Jun 1, 2001 12:00 PM, By George Petersen

From April 23 to 26, some 112,000 production pros packed into Las Vegas for the National Association of Broadcasters convention. Even with four days, you'll barely see even half of the 1,700 exhibitors — assuming three minutes at each booth and no stops for breaks, meals, taxi/shuttle bus lines or long jaunts between distant halls. There should be a whole lot of walkin' going on in 2002, when the Las Vegas Convention Center opens its 918,000-square-foot South Hall, nearly doubling the capacity of the present LVCC. Perhaps that's why NAB chose “Embrace the Future” as the theme for NAB 2001; the most popular item at next year's show might be jetpacks to whisk visitors from hall to hall — a real opportunity for some Vegas entrepreneur.

But we digress. Product debuts tend to run in cycles. Last year, the emphasis was on rackmount 24-track recorders, mics and signal processing — both hardware and plug-in varieties. This year, the push was on new consoles and workstation developments. Here are a few items that caught our attention.

CONSOLES: BIG NEWS!

Munich-based Klotz Digital AG, announced that its U.S. subsidiary, Klotz Digital America Inc. (www.klotzdigital.com), acquired California company Graham-Patten Systems (www.grahampatten.com), the manufacturer of the Emmy Award-winning D/ESAM^™ digital edit suite audio mixers. The acquisition gives Klotz an edge in the broadcast/post-production market, and adds manufacturing capacity for Klotz products. One of the company's key goals is to get the much-anticipated D/ESAM 8000 flagship digital board to market by Q4, 2001.

Klotz showed a number of digital on-air consoles. The Paradigm 16 radio mixer offers voice processing on all mic inputs, SRCs on all digital line inputs, machine control, 12 faders with A/B switching, four faders with analog/digital six-source selectors and configurations that can be saved for each operator. Klotz's Spherion console comes in 12-fader (24-input sources) and 20-fader (40 source) versions. Sources can appear on any fader, with machine control logic following each source. The 20-fader Spherion includes EQ, limiters, gates and compressors, and a fiber-optic network can link multiple units throughout a facility. Klotz's new VADIS 880 platform expands the power of its VADIS systems, adding networking, 24-bit mic preamps, format conversion, etc., as well as Ethernet and MADI options for its VADIS D.C. II mixers.

SSL (www.solid-state-logic.com) added a “plus” to its console line, showing new, expanded models including the Aysis Air Plus broadcast production board, the Avant Plus post/film mixer and the MT Plus music production console. All “Plus” designations feature INFO faders, TFT LCD display and SSL's HS control processor. The latter offers a powerful (and intuitive) high-speed operating environment (said to be 10 times faster), and adds enhanced features.

The big news at SSL was the unveiling of the MT Production (MTP) digital mixer. Based on the company's latest MT Plus in-line digital console, MTP features snapshot reset, flexible subgroup busing and multiformat surround sound capabilities, but in a compact package for multitrack TV, remote truck and music/entertainment applications. Sharing the MT Series' analog console-style ergonomics, the MTP has one-knob-per-function design, along with the HS control processor, an in-line mixing architecture and simultaneous 5.1 surround sound outs. In TV production applications, MTP offers clean feed buses, mix-minus outs and multitrack backup capability. Its analog side was designed to exceed the performance of SSL's SL 9000 J Series console.

Soundtracs (distributed in the States by Fairlight, www.fairlightesp.com.au) launched the D4, a major, new large-format digital console available in configurations from 16 to 96 moving fader channels with up to 320 inputs assignable to 128 output buses. It supports stereo/LCRS/5.1/7.1 surround formats at 48 kHz or 96 kHz. Having evolved from the company's successful DPC-II and DS-3 mixers (with more than 400 in use worldwide), the 24-bit D4 is based on that same intuitive, touch-sensitive control surface, with powerful onboard DSP, full networking capability and support of all digital formats, including AES/EBU, TDIF, ADAT and MADI. Eight consoles have already been sold.

Amek (www.amek.com) had two major unveilings at NAB. The 60-channel Media 51 is a new, large-frame version of the mid-price multiformat analog console Amek debuted a year ago at AES Paris. Media 51 is equipped to handle 5.1, 7.1, LCRS, LCRSS and stereo formats, and features Supertrue V4 automation, Virtual Dynamics^™ , Recall, Visual FX^™ , full surround monitoring facilities, encode/decode processor insertion, downmixing/stem monitoring capabilities and PEC/direct switching. An optional motorized joystick panel offers multiple panning modes up to eight channels wide with four switchable divergence settings, and an “expand” feature provides HF image enhancement.

Amek's new Galileo 360V multiformat console offers comprehensive mixing/monitoring facilities for surround formats up to eight channels wide, with a high degree of connectivity and control. Galileo 360V features a microphone amplifier designed by Mr. Rupert Neve, plus the proven musicality of the Amek 4-band fully parametric equalizer.

Long regarded for its live consoles, Midas (www.midasconsoles.com) showed the B2000, the first in a line of analog broadcast mixers. The B2000 supports mono, stereo, LCRS, and 5.1 or 7.1 surround. AES/EBU I/O converters are optional, as is an A/V router interface and snapshot automation. The B2000 is available in 24- to 72-channel frame sizes (both mono and stereo input modules are offered), and other features include a limiter per input; the popular Midas EQ; six aux buses (talent monitors); eight mix-minus buses for news talent feeds; eight stereo subgroups (six become 5.1 master outputs in Surround mode); and dual-power supplies.

Euphonix (www.euphonix.com) — no stranger to broadcast desks with its analog consoles — unveiled the System 5-B, an on-air version of its award-winning System 5 digital mixer. The 24/96-capable System 5-B features amenities such as Multi-Format Channels (where a single channel strip can control stereo/LCR/LCRS/5.1/7.1 signals), stereo channel with integral M-S mic decoding, integrated 672×672 I/O router, on-screen diagnostics, optional PEC/direct switching, dual motorized joysticks, and more. We liked the little touches, such as adjustable loudspeaker shelves, rolling script tray and producer's desk with large, 16:9-format TFT display for viewing picture or workstation displays.

New features for the AMS Neve (www.ams-neve.com) Libra Live Series II digital broadcast mixers include a metering package that displays two layers of inputs simultaneously; a second center-channel strip for easier access to channel controls from either side of a large desk; and Version 2.7 software, which improves mix-minus control, expands Dolby E support and simplifies surround operations.

Harrison (www.harrisonconsoles.com) debuted its TVD on-air digital television console, based around a compact control surface that can be remotely accessed from up to three locations via the company's Satellite Touchscreen technology. A standard package has 24 mic/line inputs, 18 stereo line inputs, 12 mix-minus feeds, 16 aux sends and 5.1 capability both as inputs and outputs. All signal processing is 40-bit, courtesy of Harrison's proven digital.engine^™ technology, and standard amenities include moving faders, snapshot automation and a 2240×2240-capable routing system. Harrison also announced that it was offering its award-winning LPC (Live Performance Console) in a fully digital version, based on the digital.engine and a compact 40-fader control surface, connected via copper or fiber-optic links for up to 768 full channels.

Not all consoles at NAB were BIG. AETA Audio (www.aetausa.com) showed a compact (9.5×4.5×1.75-inch), 4-input analog ENG console with remarkable -130dB noise performance, optional AES/EBU interfacing, 46dB input headroom, long battery life and switchable M-S monitoring — all in a rugged aluminum case. Awesome!

DAW DEVELOPMENTS

SADiE (www.sadie.com) expanded its RADiA line with the Platinum, a 4-in/4-out turnkey system, including rackmount 667MHz Pentium III PC, 128MB RAM, 10GB internal drive, 15-inch LCD screen, breakout cables and removable 9GB SCSI drive. The system has a hardware controller with transport controls, scrub wheel, Edit/Locate/Function keys, motorized faders and time displays. SADiE also announced that it's the first to market products supporting the AES31 universal file-exchange format. Ratified as an international standard, AES31 is open — not exclusive to any single manufacturer — and supports multichannel files.

Mackie Designs (www.mackie.com) entered into an agreement with Soundscape Digital Technology, where Soundscape (www.soundscapedigital.com) will continue to distribute products developed by Sydec under the Soundscape brand name, such as the 32-track R.Ed. DAW and the Mixpander PCI card. Sydec was acquired by Mackie on April 3, 2001.

Previously an adjunct for its Postation II workstation, DSP Media (www.dsp media.com) has packaged its popular VMotion integrated video system into a stand-alone, disk-based video box, offering real-time networking and instantaneous file location via a touchscreen interface.

Digidesign (www.digidesign.com) announced Pro Tools|24 MIX³ (pronounced MIX-cubed), offering more audio processing power and support for 48 channels of I/O. The $11,995 retail system includes the MIX core and two MIX Farm cards and the surround mix-capable Pro Tools 5.1.1 software, which now supports both Power Mac and Windows 2000.

Fairlight has added support for the huge range of VST software plug-ins with the announcement of its Plug-Ins Manager system offering high-speed, low-latency operations via System Services Module DSP boards, with seamless integration with existing FAME2 and Prodigy 2 user interfaces and automation. Both real-time and non-real-time VST plug-ins are supported.

WaveFrame (www.waveframe.com) debuted WaveFrame/7, the latest generation of its flagship DAW. The new system retains the familiar WaveFrame editing interface, while adding 24-bit audio resolution, 5.1 mixing, DirectX DSP plug-in support, networking and up to 32 channels of I/O. The system records/plays standard broadcast .WAV files and can import SD2, WaveFrame V6.x files and the OpenTL files used by Tascam's MX-2424 multitrack. Meanwhile, Version 4 software for the FrameWorks/DX system adds features such as 24-channel AES/EBU support, 192kHz functionality and a DSD/SACD option.

Speaking of SACD, Merging Technologies (www.merging.com) should ship its Pyramix DSD editor (developed jointly with Philips) this month. Features include 2 to 24 channels of DSD recording/editing, real-time FX and crossfades, and PCM-to-DSD conversion.

So after using all of these cool tools to create a masterpiece, how do we get it out to the world? Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) suggested a solution in the form of Windows Media Audio and Video 8, offering real-time delivery of full-screen, near-DVD-quality film content over today's broadband connections. The Windows Media Audio and Video 8 codecs are compatible with Windows Media Player 7 and 6.4, as well as Windows Media Player 7 for the Mac, released at NAB.

NAB returns to Las Vegas from April 6 to 11, 2002. Mark your calendars, and don't forget those jetpacks!

Product Spotlight: Fostex DV40 Master Recorder

As more projects move toward high bit resolution and high sampling rates — particularly in HDTV and film productions — users need more convenient methods of recording, playing and storing multichannel mixes, location dialog/effects and production elements.

Intended for such applications, the Fostex DV40 is designed to record/playback up to four channels of audio data directly onto a DVD-RAM disc. Resolution is 24-bit, and 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192kHz sampling rates are supported, with 0.1% pull-up/-down at any rate. Synchronization with clock and video signals is included, and the onboard timecode generator handles all frame rates, as well as the 23.97 fps mode used by the new Sony high-definition cameras.

The DV40 stores audio in the UDF file format for compatibility with computer-based DAWs. Users can select either SD2 or BWF (.WAV) at either 24- or 16-bit resolution. A Verify/Write mode — which continuously examines all recording data while in Record mode — ensures reliability.

Housed in a three-rackspace chassis — about the size of a studio DAT deck — the DV40 is only slightly more complicated to operate than a DAT machine, with familiar Jog/Shuttle and Transport keys, onscreen metering and a clean layout showing nearly every operation on front panel controls. On the rear panel, a comprehensive selection of I/Os include four analog inputs (balanced XLRs with 24-bit/192kHz ADCs); four analog outputs (on XLRs and ¼-inch jacks, with 24-bit/192kHz DACs); and two AES/EBU. An Ethernet port for file transfer to DAWs or networks is available, as are standard VGA monitor, keyboard and mouse connectors for fast data entry of file names, locate points, etc. A software update adding waveform editing capability is planned, but basic edit functions such as Cut/Copy/Insert/Paste are standard.

The DV40 is expected to retail at $6,999 when it delivers in Q4 2001, but the real fun will come when Fostex debuts a companion 4-channel portable location recorder later this year. For more information, visit www.fostex.com. — George Petersen

Picks You May Have Missed

If there was a lot to see at NAB, there was a lot to miss. Here are a few slick items you may have overlooked…

Audio-Technica AT3035: This cardioid studio condenser features a large (26mm) diameter capsule, 80Hz filter, incredible 158dB SPL handling (with -10dB pad), and impressive 12dBa noise performance. Price: $349 — with shockmount. Visit www.audiotechnica.com.

Edirol VideoCanvas^™ DV-7 : Need a low-cost, nonlinear video editing system? This one rocks, especially with its T-bar hardware controller, real-time processing (cuts/dissolves/wipes/effects), real-time DV output and removable 60GB hard drive. Visit www.edirol.com.

Nagra V: Targeted for early 2002, this 4-channel/24-bit field recorder writes Broadcast .WAV files (with timecode stamping) to inexpensive, removable 2.2GB Orb disks. It also has two minutes of buffer memory for swapping of drives during recordings for long-play applications. To be priced at 8 grand. Visit www.nagra.com/nagraaudio.

sound-effects-library.com: Making its USA debut at NAB, this on-line (hence the name) collection offers some 200,000 major studio sound effects, music compositions and MIDI samples, with fast, web-based auditioning and a powerful search engine that finds what you need. Sounds are sold individually or via an annual license.

Studio Network Solutions (studionetworksolutions.com) was showing off its highly advanced Fibre channel Pro Tools network, which can deliver 128 tracks of playback (24-bit/48k).The single-rackspace enclosure can hold up to four 180-gigabyte drives. And on the show floor, everyone was talking storage!

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