AES

Keep getting thier email inviting me to attend but it is one long flight for me.

If you are the only CB'er going there - would you mind posting a report on it?
 
I will certainly try. I'll be hitting up the exhibit floor in the morning.
 
Alright guys, here's my AES report.

The theme was definately digital. Digital Snakes, Digital Consoles, everything. The links on this page go to pictures I took

I checked out most of the new digital consoles. The most impressive was EAW's new console. Smaart integration and spaker processing built right in.

Mackie was displaying their new tt24 digital console. Kinda cheaply built if you ask me. The screen was small and hard to view at an angle. It does have lots of expandibility. It also has 24 mono XLR inputs right on the back so you can just plug right in. Everything is recallable except for the gain pots, that could be an issue.... I could be wrong here. Price is $7,100

One of the biggest things on the show floor was the digidesign VENUE. Virtually unlimited expandibility. Everything is spread out and not squashed together which is nice. You can add on additional "sidecars" so you have more physical faders. Also, as is with many digital consoles, all your effects and processing is built in. VENUE works with the same plugins found in protools. So, you have unlimited types of comps and you assign these to channels. The coolest part was the stage box. It's a 10 or 12 space road case which is on stage, and you connect all you sends and returns through that. That connects to the console with 2 BNC cables, which is very cool.

Lots of line arrays too. More info as well as pictures can be foundhere
 
Thanks - some nice pics. Must admit that the layout of the tt24 would bug the hell out of me. Don't think I would like the split level design.

What did you think of the knobs on the Venue?
 
The knobs on the venue were nice. They look kinda weird at first, but they are actually very comfortable to use compared the tiny knobs on many analog consoles.

And yeah, I thought the TT24 was strangely laid out too. I don't think I would buy it for any serious touring applications. But it may be good in high schools installations if it turns out to be reliable.
 
Read a review of the Venue in CX last month (although I think the desk was called something else) and the knobs were something they were critical of. One image showed that the "ball" actually obscures the halo, making reading the level more difficult.

They also felt that there was a lot of wasted real estate, so it was interesting to hear that you liked the spacing of the lay out.

Did like the text display for each channel that highlights when selected - no more tape and sharpie needed!

Haven't seen one in person but is sure looks and sounds interesting.
 
Thanx for the report

Thank AVGuyAndy..nice pics... The tt24 does look cheaply done. I wonder if it has a DVI or VGA output? That angle is terrible for viewing. Why go to the expense of putting in a screen when 15" or 17" flatscreen prices have dropped so much?? Might have kept the price point down a bit.

Mayhem...but I like tape and sharpies...there so 20th century
 
We just got a TT24 installed in our theatre. It's extremely flexible, and pretty easy to use compared to some other digital models. It doesn't have a VGA output on it, but you can connect it to your computer via USB and have the TT Control program give you a nice high res extension to the tiny touch screen. It's also really nice to directly input EQ parameters into the 4-band parametric in TT Control. The layout hasn't bugged me too much, it just takes some getting used to. I get to do the first real show with it later this month.

The TT24 has given me more DSP than I know what to do with! Full dynamics, effects, and 4-band parametric is spoiling me!

On another note, did anyone check the EAW booth, and if so, did they have much info on their new UMX96 digital board? From the EAW website, it looked to be just a glorified TT24 with pretty much more of everything. The GUI looks shockingly similar...not surprising since Mackie and EAW are divisions of the same entity.
 
I saw the EAW console, it's very nice. I didn't get to look at too well, but from what I saw, it's far superior to the tt24. The EAW has more physical faders, and a much nicer screen. The slant on the EAW isn't as bad as it looks in pictures.


As for wasted space on the venue. Yeah, I guess it wasted, and the console is pretty big. *I* just like having everything spaced out.

And yeah, definately get a laptop or tablet for the TT24. Not only does that give you a bigger screen, you can also give someone a wireless tablet or laptop to mix monitors on.
 

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