Road Tests

A few years ago, I started wondering if DiGiCo’s SD series was getting a bit long in the tooth. The SD7 has been around for a decade, and despite being one of the most well-appointed consoles in the market, it started showing its age. I’m not sure why. Maybe it is the lack of multi-touch screens, the somewhat dated software interface or the lack of Dante connectivity.

I gotta come clean. I am a confessed microholic and can’t resist checking out cool looking microphone designs — whether new releases or classics. So a year ago, when CAD Audio’s CADLive division unveiled a “reimagined” version of the company’s 1959 Astatic A77 dynamic microphone, as part of its 85th anniversary celebration, I definitely wanted to check one out.

The digital audio age has presented a lot of challenges to the live sound and broadcast industries. One of those challenges is the fracturing and segmentation of different competing digital audio protocols such as CobraNet, EtherSound, Dante, Ravenna, AES67 and MADI, to name a few. A small sub-industry of specialized connectivity companies has appeared over the last decade to address some of these concerns.

Two years ago, I reviewed the then-new Yamaha TF3 (FRONT of HOUSE, June 2015). I enjoyed the console and I saw Yamaha had a winner on its hands, but there was still some work to be done on the firmware. Fast-forward almost two years, and much has advanced with the TF consoles and with Yamaha digital consoles in general.

Ashly Audio has a long history building reliable analog mixing and outboard equipment for the professional live sound and installation markets. While the company carries a considerable legacy of analog expertise, Ashly is no newcomer to digital gear; its Ashly Protea DSP processors are world renowned for delivering top-notch sound and seamless integration with control technologies that users can easily navigate.

QSC has long provided quality, reliable, easy-to-use solutions for audio pros. Having used the compact TouchMix-16, I was curious about the new TouchMix-30 Pro.

Over the last several years, Waves has embraced the live sound industry, releasing numerous solutions targeted directly at live sound engineers. Software such as Tracks Live multi-track recording software and hardware like Waves’ SoundGrid Servers, MGO, MGB interfaces and eMotion LV1 live mixer have anchored Waves’ position in the sound reinforcement industry. These are not simply tweaks of plug-ins originally intended for studio use. Instead,

I’ve long been a fan of DPA Microphones, and I recently had a chance to check out the company’s newest offering, the VO4099-DKIT2 collection of seven models for drum miking applications.

Ultimate Ears has long been a major player in the in-ear market, having produced more than 100,000 high-end earpieces in the past 22 years. The company was founded by Jerry Harvey in 1995. Harvey left to go off on his own in 2007, and a year later, Ultimate Ears was acquired by Logitech, where UE remains an independent subsidiary to this day, creating handcrafted earpieces in its USA facilities.

As part of its expansion into the live sound market, Waves has released a variety of plug-ins catering to the professional sound reinforcement user. One recent entry in this category is X-FDBK, a feedback detection and elimination tool used to assist the process of ringing out house P.A. or monitors.

Once mainly focused on the contracting/installation business (through its Astatic Commercial Audio Products division), CAD Professional Microphones was launched in 1988 as the pro audio division of Astatic to design and manufacture microphones for recording studio and live sound users.

Miniature mics are gaining in popularity, particularly in instrument miking applications, where despite their size, they are often capable of delivering big sound. The latest offering in this category is Audio-Technica’s ATM350a Cardioid Condenser Instrument Microphone, which is offered in complete turnkey packages (also sold separately) providing discreet, rock-solid mounting solutions for a host of instruments, including woodwinds, strings, brass, percussion, drums and piano.