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A Historic Winter NAMM Show
For the church market, numerous potential game-changing pro audio products were unveiled.
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#1 - Line 6's new StageScape M20d 20-input Stage Mixing System could change the way all digital mixers are designed in the future. The user interface is completely revolutionary, and should have great appeal in the church market.
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#2 - Mackie's new iPad-based DL1608 small-format digital mixer is another potential game changer first seen at Winter NAMM 2012. At just $999 (plus the cost of the iPad 1 or 2), the DL1608 enables wireless mixing from anywhere in the room. One church sound engineer tells Mackie that the DL1608 will allow him to sit with his family in church for the first time in 16 years.
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#3 - Presonus enhances the feature set of its StudioLive Series of digital mixers with the addition of Smaart loudspeaker system analysis and optimization tools, plus the ability to mix monitors wirelessly using up to 10 iPads of iPods.
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#4 - JBL says the heart of new flagship VTX loudspeaker system is the D2, a new dual driver, dual voice coil compression driver design. JBL says it'll take years for the competition to match it.
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#5 - The new TimbrePlug from Neutrik allows guitarists and bassists to change their tone in ways not easily possible by simply changing the bass and treble. Changes are subtle, but very impressive.
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Ricky Rockett, drummer from Poison, and me at Winter NAMM 2012. We went to high school together in Pennsylvania. Really.
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6. Radial Engineering’s Peter Janis holds the new single-rack-space WR-3 500 Series Powerstrip Rack designed for live sound applications. The new unit, shown here empty, accepts all 500 Series processors, including preamps.
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Radial Engineering’s new single-rack-space WR-3 500 Series Powerstrip Rack (top) is designed for live sound applications. It accepts three 500 Series processors and preamps.
Google’s Sergey Brin is quoted as saying “Scarcity brings clarity.” New clarity and innovation was found on all fronts, as the scarcity of the recent economy drove manufacturers to dig deep and advance their crafts in ways not seen in the 16 years I’ve been attending the Winter NAMM Show. Held this past week in Anaheim, Calif., the innovators at NAMM were rewarded as the show set records with over 95,000 in attendance and over 1,400 exhibitors.
What was the buzz of the show? Depends who you talk to. We scoured the floor for the latest in pro audio, and the offering was impressive and widespread.
Number One
Line 6’s new StageScape M20d was probably the most discussed product from the church tech people we talked to. New digital mixer from Line 6 (retail price $2499) offers an entirely new way to do live sound. Inputs are routed from source to destination in much the same way you’d program a GUI on a digital signal processor. Just drag and drop from the touch screen. With just a few knobs on the front panel, set-up and operation are as automated as we’ve seen in a digital mixer. To me, it looks and feels like playing a video game. Depending on how the interface is received, this could be a game changer in the world of digital mixing. Line 6 has a history of building good quality, affordable audio equipment. Based on the company’s experience, we expect the StageScape M20d 20-input Stage Mixing System to be a hit in the church market.
Number Two
We were equally impressed with the new Mackie DL1608 iPod-based digital mixer. At just $999, plus the cost of an iPad, the new DL1608 will likely provide some heady competition to the new Line 6 StageScape M20d. Unlike Line 6, Mackie says it chose to adopt an existing interface (the iPad) instead of spending millions of dollars developing their own. Mackie says the DL1608 delivers pristine sound quality, the result of 16 Mackie Onyx mic preamps and 24-bit Cirrus Logic AD/DA converters. The new mixer is scheduled to ship in May or June.
Number Three
While we’re on the subject of small digital mixers, Presonus adds features to its StudioLive Series of digital mixers. A few months ago, the company announced plans to incorporate Smaart loudspeaker analysis capabilities from Rational Acoustics in its mixers. At NAMM, we got more details. Smaart Spectra and Smaart Locator will be incorporated into PreSonus’s Universal Control Version 1.6, expected to be available later this spring. Using Smaart technology, users can improve the sound of their P.A. system with sound-system analysis and optimization tools never before offered in a mixing console --- let alone one that costs less than $2,000. Very cool. Presonus also announced a software update that allows up to 10 musicians to simultaneously control their monitor mixes using an iPhone or iPod touch. The free QMix app is expected to be available later this month.
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Brian Blackmore is editor-in-chief and publisher of Church Production Magazine and Worship Facilities Magazine. He can be reached at bblackmore@churchproduction.com. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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ADD NEW COMMENTFor more information on the POSSE system Mark mentions, please visit http://www.churchproduction.com/go.php/news/16493
Posted by Brian Blackmore on 01/27/2012 report abuse
Did anyone get to see the new POSSE in ear monitor system? at $499 per station (plus earbuds) it seems a viable alternative to the market leaders.
Posted by Mark Walford on 01/27/2012 report abuse