28th May 1998

What I want is a cheap(ish) 8 analog preamps to ADAT light pipe so I can access all the inputs on my digital desk. Oh, and I'd like MOTU 2408 to work with Logic Audio right now. While I'm at it, can I have a budget digital patchbay/digital distribution thingy with wordclock in and out too?
And, can we make a law against products being anounced and advertised 6 months before they're even finished? Is it getting to be like the film industry where you sell the film before you've started it?

Alesis PCI ADAT card
Yeah well it had to happen sooner or later, Alesis have come up with the ADAT-PCRȘ. As it says on the webpage :

"...the ADAT-PCRȘ is the nonlinear recording and editing solution for ADAT users. With the PCR, ADAT users can send eight tracks of audio into a computer with up to 24-bit resolution, use the included software-based editing interface for intricate audio manipulation, then transfer the edited tracks back into their ADAT system with single sample-accurate precision...."

It has lightpipe i/o and adat sync i/o as well.
Not quite available yet, they are waiting on the software houses to do the dirvers but it's expected to be in the region of $250-350.

Yamaha's new Baby
You've probably already heard but Yamaha's new entry level digital desk is hitting the streets - The 01v is set to replace the Promix01 but looks like it's an only slightly less than the 03D - which I can tell you from personal experience is a pretty tidy peice of kit. the price is an astonishing 1399ukp (inc vat)
You can check the spec at:
http://www.yamaha.com/

Some Nifty things
A public spirited chap called Frank Filipanits Jr. has written a couple of utillities. One strips over views from SDII files (useful if they get corrupted) and an applet which provides icons for SDII files when the SD app is not on your system...
He also points out that "There are no warranties either expressed or implied with regards to this software. Use at your own risk."
http://www.coolstufflabs.com/slab.html

18th May 1998

Well, there has been a dearth of new 'go faster' cards on the market now though I must confess, they do seem to be slow erm, coming to market I'm even happy to say that my creaking 'old' 8100 has been catered for.
I've read a couple of reports from users on the DAW-MAC list that say they are getting a pretty good performance from the Newer cards. But would really like to see it for myself. BTW, I don't know if there are actually any in the UK yet, a friend of mine told me that the distributors for Newer Tech are looking at back orders of many thousands......

I have been looking into the idea of running a new mac with my trusty old NUBUS, containing the PTII and SampleCell card alongside with a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch to control the two from one KVM.

You might find these links useful if that's a path that appeals to you:
The Headless Mac resource
Blackbox - www.blackbox.co.uk

Of course, another option is to invest in a PCI-NUBUS adapter though price may be prohibitive. - it is for me.
Try: http://web.uvic.ca/~dslik/MacPCI/InterfaceDesigner/PCI-NuBusExp.html

Digidesign Offer Support Package
Digidesign have unveiled their new support package. It comes in three flavours. The inevitable Gold, Silver and Bronze:
(from the mailout)

Passport Bronze extends the standard technical support that came with the product, for an additional year. It's an excellent value for those who simply want an extension of the original standard plan.

Passport Silver offers toll-free phone number access to our most senior support engineers; a toll-free phone number; complete coverage for all Digidesign cards, interfaces, and software with virtually no hold time; and priority handling of your support needs.

Passport Gold offers round-the-clock access, seven days a week, to our most senior support engineers; a toll-free phone number; complete coverage for all Digidesign cards, interfaces, and software; virtually no hold time; complimentary advance replacement of defective product; complimentary software upgrades; discounts on non-warranty repairs; and more, at a fraction of the cost of the system.

And now ladies and gentlemen hold your breath for the pricing: (for a PT24 system)
Passport Bronze: $199
Passport Silver: $799
Passport Gold: $2399

Well there you go.

Yamaha New desk
Well dontcha just know it. I buy the (IMHO) great O3D desk and they bring out a new cheaper desk - DOH!
The O1V, is s'posed to take the place of the PromixO1. It has 16 analog ins with 16 digital channels available via one of the slot in cards - Tdif/adat and soon to come analog.
You can link a couple together as well without needing a digital cascade kit that will eat the extra 8 channels on your O3D. On the minus side there is no built in automation, not a problem in my opinion.
Check the yamaha website for more info http://www.yamaha.com/

MOTU 2408
Blimey, how do they do that then? MOTU offers:

• 8 ins 8 out on phonos
• 3 adat lightpipes
• 3 Tascam Tdifs
• Wordclock i/o

All for around a grand (uk). Now if that sounds too good to be true, it might be just a little bit. Not shipping just yet and also unsupported by Logic, VST this promises to be a real little beauty; once it works with all the fave software....
Dealers I've spoken to are skepitical about that happening for a while at least. It did take a while for the 1212 to be supported after all. I can see these being in great demand when you look at all the new digital desks that offer adat/tdif i/p and o/p channels.
http://www.motu.com/english/hardware/2408/direct3.html

Mac Demonstrate Fibre buss
From MACNN

At "FibreFest," held at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Rorke
   demonstrated its Fibre Channel workgroup solution, StudioNet-FC, with
   24 computers running professional A/V applications including
   Digidesign ProTools and Media 100; the solution apparently showed
   sustained transfers of over 85 MB/sec on a single loop. StudioNet-FC
   was recently approved by Media 100 for an eight workstation
   configuration.

Computer Warehouse Cut Prices
Yup, all the CW clone models are benefitting from price cuts between 100 and 300 ukp. Also they've introduced a G3 upgrade card called the California that wil enable you to upgrade your Mhgz'lychallengedButitsonly3monthsold PowerComputing or Apple 604e base cpu to a fast G3 processor with suoer fast processor bus speed.
A number of options are available with prices starting at 799ukp.
Go visit their site at: http://www.computerwarehouse.co.uk - assuming they've got it working. Or indeed, ring them on +44 (0)181 400123 - tell em we sent ya.

NAMM Report Frenzy
Yes, here they come: Barry Woods' Online report: http://www.otheroom.com/namm
Harmony Central

Sony Super Floppy
The war for the domination of medium capacity removable storage market continues with Sony's HiFD floppy:
The new format will apparently be capable of storing up to 200mb using new hi density techology as a result of a collaboration with FujiFilm.
The drive is said to be backwards compatable with the good 'ol HDD floppy disc and will achieve transfer rates of 3.6mb/s.
For more info: http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/products/storage/hifd.html

Peak to bcome new SD3.0?
Forthcoming upgrades are said to include: Sync to SPMTE, CD Burning, encoding for RealAudio 5.0.
Also said to be compatible with AudioSuite Plugins too. - Hooray!
www.bias-inc.com

G3 cards for 'Old' machines?
Yes! Best news I've heard for months. There is news beggining to spread that Newer Technologies are close tp releasing two G3 PDS cards that will revive your trusty Mac. There's a 240mhz with a 1mb backside cache at 160mhz ($799) and a cheaper 210mhz 512 cache for around 499?.
If you'd like to read more - MacWeek have a beta test article at:
http://www.zdnet.com/macweek/mw_1201/rv_newer.html

The model which can be updated are the 6100/7100/8100's. There is a problem however, the card goes into the slot normally occupied by the video card ( or the av card). There is some kind of clever 'thru' connector that solves this though if you're running nubus cards you may obscure one or more with the widget.

If this really does become a realistic product then I'd imagine that there will be a bit of a stir, after Apple closed down most of it's competitors - maybe there'll be a buyout offer on this one - Let's hope not eh?
Newer Technology Inc. of Wichita, Kan., can be reached at
(316) 943-0222 or (800) 678-3726; fax (316) 943-0555;
http://www.newertech.com

Yamaha Audio Compression Impressive
There was a recent flurry of praise for the Yamaha VO compresion technology. It can reputedly squash files up to 95% without too much loss.
It would seem to be ideal for demo mix checking and the like. You can download it from: http://www.cyber-bp.or.jp/yamaha/SoundVQ/index_e.html
TwinVQ Player 2.0.1e for Mac @
http://music.jpn.net/data/vqmac201e.sit.hqx If you want to peruse the DAW mac list archives : http://www.daw-mac.com

Deck To Hit the....
It really does look like Macromedia have stopped all further developement of their excellent (though in need of an update) Deck Software.
I for one will be sorry to see it go as it was way ahead of it's time and allowed me to do a a great deal of work syncing to QuickTime that would have been almost impossible otherwise.
Still the Deckusers List are encouraging folks to write in to Macromedia and plead for it's survival: Snail Mail is the way to go apparently:

Isaac Babbs/ AV Product Manager
 Macromedia
600 Townsend
San Francisco, CA 94103

Mackie HUI Spotted for real!
Mackie were showing the 'final' HUI (Human User Interface)at the recent AES in NYC. Designed to provide a responsive and tactile control surface for ProTools users it has 8 motorised faders, Mackies' own 'Vpots' (knobs that you can assign functions to) plus transport controls.
Digidesign are reported to be working on a simillar console which will 'blow the HUI away'. Though it is rumoured to be somewhat more expensive.
Gallery released a control surface for PT and other compatible applications a while back called the PX series Macro Controller.
For more in depth details point your manually controlled device (mouse) at:http://www.demon.co.uk/gallery/prodpal.html

And the Digital 8-bus too
Spotted at the AES - the intriguing all digital 8-bus. Featuring up to 48 analog inputs and sporting Apogee converters, this baby looks to be ready to give Yamaha's 02R a run for it's money. Price in the region of 6000 ukp (stirling)

www.mackie.com/Products/D8B.html

Installing Cubase VST under OS8
Ellis Peters kindly posted his experiences with a a PowerMac 4400 running MacOS
Click here.

Norton OS8 fix
For those of you havibg trouble with Norton under OS8 may be interested to know that there's a patch that fixes the 'incorrect finder settings' and constant b-tree errors that NDD incorrectly detects w/ OS8. The updater is available for free at http://service.symantec.com/index.html
This download also has patches for Speed Disk & other Norton modules.

UK Mac Accelerator Site
Just discovered, this site has a lot of products that can pep up your doddering old mac. They have products covering a large number of possible upgrades from the humble SE to the 9500.
One product that is expected 'sometime soon' is a PDS card that upgrades the 8100 to a 604e 150mhz beastie. - (this machine has never had any processor upgrades available)
Unfortunately, the slow bus speed of the early PPC's may mean that your enhancement may not radically change your life ... oh well.
For more info:
http://www.macrapid.demon.co.uk/

Nifty Utillity
A shareware for setting up command-key shortcuts that will (allegedly!) work with SDII and Deck.
Go get it at:

http://www.quadratic.com

Peak Working on 32-bit Sound
Steve Berkley from BIAS Inc, makers of the fast-becoming-standard Peak sound editing software, recently let slip that they were currently working on an update that will not only support the manipulation of 24-bit audio, but are goinng the whole hog up to 32-bit compatibillity.
Keep an eye on their website: www.bias-inc.com

New Multimedia Sound Site
"...This site features weekly articles, bbs (coming very soon), chat (coming soon), links to valuable sites around the internet, and more. I aim to make this site a community-building network where all who are involved in any capacity with computers and music can come to get advice, share their knowledge, find employees/employers, and generally be a starting point on the internet for digital audio and all it's facets..."
Multimedia Sound Guide
http://mmsound.miningco.com

Unofficial(ish) Korg SoundLink List
If you are interested in all things SoundLink, you might like to know that Craig (who maintains an unofficial site) has announced a users list.
Craig says that he has brought on board Dan Phillips, from Kord R&D to be the resident expert. - So if you want to get on board:
1. go to my site and register there:
http://members.aol.com/sndlnk/index.html
2. go to the the coollist site and register there: www.coollist.com At the bottom of the opening page there is a form which asks you to enter the list name: "soundlinkusers" and your e-mail address "your e-mail address"

Digi Anounce New Plug-ins
Digidesign have announced a new set of Plug-ins designed to make your music sound, well, worse.

According to Digidesign, the Lo-Fi Plug-In "intentionally degrades audio quality in a creative way through a number of available processes such as bit rate and sample size reduction, distortion noise addition and saturation. Prior to the availability of this type of Plug-In, sound designers and creators of contemporary musical forms, such as dance and hip hop music, would be required to re-sample audio files through a lower bit-rate sampler or re-process the file through a modular analog synth. Lo-Fi also functions as an AudioSuite Plug-In."

Korg 1212 News - Just In!
Craig Bowers - who is running the "Unofficial SoundlinkDRS Site" at:
http://members.aol.com/sndlnk/index.html

Cable Detangly thingy
A nifty system from www.z-sys.com

New Software Sampler
Thomas Dolbys' company Headspace has developed a new plug-in and editor 'software sampler'. You can link it up via OMS and Logic (apparently).
There is a 'small sound manager related delay' (ooer!) But is much better than the Quicktime Midi Instruments.
Go for it at:
http://www.headspace.com/beatnik/

More new Software
Darrin Cardani writes:

Stomp Box Delay turns your Mac into a real time digital delay
for use with your favorite musical instrument. You can use it to add
echo and reverb-like effects to your guitar, keyboard or other
instrument. $15 US. Stomp Box Tremelo turns your Mac into a tremelo.
This effect varies the volume of the sound and can add a warm Leslie
speaker-like effect, or jarring rhythmic effects. $10 US.

Available at: http://www.buena.com/software.html

Look! A free backup Utillity
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/mac_Umich/util/diskfile/softbackupiif4.27.sit.hqx

Natural Order
No, it's not some dodgy fascist idealogy but an extension that: "...If any of you have ever been frustrated by the Mac's habit of displaying numbered files (eg. in multiple versions of a same file - take1, take2) where 11 will follow 1 before 2, etc - check out the following extension (haven't installed it myself yet - don't know if it conflicts with DAW stuff, but it may come in handy in another extension set)."
Natural Order written by Stuart Cheshire
to download it, do a search at:
http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html

BeOS - a developers view
Chris Weare form Arboretum Systems - makers of the much acclaimed Hyperprism plug-ins for Deck, Premiere and Peak; kindly shares his initial views on this exciting new OS.
take a look
If you want to keep up with the latest Be developments they have a website: http://www.be.com