

• Apogee Symphony ExpressCard
• Blue Woodpecker ribbon mic
• Creation Audio Labs MW1 DI/splitter
• Dangerous Music D-Box
• Forest Audio Q6 equalizer
• MXL USB mic converter
• QSC HPR122i powered speakers
• Sabine Phantom Mic Rider
• Universal Audio UAD-Xpander
• Waldorf Blofeld synth module