ProToolerBlog 4/12/10 1:16 PM
It has been announced that Avid has bought Euphonix. As you probably know, Euphonix is a manufacturer of control surfaces on both the high- and the low-end of the spectrum. Not only that, they are – ahem! were! – part of Apple’s trinity together with Apogee and Apple themselves.

I don’t know about you, but for me this came out of the blue. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what all this means in the long run, trying to see beyond the press releases and gossip on the web.

Aggressive tactics: Is there anyone who don’t think it’s more than a little aggressive of Avid to simply buy one part of the Apple trinity? This should really decimate the Native alliance. I mean, the Euphonix Artist series has gotten a lot of attention since its release and what used to be advertised as the perfect complement to Logic is now residing in Pro Tools land.

Pro Tools integration: I think there’s little doubt that proper Pro Tools integration will be implemented. What’s funny is that the artist series to some extent actually has better integration than the low-end Digidesign control surfaces! I wouldn’t say overall, but they do things that the Pro Tools controllers don’t. I really hope Avid has the good taste to actually implement these as well in their new protocol and not intentionally cripple low-end users.

Open standard protocol: Avid says a new “open standard protocol” will be created. What does this mean exactly? Something to get rid of the years old HUI? Often when I talk to companies that build control surfaces they say that they support HUI for Pro Tools. Are we finally getting something better? And is Avid hoping that companies such as Steinberg and Apple will use it? Sounds good, but remember that creating a new open standard isn’t easy. More often than not, it seems like the case is that a number of companies try to create an open standard and we end up with a mish-mash of “standards”. I still can’t believe Dave Smith managed to get everyone to agree on MIDI. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if this “open” standard protocol is for Avid products only.

Third-party support: So what will happen to users of, say, Logic? From what I understand, Avid will continue to support it. They don’t say for how long. I guess if the open standard protocol is a success, and it turns out to be what it sounds like, there’s no problem. But if Apple says “fuck that” then it doesn’t matter who comes out as the bad guy, the only thing that’s fucked is the customer.

Let me just say that I have no clue! I’m just tossing stuff up in the air. But I’m excited to see where this is going.

Perhaps the most interesting question is: what will the next generation control surface look like and just how far away is it?

Top 20 Gear Hits of the Noughties

MixBlog 12/3/09 10:55 AM Kevin Becka TechTicker

The years between 2000 and 2009 saw a mind boggling expansion of audio technology. Releases included impressive new gear and upgrades of existing products for recording, processing, editing and mixing audio. Here are my top 20 picks with links to reviews and videos. Feel free to write in your own picks in the comments section and add to the list.

Pro Tools HD – Digidesign’s 2002 hardware upgrade brought high resolution audio to the industry’s top DAW

Neumann Solution-D Digital Microphones – Neumann’s legacy of quality was advanced with the release of these amazing sounding transducers with onboard converters

Apple Logic Pro – After the purchase of Emagic, Apple puts its stamp on this popular music production tool making it a contender for top affordable native DAW

Celemony Melodyne – Auto Tune was first in the 90s, but Melodyne brought a fresh new way to correct pitch in the noughties

Blue Bottle Microphone – This retro mic set the quality and design standard for Blue which later released the innovative Mouse, Dragonfly and Blue Ball.

Focal CMS 65 monitors – Focal’s affordable CMS line benefits from the technology used in the company’s audiophile speakers which can go for well over $100k a pair

SSL Duality – SSL got a new owner and steered through troubled waters with this large format console at the helm

JBL LSR6328P monitors  – Once the studio monitoring champ, JBL made a solid bid for the title again with these great sounding speakers

Digico SD7  – Used recently on tour with U2, the SD7 debuted in 2007 with state-of-the-art FPGA technology making it a top contender for live sound applications

Royer SF24 – Royer provided an easy way to record with ribbon mics in stereo without having the gain and impedance issues of a passive ribbon

Genelec 8050A Series Monitors – Genelec replaced their 1029/30/31As with the 80 series, improving on the pioneering brand that set the pace for self-powered monitors

Roland V-Mixer – RSS was an unlikely entrant into the live sound market when they launced their forward looking, affordable and feature packed small format console with a digital snake

Plugins – Many companies defined this category in the noughties including Waves, Sonnox, Focusrite, McDSP, Bomb Factory, TL Audio, SoundToys, PSP, URS, IK Multimedia, brainworx, Universal Audio, iZotope and more

Digidesign VENUE and ICON – Digidesign went from 0 to 60 in record time with their live sound and studio consoles

Converters – Companies that brought their best to the noughties include: Mytek, Lynx, Prism, Apogee, Weiss, db Technologies (now Lavry Engineering), Benchmark, Millennia Media, dCS and DAD

Radial Workhorse 5000 – Radial’s penchant for building sturdy, versatile and affordable products was carried on with this innovative take on the simple 500-series rack

ADAM A5 Monitors – In the quality vs. price race ($800 a pair), no one came closer to winning the “bang-for-the-buck” trophy

DPA 3532-T Mic Kit – DPA dominated the high-voltage mic niche with this all-in-one toolkit

Upstate Audio Sonic Lens Preamp – This preamp set the bar high for the competition with its pristine, audiophile signal path between mic and recorder.

Fairlight Xynergi – Fairlight’s slick video-keyed controller for their Crystal Core engine offered fantastic value, user experience and the best feature set in its price range