This year’s Audio Engineering Society show may have seemed small, but it was certainly mighty, with 18,162 attendees making the trek to New York City’s Javits Center. There was plenty to see, with a whole lot of innovation crammed into the booth spaces of the 321 exhibitors.
Choosing a few from hundreds of great debuts was tough, but here (listed alphabetically) are our selections of Certified Hits—the Top-20 new products from AES, chosen by the editors of Mix.
ADAM Audio S3X-H
ADAM SX Series Monitors
We were particularly wowed by ADAM Audio’s new tri-amped S3X-H with its X-ART ribbon tweeter providing extended high-end bandwidth out to 50 kHz.
AKG C 414 XLS/XL II Microphones
The C 414 line just keeps getting better. AKG’s C 414 XLS provides the sonic imprint of the popular C 414 B-ULS, while the C 414 XL II has the presence boost and spatial reproduction reminiscent of the C 12.
Audient Zen console
Audient Zen Console
The Zen analog mixing console from Audient combines DAW I/O integration with moving fader automation, transport control and a sonically pure signal path.
Audio-Technica AT4080/4081 Ribbon Mics
A-T’s first ribbon mics, the AT4080 and AT4081, feature onboard phantom-powered electronics bringing their output to near-condenser levels.
BIAS SoundSoap Pro 2
SoundSoap Pro 2 adds super-intelligent adaptive noise reduction, with four comprehensive restoration tools in a single plug-in.
Cakewalk SONAR Version 8.5
Cakewalk SONAR Version 8.5
A major upgrade, SONAR Version 8.5 offers new beat creation and arrangement tools, powerful arpeggiator, a new drum instrument, enhanced audio quantizing and new multi-stage effect plug-ins.
Dangerous Music BAX Equalizer
Designed to complement its mastering tools, BAX EQ from Dangerous Music offers stepped controls for repeatability and identical stereo tracking; broad-Q shelving with a Baxandall character; and Butterworth high/low pass filters.
Elysia Museq Equalizer
The Museq Equalizer is a discrete Class-A analog 2-channel parametric EQ has optimally matched parameters so users can get the desired results fast and precisely.
Genelec 8260A monitor
Genelec 8260A Monitors
This three-way design marks Genelec’s first coaxial speaker—a
mid/high driver offering smooth on/off-axis response, combined with DSP
speaker management and AutoCal automated room calibration/system
alignment.
Grace Design M103 Channel Strip
The M103 is versatile one-box solution, packs a world-class preamp, 3-band EQ and optical compressor in a single rackspace. Yeah!
iZotope Alloy
iZotope’s Alloy
is a completely configurable and self-contained plug-in suite includes
six essential sound-shaping effects: Equalizer, Exciter, Transient,
Dynamics, De-Esser, Exciter and Limiter.
Mackie Onyx-i 1640i mixer
Mackie Onyx-i Series Consoles
Mackie is shipping its new FireWire Onyx-i 820i/1220i/1620i/1640i mixers and an optional driver for use with nearly every major DAW, including Pro Tools M-Powered 8.
Manley MicMAID
MicMAID
lets users connect up to four mics and preamps, match their levels and
silently switch between any combination for instant, simple auditioning
of mic/preamp combos—no patching or re-plugging. Every studio needs one!
Neumann TLM 102 Microphone
A Neumann for the rest of us, the TLM 102 ($700 street) large-diaphragm condenser features 143dB SPL handling and a small form-factor body for tight placements.
Radial Workhorse 5000
Priced at $999, the Workhorse 5000 is a combo 8-module 500 series rack and summing mixer that’s packed with I/O and extra features for optimizing signal flow.
Solid State Logic Duality SE console
Solid State Logic Duality SE Console
The many enhancements in the second-generation Duality SE console
include an Ethernet connection between the mixer and DAW host computer;
dual-layer DAW control allowing Duality simultaneous control of two
DAWs with seamless hardware control surface switching and more.
Sonnox Restore
The new Restore plug-ins (Oxford DeBuzzer, Oxford DeClicker and Oxford DeNoiser)
feature advanced algorithms for fast, effective removal of pops,
clicks, crackles, scratches, hum, buzzes and extraneous background
noise.
SoundToys Decapitator
The Decapitator plug-in models the saturation or distortion created when driving professional analog studio equipment.
Trident HG3 Monitors
Noted speaker designer Harvey Gerst unveiled the HG3 powered close-field monitors
that combine midrange and HF drivers in a separate rotatable enclosure
set into a ported subwoofer cabinet, with the swiveling action greatly
reducing diffraction distortion, while letting users adjust
directionality for improved imaging.
Waves Vocal Rider Plug-In
By busing an instrumental mix into the sidechain, Waves’ Vocal
Rider automatically matches a vocal level with the rest of the song
with the feel of gentle “finger limiting” of a veteran engineer. It
also writes an editable automation track. Nice!
Be sure to visit Mix‘s AES 2009 Portal site
for full coverage of the 127th AES Convention in New York City,
including product demo videos from the show floor, the New products
Guide and editors’ blogs.
