Just back from Summer NAMM. I had not attended the show in a few years since it moved back to Nashville after abortively tried to make show work in Indianapolis and Austin so I was not sure what to expect. What I found and for which I was pleasantly surprised was an upbeat (no pub intended) trade show with a lot of new products and a cool vibe. To be clear the show is about 80 percent Guitar MI and related accessories and about 20 percent pro audio – it’s not nearly the show that it used to be ten years ago when half of the show or more was high tech / pro audio.

What I found refreshing was the large number of new products – many of which were exhibiting for the time – Continue reading →

Just got back from Sweetwater’s GearFest 2012. As with everything else Sweetwater does this year’s GearFest event was (IMHO) first class from start to finish. GearFest has been in the five years I have been attending the show steadily growing and attracting an ever-increasing number of out of state visitors. As a result GearFest is turning into an important Midwest trade show. Continue reading →

TASCAM DP24 Review
– by Steve Sattler

The TASCAM DP24 is the latest flagship Portastudio from the company that pioneered portable multi track recording over 25 years ago. The TEAC Portastudio 144 was the world’s first four-track recorder based on a standard compact audio cassette tape.

When it made its debut in 1979 the TASCAM Portastudio was a revolutionary creative tool. For the first time there existed the possibility to affordably record several instrumental and vocal parts on different tracks of the built-in four-track recorder and later blend all the parts together while transferring them to another standard two-channel stereo tape deck (remix and mixdown) to form a stereo recording – this at a time when the idea of computer based DAW work stations being pervasive and affordable was relatively inconceivable. Continue reading →

MYSTERIES AT YOUR FOOTSTEPS

BY GEORGE PETERSEN
I often go flea marketing on Sunday mornings and one of today’s odd discoveries—no, I didn’t buy it—was this Digidesign 003 Pro Tools LE hardware DAW controller/interface.

Sadly neglected and somewhat abused with missing knobs, etc., this artifact was marked with a piece of white tape as serial #14. As an audio archaeologist, this was interesting to me as it was obviously a prototype/alpha version of some sort. Clearly, there’s no outer case and the silk screening on the front panel is somewhat different than the later production models. (CLICK ON PHOTO FOR LARGER VIEW)

The annotated stickers in the upper right corner on the unit’s top surface have hand-written scrawls about an ADAT rework, a main software rework, a PLL issue and something about headphones and the monitor fader.

The artifact’s rear panel has no manufacturer’s name, no serial number or country of origin. As you can see in the picture above, the identification of the monitor out channels is different (clearer in final version) and the artifact has hand-punched pop rivets holding the XLRs, MIDI jacks and RCA S/PDIF ports onto the rear panel—a definite indication of a prototype version. Also note the additional air ventilation holes in the production version—right above the XLR mic inputs. (CLICK ON PHOTO FOR LARGER VIEW)

THE REAL MYSTERY
The more interesting story here is the mystery as to where it’s been all this time and how it eventually wound up on some junk merchant’s table.

Just another audio archaeology mystery, but if only this gear could talk…
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Interested in creating great audio for video/film?
Check out George Petersen’s current and archived articles from HDVideoPro/CineSoundPro magazine.
Wanna read more? CLICK HERE FOR MORE BLOG POSTINGS!

HOW DOES FREE SOUND TO YOU?

BY GEORGE PETERSEN
Now there’s no excuse to not begin creating great recordings, compositions and audio on your computer. PreSonus is now shipping Studio One Free, a new entry-level version of its popular digital audio workstation software for Mac and Windows. Intended for beginners who don’t yet need the advanced features in Studio One Artist, Producer, and Professional, Studio One Free provides all of the recording and editing features needed for basic music production—and best of all, it’s FREE!

To get Studio One Free, simply download the Studio One installer from the
Studio One website (CLICK HERE) install it, then choose to run it as Free when the activation dialog comes up. Once you’ve downloaded the application, you can use it immediately; no Internet connection or user account is required, no product key is involved, and Studio One Free will not time out.

LOADED WITH PRO FEATURES!
This new version of Studio One has some of the features originally found in Studio One Artist, including the single-window work environment, the content browser with Search, powerful drag-and-drop functions, Control Link MIDI mapping, sidechain routing, automatic delay compensation, real-time audio timestretching and resampling, unlimited audio and Instrument (MIDI) tracks(!), unlimited effects channels, and unlimited channel inserts and sends. Use native key commands or choose key-command sets from Pro Tools, Cubase, or Logic-or use the included editor to create your own key commands.

Studio One Free offers some of the new Studio One 2.0 features, notably multitrack MIDI editing, single and multitrack comping, and Track Transform (advanced track freezing). And of course, it includes the same state-of-the-art, 32-bit sound engine found in Studio One Artist and Producer.

Eight Native Effects plug-ins come with Studio One Free—Beat Delay, Channel Strip (which includes dynamics processing and EQ), Chorus, Flanger, MixVerb (a mono/stereo reverb), Red Light Distortion, Tuner, and Phaser—plus the Presence virtual instrument with more than 100 presets. Studio One Free doesn’t support ReWire and third-party (VST, AU, etc.) effects plug-ins and virtual instruments, but includes plenty of tools to do most basic production work.

THE CATCH…
Actually the only catch here is that PreSonus wants to you use Studio One Free and love it so much that you want to upgrade to one their more advanced versions of Studio One. In fact it’s really quite easy to upgrade to from Free to one of the advanced versions. Download the free demo of Studio One Professional, test it thoroughly, and at any time-even after the demo times out-convert it into Studio One Free with a single click. Ready to buy Studio One Artist, Producer, or Professional? Convert Studio One Free into a paid version at any time, without having to reinstall.

Yet no matter which path you choose, Studio One Free is an awesome deal—at any price—especially free! But snag this soon, before those crazy guys at PreSonus come to their senses and discontinue this amazing offering!

Studio One Free is available now from the PreSonus Studio One website (CLICK HERE)
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Interested in creating great audio for video/film?
Check out George Petersen’s current and archived articles from HDVideoPro/CineSoundPro magazine.
Wanna read more? CLICK HERE FOR MORE BLOG POSTINGS!