Highlights from AES
Nov 1, 2009 12:00 PM
The 127th AES convention offered all the audio goodies your facility could ever need.
Recording media
Sony showed a variety of handheld digital recorders. The palm-sized PCM-M10 offers a range of recording capabilities from MP3 to full 96kHz, 24-bit WAV. Featuers include a built-in playback speaker, crossmemory recording, fully adjustable digital limiter, low-cut filter, track mark function, five-second prerecording buffer and A-B repeat capability.
The PCM-DI and D50 both feature built-in electret condenser mics, a frequency response of 20Hz to 40kHz at 96kHz and sampling frequencies of 22.05kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz and 96kHz. The D1 supports the WAV format in record/play, analog I/O and optical output. The D50 supports WAV in record and WAV and MP3 in playback and both analog and optical I/O.
Yamaha featured its POCKETRAK 2G compact recorder. The pocket-sized recorder features 2GB of memory, a linear PCM recording mode that can record up to three hours of music and a number of MP3 modes that provide significantly longer record times.
Speakers
Genelec introduced its 8260A three-way DSP speaker. The 8260A features major advances in audio driver technology, integrated with a sophisticated enclosure design, and the company's Minimum Diffraction Coaxial (MDC) mid/high driver technology. This coaxial driver design provides accurate imaging and improved sound quality, both on the acoustical axis as well as off-axis.
At the show from Klein + Hummel were the O 300, which employs a three-way design to make the loudspeaker system extremely precise, and the O 110 compact reference monitor, which features a switchable eight-way, room-matching EQ to compensate for any undesirable room response resulting from placing the speakers near a wall or a corner.
Test and measurement
Prism Sound showed the dScope Series III, a measurement system for analog and digital audio generation and analysis, including digital audio carrier parameters, acoustic transducers and Windows sound devices. The company unveiled three new versions: Analog, Analog Plus and Digital + Analog.
Dolby offered its DP600 Program Optimizer, a flexible audio platform designed for professional broadcasting and post production that provides a file-based workflow solution for loudness correction, audio creation, conversion and upmixing.
RTW released a software upgrade that will enable qualified Surround-Monitor 10800X devices to perform loudness metering. The RTW Version 6.0 software, which will be standard on all new 10800X units, enhances the device's functionality with features including an ITU BS.1770-compliant loudness meter and a quasi-DIN (quasi-analog) bar graph for digital PPM measurements.
Rohde & Schwarz showed its UPV audio analyzer, which is suitable for all interfaces: analog, digital and combined. The unit simultaneously displays multiple measurement functions. It offers a sampling rate up to 400kHz, as well as user-programmable filters for analyzers and generators. Also on display was the company's R&S UP350, an affordable audio analyzer with a frequency range up to 80kHz.
Sonifex featured its Reference Monitor Meters, which offer high-resolution metering of between one and four stereo audio sources, with each stereo source auto-switching between either analog or digital AES/EBU formats with sample rates up to 192kHz accepted. The level of each stereo source is displayed on a pair of multicolored bar graph meters with a choice of 10 accurately modeled scales/responses to suit different applications and local preferences. The company also showed its range of Reference Monitor Controllers, which provides source selection, volume, dim and cut controls for external analog monitors.
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