Recording - April 2012 - 20

TBA), a triamplified reference monitor with over 1000W of power, four drivers, and built-in DSP for time- and phase-linear crossover characteristics for complete clarity and transparency. The DSP also provides Reference Response Modeling, which tailors the response of the Siren to perform as a nearfield monitor, hi-fi speaker, club speaker, and many other types. Samson booth, Zoom (zoomfx.com) premiered the new G5 ($299.99), a guitar multi-effects pedal/USB interface with four independent LCD displays for four virtual effects pedals, builtin 3D expression pedal, 16 dB Tube Booster overdrive, and more. Sennheiser (www.sennheiserusa.com) was showing its new HD 200 and HD 400 Series headphones detailed in the February 2012 Fast Forward ($59.95–$119.95). Also new at the show: Neumann (neumannusa.com) showed the KH 810 single and KH 870 dual active 10" subwoofers ($1999 and $3199) with built-in active bass management (up to 7.1) to couple with the company’s KH 120 nearfield monitors. K-array’s new EcoDock ($19.95) is an entirely passive docking device that boosts the volume and sound quality of an iPhone 4/4S internal speaker; some proceeds from sales go to a children’s charity in Burkina Faso. We also got a first look at an amazing-sounding ultra-miniature satellite/sub system coming from K-array (price and specs TBA). SM Pro Audio (smproaudio.com, dist. by MV Pro Audio, mvproaudio.com) showed the new Q-DAC ($199.99), a half-rack audio “hub” that can choose from five different inputs—1/8" stereo, balanced 1/4" TRS, USB, unbalanced RCA, and USB host—and route them to balanced XLR or unbalanced RCA outputs, plus a headphone output with its own volume pot. It comes with a wireless remote as well. SONiVOX (sonivoxrocks.com) introduced two new virtual instruments based on the new Spectral Morphing Synthesis platform: the TWIST Spectral Morphing Synthesizer and Wobble Dubstep Grime Generator ($149.99 each, reviews forthcoming). Sonoma Wire Works (sonomawireworks.com) was showing the GuitarJack 2 ($149 street), which we reviewed in March 2012 and is now shipping in quantity. Steinberg (steinberg.net) was showing Cubase 6 (reviewed in our March 2012 issue) and its new line of UR Series audio interfaces and CMC Series modular control surfaces— reviews forthcoming, see our November 2011 Fast Forward for details. TASCAM (tascam.com) showed the iXZ ($49.99), a pocketsized mic/instrument interface for iOS devices (TRRS connection) that can supply phantom power for condenser mics; it offers either XLR mic input or TRS line input with optional Hi-Z switching, plus 1/8" headphone output. The iU2 ($149.99) connects via USB or iOS dock connector, and offers two XLR mic inputs with phantom power, two balanced TRS line inputs, a Hi-Z instrument input, MIDI I/O, zero-latency direct monitoring, and headphone and S/PDIF outputs. Both interfaces work well with TASCAM’s new PCM Recorder app (free). Also new: the DP-24 ($699.99), a 24-track Digital Portastudio solid-state recorder with color LCD, channel strip controls, built-in mixdown and mastering effects, CD-RW burner, USB, and more. TC Electronic (www.tcelectronic.com) showed the new TonePrint App for smartphones (free), which contains programs for TC’s TonePrint effects pedals as MP3 files—the user holds the smartphone over his or her guitar’s pickups, plays the file, and even in noisy environments the pedal connected to the guitar understands the signal and updates itself. Also new from TC: the all-analog Röttweiler distortion ($129) and PolyTune Mini ($89), a miniaturized polyphonic tuning pedal.

Shure (www.shure.com) released new wireless systems and miniature mics, but the big news for our readers was the new SRH1440 and SRH1840 open-back monitor headphones ($399 and $699 MAP). We review the SRH1440 in this issue. Also new: the A300SM shockmount (price TBA) for the KSM353 ribbon mic, using a new wire-rope design for maximum isolation while holding the mic’s considerable weight. Slate Pro Audio (slateproaudio.com) showed a prototype of the Raven X1 (price TBA), a full-featured studio console designed to provide a traditional large-studio workflow for engineers using DAWs. The console integrates the DAW keyboard and mouse and display with 32 channels of EuCon moving faders, a full-featured analog monitor controller, three MyMix 6-channel artist cue mixers, five selectable speaker outputs, talkback, engineer’s headphone selector, 4 V meters, 2 LED meter pairs, eight stereo sources including an iPod dock, USB ports, built-in “Betty” laptop-style monitor speakers, and more. Slate also displayed a prototype of the Siren D3 (price
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RECORDING APRIL 2012

http://www.zoomfx.com http://www.smproaudio.com http://www.mvproaudio.com http://www.sennheiserusa.com http://www.neumannusa.com http://www.sonivoxrocks.com http://www.sonomawireworks.com http://www.steinberg.net http://www.tascam.com http://www.shure.com http://www.slateproaudio.com http://www.tcelectronic.com

Recording - April 2012

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