MESSE: Yamaha Spice Up Digital Consoles With Extra Plugins

US More power to you from Dr K's box of tricks 31/03/04

Ah, Dr K I presume?

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Now here's something you might not know, Yamaha's latest digital consoles, namely the DM1000 and 02RV96 have a bunch of DSP power that is lying latent under the hood. Which is nice. Now, one of Yamaha's top boffins, affectionately known as Dr K (Kunamoto), who was responsible for the physical modelling behind the ahead-of-its-time VL-1 synth has been stashed away, in Dr K's Lab (of course) putting his not inconsiderable grey matter to work on ways to utilize this spare capacity. What he's come up with uses something called Virtual Circuitry Modeling - where devices are reconstructed at component level, resistors and stuff, in software, to make virtual circuits and therefore build virtual analog devices. Using the new functionality of Version 2 software for the 96kHz capable digital consoles, these devices can be inserted into the signal path inside the console, bringing a whole new range of processing to the user. There are clearly plans for a stream of plug-ins with the intriguing Vintage Stomp Box package, promising emulation of several classic 70 pedals coming soon.

In the mean time checkout the Channel Strip Package, featuring a rather familiar Compressor 276, Compressor 260 and Equalizer 601 - names slightly changed to protect the litigious. The Compressor 276 (mono/stereo) recreates the fast response and frequency characteristics and tube amp saturation of some of the most in-demand vintage compressors. And it sort of looks a bit like a Urei.. The Compressor 260 (mono/stereo) looks remarkably like the old DBX 260 and presumably emulates all of it's good points too. The Equalizer 601 offers two EQ types - Clean and Drive, with Drive emulating the classic 70s analog circuitry with six bands. When working with 96kHz audio the frequency range goes from 16Hz to 40kHz.

Plus the Master Strip Package featuring Open Deck - a tape emulation package with classic Ampex and Studer tape machine emulators from the golden years. There's also a Reverb package, which emulates the latest REV-X algorithms first introduced in the SPX2000. We're told that there's sufficient DSP to run an instance per channel on the new desks with no noticeable latency, which is a pretty serious amount of hidden power. The jury is still out as to wether the entry level 01v96 has just what it takes to benefit from Dr Ks magic. Version 2 software (required to run the VCM plugins) is due for imminent release priced at 219 UKP, with each of the three packages priced at 349 UK becoming available later this summer.

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