AES 2012 Report - Part 2: Hardware

Yesterday we looked at the big hit of AES 2012, today we'll look at some of the hardware that I found interesting. Keep in mind that when I attend a trade show, I only usually stop at a booth that immediately catches my eye or that I've previously determined will have something new to see. I do miss some cool new things this way, but I feel that if an exhibitor can't get his marketing together enough to make it clear that he has something new and groovy, that's on him.

The legendary George Augsburger has been making his own monitors for the studios he designs for decades, and now they're commercially available from Pro Audio Distribution. The GA-215VS-A3 (that's a mouthful) are 3-way monitors complete with DSP.

For an audio world that's more and more in-the-box, there sure were a lot of analog consoles at the show, even if they were small. Here's a Neve-like sidecar from former Neve guy Geoff Tanner and his Aurora Audio.

Here's another small desk from UT Audio.

Of all the small boutique consoles, this might be the coolest. It's a tube console built around the original Universal Audio model of yore from Tree Audio, only with a solid state output stage for greater headroom. It's called The Roots.















Fairlight used to be a company based around music machines but now they're clearly in the post world. Here's their new Quantum.











I just love this piano mic array from DPA Microphones. They were like this for a comparison, of course, but wouldn't you like to try them all on a session?

Here's a MicroTech Gefell microphone diaphragm that's been converted into a watch. They had some cool mics as well. A very understated company.












I loved the look of these U47 and 251 clones by TAB Funkenwork. The story was that these were made from the original Telefunken designs. Don't know if it's true or not, since everyone in this game seems to have a different story, but I liked the workmanship.












TAB Funkenwork also made some very nice looking VT72, 77 and 78 clones, complete with NOS Telefunken tubes and the original transformers.












I love these Golden Age Project Pre-73's. Sort of a Neve sound for not so much money. On the bottom was a new 4 channel version.















Some new 500 series compressor and EQ models from Daking Audio.

And finally, this mic isolation booth that looked kinda cool but honestly sounded awful. I don't know how something that's supposed to deaden the sound can be so boingy.

Part 3 on software tomorrow.

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