AudioMedia - July 2008 - (Page 28)

Smart AV | Tango SMART AV TANGO DAW Control Surface Darwin’s theory of evolution is still hard at work in Australia – STEPHEN BENNETT looks to the shores of the other side of the world to see what evolution has brought to Smart AV’s new baby. THE REVIEWER STEPHEN BENNET T has been involved in music production for over 25 years. Now based in the wilds of rural Sweden, he runs Chaos Studios and writes books and articles on music technology. He’s also a film-maker with several music videos and short films to his credit. www. stephenjamesbennett.co.uk hen Australia broke away from the Gondwana super-continent millions of years ago, its isolation allowed evolutionary processes to run riot, resulting in an abundance of unique fauna and flora. In the seventeenth century, when Europeans fell upon the antipodean shores, their tales of egg-laying duckbilled mammals and large, pouched, rabbit-like creatures who could land a punch like a heavyweight, were at first dismissed as the ravings of men probably high from the fungally infected bread imbibed during their long sea voyages. In more recent times, Australia’s music technology developers have continued to plough their own farrow, with companies like DSP Media and Fairlight producing innovative technology whose importance has spread well beyond the country’s borders. Such is the importance of the latter’s Computer Musical Instrument that it has been suggested that without this seminal sampler there would s at all – actually have been no we’d have had to go straight from the s to the ‘ s. But before you start punching the air with glee and imagining a world without mullets and Phil Collins, spare a thought for all the great music that would and could not have been produced if it hadn’t been for the Fairlight and the technology it inspired. Smart AV is a company set up by ex-employees of the aforementioned Australian innovators and their mission (which they chose to accept) is to harness the power of the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) via their innovative control surfaces – the latest of which is the touch-screen based Tango. W Smar t B ackground Smart AV’s impressive AV Console was covered in the May issue of Audio Media, but a brief recap of ARC technology wouldn’t go amiss. On the original Console, there’s a long curved strip (the ARC itself ) which is used to select channels and makes it ridiculously easy to bring the required channels directly on to the main section of the console – without all that tedious bank selection you’re usually forced into with other DAW controllers. The idea behind the Console is to completely remove the need to use a computer mouse or keyboard when controlling the DAW, and to make all of the functions you would normally need to use in a session available at the touch of as few buttons as possible. The original Console is pretty physically imposing, with the ARC curving gracefully over the top of the main panel and look ing for all the world like it would be more at home on the bridge of a spaceship rather than in a studio. For good or ill, the cosmetics of a product are extremely important in a commercial environment, and the Console fits very nicely into the space that might have previously housed an SSL or Neve console. Fast forward to , and more and more commercial facilities are using a DAW of some kind at the heart of their studios, and the producers of music, television, and film are constantly demanding high quality results – but with tighter deadlines and budgets. > 28 AUDIO MEDIA JULY 2008 http://www.stephenjamesbennett.co.uk http://www.stephenjamesbennett.co.uk

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AudioMedia - July 2008

AudioMedia - July 2008 Contents Recording Post Broadcast What's Up UK Geofocus: France For the Record Special Report: Develop Preview SE Electronics 4400 Sennheiser MKH800 Twin Tubetech Club Final Cut: Wanted Smart AV Tango Doctor Who Made in America DSP Roundup Product Sampler: Summer Hits Edirol R44 Video Guide AMSR Fame - Le Musical Waves MaxxBCL Yamaha AD8HR Special Supplement

AudioMedia - July 2008

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