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Tech Preview

Solid State Logic's LIVE console

Solid State Logic’s LIVE console

The word is out. At last month’s Musikmesse/Prolight+Sound show in Frankfurt (see report), Solid State Logic, a leading manufacturer of studio consoles and processing tools, has launched “Live” — its first console designed for sound reinforcement applications. This is definitely big news, but hardly the first time a studio-oriented manufacturer has entered the live console market, with notable examples being the Avid VENUE and PreSonus StudioLive series.

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PreSonus StudioLive AI-series Active Integration Loudspeakers

PreSonus StudioLive AI-series Active Integration Loudspeakers

You heard it here first: At this month’s NAMM show, PreSonus is unveiling the results of one of the largest R&D projects in the company’s 18-year history. It’s called Active Integration, and this technology is incorporated into the newest generation StudioLive 32.4.2AI 32-channel mixer (spotlighted on page 23) and PreSonus’ new advanced StudioLive AI-series live sound speakers. But rather than a another “me-too” speaker-on-stick design, the new AI series grabs the industry by the horns and teaches it a few new tricks along the way.

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Roland M-200i Digital Mixer

Roland M-200i Digital Mixer

Roland Systems Group has long been established in the pro live sound industry, going back to the initial debut of its Roland Digital Snake at the New York AES convention in 2005. Once production units became available some months later, I was blown away on hearing an A/B comparison between analog signals running over 300 feet of copper cabling (which sounded dull, with nearly no HF sparkle) and the pristine sound of the Roland system, with 40 channels of 24-bit/96kHz audio running over a single Cat-5e cable. If that wasn’t enough, that S-4000 Digital Snake also offered the additional ease of “splits” using Ethernet switching hubs, simple redundancy setups, expandability to 160 channels, remote-controllable preamps, low latency performance and PC/Mac software for configs and monitoring.

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Sennheiser Digital 9000 System

Sennheiser Digital 9000 Wireless System

The transition to digital wireless is inevitable. Advances in high-quality digital converters in smaller packages with reduced power consumption brings the move to an all-digital wireless environment, especially given the increasingly dense spectral landscape of today’s RF environment. So last month, Sennheiser’s unveiling of its new Digital 9000 wireless system wasn’t entirely unexpected.

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From left, the DLM12S subwoofer, the DLM12 and the DLM8.

Mackie DLM Speakers

With much fanfare, Mackie launched its new DLM speaker line at a packed event in a Seattle club filled with press, dealers and audio pros. The DLM line isn’t slated to ship until late October, but here’s a quick preview.

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Shure ULX-D quad-channel system

Shure ULX-D: Breaking the Wireless Channel Barrier

A simple mention of the word “wireless” these days is bound to bring up grumbling in the mind of audio production professionals. And with good reason, especially given the reality of dealing with the ever-shrinking landscape of available wireless frequencies. What was once a relatively straightforward process of selecting a few channels and doing your show has become increasingly complicated. Fortunately, pro audio manufacturers — particularly those who manufacture wireless systems — are by nature pretty smart, and have come up with some clever solutions, such as online frequency searching and intelligent systems that can quickly scan and lock onto open airspace.

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VUE Audiotechnik: A Different Approach

Back in March of this year, right on the eve of the Musikmesse/Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt, there was a surprise announcement about a new pro audio company. The “new company” part wasn’t much of a shocker — new companies spring up nearly every day. But the real issue of interest here was that this new enterprise known as VUE Audiotechnik is headed by Ken Berger and Jim Sides, two well-known industry icons with an impressive track record.

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The Jack DeJohnette Group soundchecks during recent the Tri-C JazzFest 2012 at Cuyahoga College’s Tri-C Metro Auditorium, where four ARCS II speakers are employed as the center cluster, flanked by L/R hangs with six KARA and two SB18 subs.

L-Acoustics ARCS II and ARCS Wide/Focus

Innovation — and being first to break new technologies — isn’t always easy. History is filled with examples of pioneers who dared to try something “different” and out of the ordinary, when, years later, their principles were eventually accepted as the industry norm. And such is the case with L-Acoustics founder Dr. Christian Heil, who presented his research on Wavefront Sculpture Technology™ (WST) at the 1992 AES convention in Vienna and followed that up with the debut of the revolutionary V-DOSC line array two years later.

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Yamaha CL1

Yamaha CL Series Digital Mixing System

Other than the recent enhancement of the 01V96 and the marvelous StageMix iPad Apps, it has been a quiet spell for new Yamaha digital mixing boards. Their biggest news in years was announced at Frankfurt’s Prolight + Sound last month. The CL Series consists of three consoles, the CL1, CL3 and CL5, ranging from 48 to 72 mono channels plus eight stereo inputs, as well as two Dante-enabled stage boxes.

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Martin Audio MLA Compact

Martin Audio MLA Compact

Since its introduction less than two years ago, Martin Audio’s revolutionary Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) has won accolades and nearly every industry award. Horn loading has always been Martin’s hallmark and recent heritage also includes the large-format Longbow and medium-sized W8LC line arrays.

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JBL D2 Dual Driver

JBL Professional’s Revolutionary D2 Dual Driver

The Heart of the New VTX Series’ V25 Line Array

To download the Feb. 2012 Tech Preview on JBL’s D2 Dual Driver, CLICK HERE

JBL Professional’s VTX Line Array Series, the next generation of VerTec, was announced at Winter NAMM with the release of the large-format V25 line array that incorporates all-new transducers. At its core is JBL’s D2 Dual Driver — a revolutionary compression driver that provides dramatic improvements in high-frequency sound and performance.

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DiGiCo Marks Anniversaries with SD Series Upgrades

DiGiCo Celebrates with SD Series Upgrades

This year, DiGiCo is marking three major milestones — 40 years as a company, 20 years of digital development and 10 years for the DiGiCo brand. To celebrate — and reward its customers — DiGiCo has announced free upgrades for owners of its SD Series of consoles: the SD8, SD9, SD10 and SD11 models.

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