AES 2010 Report Part 3 - Consoles And Stuff

In Part 3 of my AES 2010 report, we take a look mostly at electronics. This was a show where the console made a comeback. There were more of them, and they were larger, than in recent years, which either means that a lot of people are tracking again or more and more people are mixing with them after a few years of control services.

One of the more interesting developments was from a new company called Undertone Audio, which developed a high-end Class-A desk that featured something called ATWS - Acoustically Transparent Work Surface. It's a porous metal for the surface of the console to control reflections from the monitors, which is usually a source for a nasty 1 to 2kHz aberration in response.

Forgot to mention this yesterday, but Focal introduced an interesting monitor with the woofer on the the roof of the cabinet (the SM9). The monitor is also capable of being voiced as a two-way or three way system, which is somewhat unique. Sounded pretty good, but you can never tell for sure on the show floor.

As you can see from the photo on the left, Focusrite has now rebranded itself as "The Interface Company," around it's line of 1/2 and full rack space USB and Firewire interfaces. They've come a long way from the Rupert Neve days.







API introduced a new version of their popular 7600 channel strip called appropriately enough "The Channel Strip." This one has an updated mic amp and compressor, and the aux busses have been eliminated. I think I'm going to like this one better. Check out the video for the details.

Our old friends Trident Audio Developments introduced a newly updated Series 80 console called the Series 82. It's basically a good old S80 with that great rock sound but with a few more aux sends. I had a great discussion with designer Malcolm Toft about the history of how Trident Studios got into the business of making their own consoles. I understand that someone is now making a documentary on the Trident, which should be a good watch.

And finally, a company called Tac System have come up with the post production Holy Grail - a de-reverbizer called the NML RevCon RR (they really need a marketing person to come up with a better name). If it works, and I'm told it does, sound designers everywhere will be lining up with their credit cards.

Part 4 on the music end of the show tomorrow.

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