AES used to be an insider’s show for audio engineers and academics, but that’s not the case any more. Now, with the audio industry pumping out new products, it’s a show to watch for new gear. (For the uninitiated, that’s AES as in Audio Engineering Society, the folks who gave us, among other things, the AES/EBU digital audio format.)
What’s likely to be big at AES? Harmony Central has, as usual, been a reliable source for press releases, and the European sites (darn them) are ignoring the embargoes on the press releases and going live with stories (links attached). Here’s what’s on the CDM radar that you’re likely to actually care about:
New Pro Tools: Pro Tools 7 will be unveiled with much fanfare. What’s in it? We’ll know tomorrow, with LE, M-Powered, and TDM expected. Leaked at GearJunkies.
New M-Audio Control Surface: It’s like the Digi 002 for users of Ableton Live, Logic, and SONAR. Think motorized faders and audio at a really, really low price (like $900). Leaked at MacMusic. Could there be more M-Audio kit? Possibly; they showed their MicroTrack recorder at AES Barcelona.
New Yamaha workstation keyboard: Leaked at GearJunkies. I have an interview with Yamaha tomorrow.
Bunches of new apps from Native Instruments: NI has a huge lineup expected. I’ve heard some inside dirt on this . . . could be cool. I’ll report back from their press conference.
Windows Audio of the Future: Cakewalk will talk 64-bit, and hopefully we’ll hear more about Microsoft’s upcoming OS, Vista.Alan Pearlman, ARP creator, honored: M-Audio will present both the creator of the original ARP and the creator of the TimeWARP plugin.
Other stuff I can’t tell you about . . . yet. See, I’m well-behaved, so I honor those “embargoed” labels stamped across press releases.
Stay tuned to CDM and Gizmodo for live, weekend-long coverage and photos. Of course, since I’m actually there the press releases may beat me to coverage . . . but you want my spin on things, right?
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