January 31, 2024 Newsletter

Our NAMM 2024 Recap

January can be a special time for music makers, producers, engineers, and techs, when the winter NAMM show comes around to Anaheim. The first full-featured edition of this show in its usual winter time slot since the pandemic began, it attracted over 100,000 people from over 100 countries, and had thousands of brands exhibiting.

Within this sea of excitement, our team took to the show floor and saw some great and unique offerings: check out new gear from Shure, Waves, Audient, Sennheiser, Neumann, and more!

Iconic Neumann Sound for All Wireless Systems.

Neumann capsule heads in combination with Sennheiser wireless systems have already proven their outstanding sound quality and reliability on some of the largest stages of the world, including international TV events, such as the Eurovision Song Contest. With the KK 104 U and KK 105 U ($999 each), Neumann premium sound is finally available to users of 3rd party wireless systems, too.

Compared to the KK 105 U (supercardioid), the KK 104 U (cardioid) offers a slightly more open sound and is more forgiving regarding positioning and head movements. It is thus the perfect capsule for expressive singers. The KK 105 U offers better separation and increased rejection of unwanted sound from neighboring instruments, resulting in a very direct and intimate sound, even on crowded stages.

AV Over IP Solutions from Bolin Technology

Known for making high-quality PTZ cameras for all sorts of uses ranging from broadcast to space exploration, Bolin Technology has augmented their offerings with a series of simple to use AV over IP interfaces.

Bolin's D20 Series Dante AV Ultra transceiver device can be programmed as an encoder or a decoder. D20 Series is a single channel networked AV over IP transceiver that is fully compatible with Dante audio devices within a Dante ecosystem for HDMI sources up to 4K60Hz 4096 x 2160, with embedded audio and PTZ camera movement control via IP or IR pass-through. It provides audio and video streaming over a standard gigabit network and D20S/D20H models as decoders output baseband video, either HDMI ($2295) or 12G SDI ($2595), to work in professional AV applications.

Audient ORIA: Immersive In Mind

Meet ORIA, the world's first audio interface and monitor controller designed specifically with immersive audio in mind. Built for creating immersive audio mixes for formats such as Dolby Atmos, ORIA ($2699) lets you calibrate, control and monitor multi-channel speaker arrays from stereo up to 9.1.6 and everything in between. Perfect for music, film, TV, game and VR production.

ORIA not only excels as a powerful USB-C audio interface providing 16 outputs for up to 9.1.6 mixing workflows, but can also effortlessly integrate into your existing studio setup as a standalone monitor controller. Easy to navigate, easy to control. ORIA gives you powerful new ways to truly take control of any stereo, surround or immersive environment courtesy of its beautifully simple software.

Bring VST3 Plugins To Your Console.

Fourier Audio's transform.engine ($10,402) brings Dante-connected studio-grade audio software plugins to productions and broadcasts around the world in a robust 2U rackmount server. Transform.Engine runs VST3 plugins, giving engineers and creatives access to the very best studio-grade processing on a robust platform that is specifically designed for the complexities of live productions.

Designed to be integrated directly into live audio workflows, transform.engine puts control of plugins directly under the fingers of engineers on their own worksurfaces, starting with DiGiCo consoles. However, it is fully capable of operating in conjunction with virtually any professional digital console on the market via Dante, using the Windows/macOS application to control the engine.

MOTU 828: Back And Better Than Ever!

The completely redesigned 828 ($995) delivers everything you need to turn your computer into a powerful 24-bit/192 kHz digital audio workstation. The 828 connects to a Mac or PC with Super-speed (5 Gbps) USB 3 or Hi-speed USB 2, with up to 60 audio channels (28 in and 32 out). Proven, reputable MOTU drivers work with all your favorite audio apps, delivering industry-leading, ultra-low round trip latency (RTL) performance as low as 2 ms at 96 kHz with high-performance DAW hosts. USB audio class-compliant firmware allows connection to your iPad™ or any iOS™ device via USB-C or a standard camera connection kit.

The 828 is equally well-suited for studio and stage. After recording and mixing in the studio, unplug the 828 from the computer and take it on stage for operation as a stand-alone mixer with effects. Control everything over Wi-Fi from the CueMix 5 app running on your laptop, tablet and smartphone.