Glyph Trip 2
There
were a lot of great recording hard drive choices at the AES
Show. One of the smartest and quietest is the Trip2 from Glyph,
which had a full Pro Tools rig set up in a quiet nearby hotel
room to demonstrate this fact. This is a three-rack space
unit with six, hot-swappable hard drive slots, AIT backup
drive and DVD/CD-R burner. Within the Trip2, the hard drives
are 7,200 rpm, up to 180Gb capacity and made super quiet enabling
you to use the system anywhere in your control room. Smart
also refers to Glyph's S.M.A.R.T. Manager software. S.M.A.R.T.
Manager monitors the system, protecting your files with predictive
failure analysis; warning you of possible problems before
it's too late. Available in SCSI or now in FireWire using
Glyph's bridging technology, the Trip2 is SAN-ready, warranted
for five years and like all Glyph gear, engineered specifically
for audio and video workstations. Visit: www.glyphtech.com/
Steinberg Nuendo 2.0
The
two most exciting new changes for Steinberg are Nuendo 2.0
and their alliance with Euphonix. For Mac OSX and Windows
2000/XP, Nuendo 2.0 was first shown to only developers and
insiders (no press invited) at a pre-show affair. The 32-bit
floating-point mixer has been completely redesigned and ready
to go up to 10.2 channel surround productions with 12 outputs
available for every input, audio track, effect and group.
There is even monitor multi-speaker switching, effect returns
for adding effects to recording channels, and full delay compensation
throughout the signal path. Nuendo supports AES31, Open TL
3.0 and OMF. It makes all the sense in the world that Steinberg
develops integrated professional audio products with Euphonix,
a manufacturer of digital mixing and production consoles.
At the Steinberg booth was a Euphonix console functioning
as a "front-end" control surface with Nuendo running
on its main screen. Awesome is the future for them. Visit
www.steinberg.de/.
Euphonix
Euphonix
had other great news beyond the Steinberg linkage with new
upgrades for both their System 5 console (ver2.6) and the
R-1 Digital Recorder with ver 4.0. System 5 users now have
full 20Hz to 20kHz range on all four EQ bands with +/- 24dB,
new notch filter algorithms, mix automation that conforms
to new video edits, and many control surface enhancements
and display graphics updates. The 48-channel, 96kHz/24-bit
R-1 can now show as many tracks at once as you need with standard
mouse editing and no limitation on number of tracks or track
sheets per title. I liked the way the advance feature called
"Slip Audio Sync" slips a region of audio while
maintaining the start and end times of the clip's region.
So much more at: www.euphonix.com/.
Sadie Series 5
There
were many announcements from Nashville-based Sadie. Series
5 with the DSD8 is the company's first multichannel system
for complete 24/96, PCM (CD/DVD-A) and DSD mastering in true
64-bit floating-point glory. The two-channel DSD2 can be upgraded
to a DSD8 at any later time and the entry-level RADiA workstation
is now replaced with the Series 5 PCM4 rig. Besides the new
look on the outside, Series 5 comes with Version 5 software
for a new user interface (but you can still use the classic
one if you like), full support for DirectX plug-ins, Windows®
networking, simultaneous record/playback across all eight
tracks, and the 64-bit word length is maintain throughout
all editing. (No down dithering until your finished editing
and processing). Another big announcement is the introduction
of Cedar Audio's De-Noise 96 into Version 5 along with new
versions of De-Click, De-Crackle and De-Thump.
More at: www.sadie.com/.
Sascom/Cube-Tec's AudioCube 5
Although
not on the show floor, over in a West Hollywood hotel, Canadian-based
Sascom presented Germany-based Cube-Tec's AudioCube 5, a multichannel
24/96 integrated workstation expandable to 64 channel outputs.
AudioCube 5 is available in the original, German-made rack
mounted "blue box" platform shown or at a lower
cost but equal performance, Dell D530 computer. Either way,
AudioCube 5 uses open architecture with non-proprietary hardware
such as Switzerland-based Merging Technology's Mykerinos card(s).
Totally self-contained and using Cube-Tec's own highly specialized
software Virtual Precision Instrument processing tools (plug-ins),
AudioCube 5 does analysis, restoration, editing, archival,
CD/DSD/SACD mastering and DVD-A authoring. The systems come
turnkey and hardware optimized with preconfigured customized
software such as Steinberg's Nuendo (multi-track), Wavelab
4.0 (stereo) and/or Merging's Pyramix (DSD/SACD). Expandable
and scalable to future needs by way of new VPIs and additional
hardware purchases; Cube-Tec and Sascom also provide many
client services such as a sophisticated on-line/real-time
diagnostic tech support path. Study: www.cube-tec.com/
Pro Tools 6.0
By far the largest and busiest booth at the show was Digidesign.
The biggest news is version 6.0 for both Mac OSX and Win XP.
As a big lover of OS 10.2, the new beautified Pro Tools on
the Aqua interface is cleaner, clearer and more spacious looking…especially
in mixer view. You also take advantage (finally) of dual G4
processors, the rock solid Unix-based environment and the
advanced, customized search abilities of the new OS. All of
these updates make PT fly. Other news from Digi's booth(s):
all I/O boxes including the Sync I/O and MIDI I/O are shipping
and the new Focusrite Platinum Voicemaster PRO is here.
All at: www.digidesign.com/.
Studio Network Solutions' Fibredrive
Fibredrive™
is a fiber optic linked hard drive for single workstations.
Using fibre channel technology, Fibredrive frees up the PCI
buss and eliminates DAE errors (in Pro Tools) when large files
have to be split across multiple drives during live recording,
tracking, editing, and mixing. 128 tracks of HD record/playback
with heavy edit density are possible from a single fibre channel
drive and up to 255 accessory drives from Studio Network Solutions
can be daisy-chained as necessary. Fibredrive includes: single
drive desktop enclosure, Fibre channel drive, SNS PCI host
bus adapter, SNS software and cables. Check: www.studionetworksolutions.com/.
Akai DPS24
I
have been using the Akai DPS24 for about a month now and it
rocks! This is a 24-bit and up to 96kHz standalone workstation
that is complete with 12 mic inputs, 60Gb hard drive, CD burner
and all effects including all the cool mastering tools. You
can record, do Pro Tool-like editing…even pitch correcting,
fully automate a mix using the motor faders and then go on
to final mastering and produce a CD master with this no compromise,
full-sized system. There is no data compression used and no
loss of functionality when you use a 96kHz sample rate. Plug
in a pair of powered speakers or headphones, some mics and
you are all set to record a hit! Eventually you'll be able
to swap audio and editing files with other desktop computer-based
rigs like Nuendo or Pro Tools but for now you can put this
under your arm, go anywhere and record without any computer.
Go to: www.akaipro.com/.
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