There seemed to be an explosion in sample libraries and plug-ins at this winter’s NAMM, not surprisingly, since computer-based recording keeps getting bigger every year. But that’s not my beat, maaan! I’m the Live Guy! While everybody else is hanging platinum records on their wall, I’m walking into another venue somewhere, chin up, hoping for the best.

C.K. and Mr. Bob Moog

And there were some cool new tools for doing that job, too. Sure, I probably spent too much time at the Audix booth, chatting with Buck Dharma, but the rest of the time I was taking care of business on behalf of PSW readers everywhere! Well, except for when I stood in line to get my autographed tote bag from Bob Moog, and play the new Minimoog Voyager.

I posted on the LAB, and asked what people wanted to know more about. Phill Graham was curious about how the O1V96 stacks up against the DM100, so I asked Yamaha’s John Schauer to tell me more. He explained that although they have about the same physical footprint, the O1V96 retails for about $2,500, and the DM1000 for about twice that, with its meter bridge being an additional option.

The DM1000 has touch sensitive faders, while the O1V96’s are movement sensitive. The DM1000 has two card slots, while the O1V96 comes with the built-in ability to process eight channels of ADAT input, which increases to 16 with one additional card.

They both have superior mic pre’s. The DM1000 has dedicated transport controls, while on the O1V96, they are user assignable.

John Schauer of Yamaha

Liz and Mark Hellinger, Bill Koehler

Dave Dermont brought up the new T-Class touring cabs from Community, so I hiked a couple miles, with no shoes or water, to check them out, because Another Dave is the man! Steve Armstrong was there, telling some people about them, and I also came back the next day and met Bill Koehler, who is Community’s recently appointed touring department manager. I had him pose with the sartorially splendid Mr. Mark Hellinger and his wife Liz - anyone who reads the LAB is familiar with Mark’s excellent reality-based salvos.

Community T-Class speakers and Steve Armstrong

Bill explained to me that different horns are available, that fit into the mid-high boxes, and can be swapped by removing four bolts and a Neutrik connector. In addition to the relatively standard 60 x 40 and 90 x 60 models, and a 30 x 10 long throw, there are also asymmetrical downward firing ones that are 60 degrees wide at the top and 90 at the bottom. There will also be a 70 x 70, to shoot down into a square audience shape.

The partner cabinet is a single 18” sub. For now, the system is available with a proprietary rackmount DSP, and soon there will be settings available for other popular crossovers.

Mark Amundson wondered if I could check out the Behringer Ultra-Drive pro DCX2496, and let everybody know if it was for real. I can’t really do that without actually controlling a system with it, but from looking at it on the show floor, I can tell you that it will be serious competition for BSS and dbx. Crossovers, dynamic and parametric EQ, and limiting are some of the functions that this loudspeaker management system provides.

I also looked at their active stereo Ultra-DI DI20 (why is everything “ultra” with them?) and could not believe the list price of about 25 bucks - plus it is really quite compact. It has two 1/4” ins and two XLR outs, with switches to make it into a splitter, so that the first input drives both outputs. Also, it can make the second 1/4” input be a “link” (as our European colleagues call it) output, to go to someone’s amp, for example. I say, does anybody have a link lead?

Behringer DI20 stereo d.i.

David Wiggins of KT

Peter Franco of Schubert Systems Group showed up, and accompanied me to the Klark-Teknik booth, where David Wiggins expertly presented a quick tutorial on the new DN9340 Helix digital EQ, which appears to be quite feature-packed. I liked their previous digital graphic, which was so easy to drive on, but they have gone far past that with the Helix, which adds functions such as parametric EQ, and delay, as well as a touch strip below the window, to choose functions and settings without a bunch of knobby knobs or pushbuttons.

“Wiggy,” as all his co-workers refer to him, also told us that all the different filters can be engaged at once, and there is enough processing horsepower that doing so will never create a problem. There are sets of slave units available, that can be chained to the master controller, to do different zones, or a number of monitor mixes.

Interestingly, since KT is under the Pro Audio Group umbrella with Midas, someone can run a cable from their Midas Heritage or Legend desk and actually control a given channel from their desk, on the Helix’s EQ screen, by pressing that channel’s solo button! If you want to adjust EQ for the stereo buss, you press the solo clear button on the desk. I don’t mean to be a KT cheerleader, but that is pretty trick!

Gary Osteen and EV RE1 RF mic

I stepped around a partition, and looked at the new EV RE1 wireless system. Gary Osteen showed me a feature in the associated handheld mic that I was quite startled by – you can insert a 9V battery either way, without having to worry about the polarity. Also, there have been many schemes to ‘singer-proof” the on-off switches on wireless mics.

On this one, if you turn it on three times, it “locks” on. The transmitter has a scanning function, that looks for clear channels in the area, and once it finds one, it is simple to match the mic or belt pack to it. And, Shure mic heads can actually screw right onto the EV handheld’s body.

Gary Boss of AT and Peter Franco

Peter Franco and I kept walking, and he introduced me to Gary Boss down at the Audio Technica booth. Our own Steph Jorgl recently gave their AE-3300 handheld condenser a highly favorable review. Paul Bell of the LAB asked about an alleged small console that Soundcraft is planning to release, one would assume in response to the success of the Midas Venice.

I asked Soundcraft’s national sales manager, Tom Der, about it, and he said that it is still about a year away. He showed me the new MH3 console, and explained that what makes it 30% cheaper than the MH4 is that the channels are removeable in blocks of eight, rather than individually.

The MH3 has the same preamp and EQ as the MH4. Jon Martin extended kudos on the LAB for the inclusion of phantom power status lights on the back of the MH3, as well as on the channel strip. I second that, having spent just a few hours patching and troubleshooting XLR inputs while standing in some kind of trough, or rows of theatre seats, where I could not see the top of the desk.

Down in the bowels of the Anaheim Convention Center is a whole hidden world of additional exhibits. Digico consoles were down there, and I stopped by, only to find Bob Doyle in the midst of explaining their desk to yet another group of curious people gathered around him. Interest is very high in their product, which I recently heard Jon Lemon mix Beck on, quite impressively.

One of my spies told me about a group of ex-Mackie employees, who have formed a company called KV2 (actually, their logo looks like KV “squared”.) Their product is designed in Czechoslovakia, by the folks who originally designed what Mackie licensed as the Fussion system. I met their market manager, Bill Crader, and technical projects manager Andy Austin-Brown.

KV2’s Bill Crader

KV2 amps and processing

KV2 is selling a stackable, modular, system that offers both 15” and 18” subs, as well as a mid-high box that is loaded with a 12”, a 6” and a 1” horn. What is interesting is the associated box that combines amps (1600/600/200/100 watts) and processing that handles crossover functions, phase, time alignment, and protection.

Users can choose from a variety of different combinations of the speaker cabinets, and the amps will drive them correctly. Although KV2 is marketing this combination to sound companies, I can also see this approach being really useful to people who are not advanced audio engineers, in smaller church, corporate, or hotel applications.

A.P. Distributing is the company run by Mark and Liz Hellinger, that works with EWI, a Korean manufacturer.

EWI LDB-101’s

I checked out an active direct box called the LDB-101. You know how we often gaff a pair of d.i.’s together at a show, when we are wiring the stage for something like a stereo keyboard? The LDB-101 has tongue-and-grooves on all four sides, so you can slide them together and make either a vertical or horizontal pair, maybe even go really crazy Lego-style, and make a big brick of eight to be the outs for a digital multitrack, for example.

PSW previously reviewed the E&W PS-2000 amplifier, also sold by A.P. Distributing, and this year brings the HS Series amps, available as the HS-900, HS-1800, and HS-3600. Power capabilities of each, per side, at 8 ohms, is 400W for the 900, 700 for the 1800 and 1350 for the 3600.

Also downstairs was the booth of Québec’s Belisle Acoustics Laboratories, who, in addition to manufacturing and repairing horns and speakers, also make both passive and active speaker cabinets, as part of their Transparence brand. The sounds of a Bob Marley song playing loud and clear caught my ear, and I checked out some of their boxes, and met Luc and Bruno Bélisle.

When I went upstairs to the DBX area, I ran into Jim Matthews of Plus Four Marketing, who I first met about eight years ago, when he was mixing Gregg Allman. Jim told me that, the next night, he was mixing Tower of Power at a showcase up the street in a ballroom, and I forgot all about that ticket I had to see Sir Elton John! I mean, it was great that he sang that song on TV with Eminem, but now we’re talking about “What Is Hip!” We are talking about East Bay Grease, and Mr. Dave Garibaldi, and the Funky Doctor!

Jim also mentioned that the DriveRack 260 controller now incorporates something called the Wizard, whereby a user can choose which of certain (JBL) speakers and (Crown) amps are being addressed, and it will then configure itself to properly drive that particular system.

Jim Matthews mixing Tower of Power

C. Rex Reed of dbx

When I reported to the Tower of Power performance, I was floored, not only by Jim’s excellent mixing job, but by the tone of the JBL VerTec system. I could really tell that something was different. Sure enough, when I spoke to Plus Four’s Joe Arnaudon and JBL’s Mark Gander, they explained that recently a new tuning was generated for the full-size VerTecs, that incorporated some thoughts people had after last year’s touring season. Well, they have hit the nail on the head - I know this was an indoor gig, but the clarity and lack of box resonance was amazing.

As a former Bay Area resident, it is always good to see Jim, Joe and their colleague Jeff McDonald. Walking out of the hotel, I ran into percussionist Jorge Bermudez, whose Bermudez Triangle band I mixed almost twenty years ago at a club in Marina Del Rey! Jorge is about to tour with Ann Margaret. We talked about our mutual friend Arno Lucas, from the Al Jarreau band, who synchronistically hailed me the next day from where he sat in the Marriott Starbucks with his wife Yoko. I hate to admit it, NAMM is great that way.

Gene Houck of Audix

Over at Audix, there was a booth set up that musicians played in, while people listened outside on headphones, it was pretty cool. Also, I looked at the Micro M1290 condenser, which is about as big as a cigarette, and claims a frequency response of 40 Hz-20K. Rob Schnell of Audix told me he had used some for drum overheads recently. The shorter M1245 starts at 80 Hz and can be used for acoustic guitars and percussion. Both mics terminate in mini-XLR connectors and are supplied with lightweight 12’ cables to full-size XLR jacks. There are also optional clear plastic mic clips and 50 foot cables, which can be used to run them in mid-air above a choir or orchestra.

Rob Schnell is Audix’ drum specialist, and he has been a busy young man, arranging a package that combines a D-4 or D-6 mic with a May system kick drum mount. That is brilliant! I had to make a lot of calls to create the same combination a few years ago.

Okay, so I made an off-topic lap through the Jay Turser guitars booth! They have licensed the design for the old Giannini Craviola, and are building them in Korea. The original Craviola was a wonderful-sounding, unusual-looking design, and the new ones sound fine, plus are available with pickups.

My last stop was at the Neutrik booth, where Kathi Evans told me all about how she reads the LAB regularly, and even posts when someone has an issue with Neutrik products! Neutrik is introducing the Speakon SPX series – the new NL4FX will replace the existing NL4FC.

Kathi also showed me the couches in the booth that they encourage people to drop down onto, and rest their aching feet! Man, I wish I had known about those before! One of the most evil aspects of NAMM is that there is almost nowhere to sit down.

Well, enough of my complaining! Going off com …