Mac and Music News

Behringer announces an 8 channels AD/DA 1U rack.
- 8 IMP mic pre with phantom power
- 8 line ins on balanced TRS 1/4"
- 8 line outs on XLR, an ADAT i/O.
- The ADAT I/O can be routed to the line outpouts
- The converters are 24 bit 44.1 or 48 KHz
In delta-sigma, 64 times oversampling for 103dB of dynamic range
Out delta-sigma, 128 times oversampling and 100dB of dynamic range
- sync by wordclock or the ADAT input
- Master/slave indicator on the front panel.

Available Q3 for $249.99

SPL launches a new series of high end preamps: the GainStations. They are available as 8 preamps in a 2U rack, and as a single stand alone little unit.
Preamp is in two stages: transistor stage with 56 dB of gain, tube pre for 26 dB of gain. The circuit is in full discrete Class A, 60V operationg voltage, outpout is at +28 dB, peak and FET limiters, instrument inputs, switchable input impedance for mics, outpout control. Available June 1st, price TBA.

SPL will soon release a studio version of its high end parametric EQ. It features pure analogue, discrete Class A equalization circuits. The units use the SPL SUPRA op-amps with a dynamic range of 150dB. Either constant Q or proportional Q are selectable band by band. Settings can be memorized and you enjoy total recall with motorized controls. The PQ Channels can be linked and units can be set as master/slave devices on a band by band basis also. You can control up to 4 units from the remote control unit designed for surround processing. Internal working voltage is 120V for a clean signal. This PQ should be available the 1st of May, price TBA.

RME is releasing preamps assorted to the colors of their audio interface
1 rack half-1U for the four preamp model
1 rack 1U for the eight preamp model
each of them features 48V phantom alim, low cut filter and phase reverse switch.

Avalaible Q2 of 2003
more infod....

DUY announces the availability of the OSX-compatible versions of the entire range of RTAS and TDM plug-ins. These downloadable new versions are only available for registered users from DUY's website.
Free or reduced-price upgrade from ProTools HD-compatible version.

A short report on a project just finished at Lillehammer, Norway.As a kind of aftermath of the Olympics in 1994, the town hosts a week of music in february each year, that includes outdoor concerts at some fabulous sites.

I was comissioned to write a piece for the Bjerke farm, which was the base of all the CBS reprots from Lillehammer in 1994. The project included Gamelan instruments, snow architecture and quadrophonic sound projections, played by 5 musicians on stage. The quadrophonic sound was played back from a Powerbook G3 (with MOTU Digital Performer) sitting onstage in minus 10 celsius and wind. And the Mac worked impeccably!
I let it work continuosly the day of the first performance, playing back some ambient sound while rigging, just to keep it warm. During the concert everything went very smooth and nice.Also on the second day. Good gear!

After years of developement, Gibson unveiled a finalized digital protocol to run digital audio: Magic. The connection is made thru an ethernet like connector (RJ45) and supports 8 channels of 32 bits 192 KHz audio streams. Magic can run other types of information as well, like imagery, video, MIDI or real time parameters.

The demoing system of gibson issues audio from an electric guitar in long distance cables, and at the end analogue audio can be taken and processed, even each string can be processed diferently. Also an audio stream come back to the guitar for monitoring.

Looks like concurrency for mLAN this thing. Lets see if the industry jumps into the wagon of Magic?

Vigier Guitars presented a new prototype of a memory guitar. Vigier has already sold in the past memory guitars so it's not virgin territory for them.

The guitar is MIDI, settings can be modified during playing time with up to 128 program changes. The setting itself are passive, they do not change the sound of the pickups nor the guitar is a modeling device either.

The pickup parameters are playing on 17 pickup combinations, actual selection is indicated by 6 LEDs:

Switch 1: 3 positions for the neck pickup, OFF/Single-coil/Humbucker
Switch 2: 2 positions for the middle pickup, OFF/ON
Switch 3: 3 positions for the bridge pickup, OFF/Single-coil/Humbucker
Switch 4: 3 positions, STANDBY (all pickups OFF), Bridge pickup Humbucker alone/Sw1+Sw2+Sw3 Master

The controls can be modi ...