LAS VEGAS — The big NAB Show (nabshow.com) kicked off its 101st year from April 13-17, 2024, with a return to the cavernous Las Vegas Convention Center, where some 65,000 registered attendees from 162 countries gather to learn about and discuss the latest in tech and innovation for the broadcast, media and entertainment industries.
Nearly three-quarters of attendees are buyers, with a collective buying power of $17 billion. Obviously much of that attention is on visual media systems, but we uncovered some interesting new products for sound reinforcement users among the nearly 1,300 exhibitors on the show floors.
Let’s focus on a few of these developments, listed alphabetically.
Hidden Treasures: NAB’s Live Sound Hits!
Allen & Heath highlighted its popular Avantis digital consoles and the compact, powerful Avantis Solo, and was demoing the new, affordable, go-anywhere CQ Series digital mixers — all in the American Music & Sound booth. And A&H showed an interactive system builder for its AHM Series audio matrix processors. Also showing off their product spreads in the AM&S booth were Lake People (lake-people.de), with its full line of mic preamps, headphone amps, monitoring / converter solutions and more; along with CAD Audio’s (cadaudio.com) wide array of studio and live performance microphones and wireless IEM and RF microphone products for pro users. allen-heath.com; NAB Booth: C6620
Clear-Com showed a variety of communications solutions, including the new Gen-IC system, a secure, flexible (and low-latency) cloud-managed virtual intercom service enabling real-time partyline workflows without the need for intercom hardware. Simple to deploy, configure and manage, Gen-IC is scalable for small and large teams while providing connectivity to existing on-site intercom systems, letting end users quickly ramp up multiple virtual clients as needed, with the unique capability of integrating with Clear-Com’s extensive hardware infrastructure over LAN, WAN and the Internet. clearcom.com; NAB Booth C6007
DiGiCo unveiled Version 1742 software, a free download for all SD and Quantum consoles. V1742 lets Quantum338 and Quantum225 owners to purchase and harness DiGiCo’s Pulse software extension, to increase their number of input channels, buses, and Mustard and Nodal Processors. V1742 also provides a free bump in Mustard processing numbers for Quantum7 and Quantum5 customers. V1742 also offers Quantum7 and Quantum5 customers a bump in Mustard processing numbers for free, and supports an internal Fourier Interface Card, integration for running the KLANG:app from the console and native worksurface control of Meyer Sound’s Spacemap Go and Adamson’s FletcherMachine — among other benefits. digico.biz; NAB Booth C6307
DPA Microphones was showing its new model 2017 compact shotgun microphone. Just 7.24” long, this all-purpose shotgun solution offers extreme durability, high directivity, clarity and consistency for capturing sounds and is ideally suited for audience miking or on an FOH boom or fly bar in venues during live events. www.dpamicrophones.com; NAB Booth: C7307
KLANG:technologies’ new KOS 5.5 operating system is a free download that simplifies and reduces setup time for all of KLANG’s second-gen devices, including :konductor, :kontroller, and :vokal, as well as DiGiCo’s DMI-KLANG card. DiGiCo console Integration “Lite” puts both console and KLANG channel labels in perfect sync. Firing a snapshot on the Quantum or SD-Range console will fire the corresponding snapshot in KLANG, and whenever a console session is loaded or saved, a corresponding KLANG session is also saved. KOS 5.5 also improves improving Dante network stability and latency and eases patching of Dante channels to a KLANG mix directly from KLANG:app and KLANG:kontroller without the need for Dante Controller. KLANG.com/kos-5-5; NAB Booth: C6307
Lawo’s mc² series consoles and A_UHD core are constantly evolving. The 256 aux buses can now be used with a tablet for personal monitoring purposes, so that every in-ear mix is perfect. Lawo’s new HOME mc² DSP app is a server-based, agile audio engine that combines the flexibility of the HOME Apps platform in terms of connectivity and scalability with Lawo audio processing quality. The HOME mc² DSP app can be used together with mc² mixing consoles or to instantiate a (virtual) mixing system at the press of a button wherever audio processing is required at short notice. Also at NAB, Lawo demoed the new compatibility of mc² consoles with Waves’ new SuperRack LiveBox providing access and control of, just about any studio-grade VST3 plug-in on the market — whether developed by Waves or by other vendors, with Snapshot-specific parameter saves and recalls. lawo.com; NAB Booth: C4110
Lectrosonics used a fishbowl in its booth to show off the (real) IP57 rating of its new DSSM miniature, water-resistant digital wireless bodypack transmitter, offered in A1B1 (470-614 MHz), B1C1 (537-691 MHz), and 941 (941-960 MHz) frequencies. In Q3 2024, the DSSM will be available for sale individually as well as in ZS kits with USB-powered dual battery charger. The CHSDSSM 4-bay, gangable charging dock will also be available. Features include: all-metal construction; removable SMA mount antenna; standard miniature 3-pin locking input connector; removable LB-50 LiOn battery; and easy-to-use onboard buttons and rich display, with the same menu structure as the venerable DBSM family transmitters. lectrosonics.com; NAB Booth: C5507
Neutrik Group’s showed three new line-level DLINE audio interfaces. Following the success of its NA2-IO-DLINE DANTE endpoint, the NA-2I2O-DLINE, the NA-2I-DLINE and the NA-2O-DLINE are all designed to connect legacy audio gear to the Dante protocol. The NA-2I2O-DLINE is a 2-line input and 2-line output box with one Dante/RJ-45 Ethernet port. The NA-2I-DLINE interface offers 2-Line input capability with one Dante/RJ-45 Ethernet port; while the NA-2O-DLINE box offers 2-line output capability with 1 Dante/RJ-45 Ethernet port. neutrikgroup.com; NAB Booth: C6144
Pliant Technologies debuted its CRP-C12, a newly designed compact Radio Pack (RP) for use with any CrewCom or CrewCom CB2 system. The CRP-C12 is one of the industry’s smallest, fully featured professional radio pack, measuring approximately 3.5×3.5”, while weighing just under 9 ounces. The new compact RP is available in all standard CrewCom frequency bands, including 900MHz (where applicable) and 2.4GHz (worldwide). plianttechnologies.com; NAB Booth: C5310
PunQtum’s Bolero Connect feature offers users a direct connection to Riedel’s Bolero wireless intercom system. Operating in tandem with punQtum’s Q210 P speaker station, this cost-effective solution for deployment across large-scale events that require several channels of partyline, works as a single network connection between the Q210 P and Bolero, making the system slimmer and more cost-effective while enhancing workflow. With Bolero Connect, six partyline channels can seamlessly integrate from one punQtum Q210 P speaker station to Bolero, expanding the communication capabilities of large-scale events and productions. www.riedel.net; NAB Booth: C4907
RAVENNA was showing its low-latency, high-reliability solution of AES67- and SMPTE ST 2110-compliant technology for real-time transport of audio and other media data over IP networks. Holoplot was celebrating the successful implementation of its RAVENNA-enabled X1 matrix array at the Sphere in Las Vegas (this week featuring an April 18-21 residency by jam band Phish). The venue employs 1,600 permanently installed and another 300 mobile Holoplot X1 loudspeaker modules, for a total of 167,000 individually amplified speaker drivers. ravenna-network.com; NAB Booth: C1739
Sennheiser showed its new MKH 8030 figure-8 RF condenser mic that’s an ideal choice wherever the highest attenuation of neighboring sound sources is required, such as in P.A. applications where sound needs to be eliminated or an adjacent instrument must not be picked up. The MKH 8030 combines durability, wide frequency response, low self-noise, and a natural, coherent sound image with minimal off-axis coloration. Also new to the MKH series is the MZH 8042 gooseneck accessory that brings the excellent audio quality of a connected MKH microphone (such as the MKH 8040) to lectern applications. sennheiser.com; NAB Booth: C4732
Shure’s SLX-D UHF wireless can run up to 10 systems per 6 MHz channel (or 32 max systems per 44 MHz channel) and delivers 24-bit digital audio and rock-solid RF performance with easy setup and rechargeability options in a variety of configurations — single half-rack, dual full-rack and portable receivers, handheld, bodypack and plug-on transmitters, and a wide selection of vocal, lavalier, headset and instrument mics. It’s compatible with Shure Wireless Workbench, ShurePlus Channels, Shure UHF wireless antenna distribution and remote antenna accessories (rack receivers only). shure.com; NAB Booth: C5525
Sound Devices — now distributed in the U.S. by Group One Ltd. — launched new products for users in musical, touring, house of worship, theatrical and others in the live event space. These include new additions to the Sound Devices Astral wireless product family, such as the A20-SuperNexus wireless receiver with HexVersity (which packs up to an unprecedented 32 channels into a single 19” rackspace); the A20-Opto expansion box, which adds native Optocore audio I/O to interconnect DiGiCo consoles with A20-SuperNexus receivers; and the A20-Outpost-NL for remote-mounting NexLink™ antennas via Ethernet. Sound Devices is also developing more Astral-family products to be released later this year. sounddevices.com; NAB Booth: C6618
TASCAM was showing its IF-ST2110 Expansion Card for its Sonicview 16XP/24XP digital consoles that will provide full support for the SMPTE ST 2110 AV networking standard. Access to 64 input and output audio channels is provided, with full network redundancy according to SMPTE ST 2022-7 and support for NMOS, AES-67 and SAP. Deliveries of the card are slated for fall 2024. Meanwhile, recent firmware upgrades for the mixers add dual-monitor capability with a second monitor bus configuration, enhanced talkback and output routing capability, increased user key selections, and much more. tascam.com; NAB Booth: C6617
Wisycom’s new modular, 470 to 1,260 MHz MRK16 receiver can manage up to 16 true diversity channels in a 1RU chassis daisy-chainable four times for 64 channels of audio. Its RF-over-fiber functionality allows pristine reception without distance limits, while the optional EX3 fiber module and BFLT1 transmitter make it possible to place antennas miles away. The multiband (470 to 1,260 MHz) MTP61 miniature bodypack transmitter is just 66.8mm x 47mm and weighs 94g. And the BFL portable RF-over-fiber interfaces (BFLR1 receiver and BFLT1 transmitter) are compact, easy solutions that offer an entirely new way for users to support RF coverage and distribution requirements without concern for cable loss. wisycom.com; NAB Booth: C7507
More to Come!
We will cover more cool items from NAB, both online and in future print issues of FRONT of HOUSE. Meanwhile, NAB returns to Las Vegas next year, from April 5-9, 2025 (Exhibits April 6-9). See you there!
