Once more I made way for Frankfurt for the grand Musikmesse music and pro audio convention to represent Funky Junk, see the new and old, see dear friends from far away lands, make new contacts and have a break from the routine in the slightly (but crucially) warmer Frankfurt.
This year wasn’t as much about new announcements for manufacturers as the recent NAMM convention in Anaheim, California is often considered more important as it is in the United States and attracts more of the press. Many companies try to make the NAMM deadline for launching (or at least announcing) new products. Those who don’t make it in time with their R&D or production, have a “second chance” at the Musikmesse. In more rare cases, companies that are more European-oriented do treat the Musikmesse as the big event that it is and make their debut attempts there.
With analogue hardware still going strong and digital emulations at their highest peak yet, it is always interesting and important to pay attention to the more eccentric of manufacturers and designers who occasionally manage to produce something truly refreshing and innovating. This doesn’t happen very often – the peak of the recording industry equipment innovation was reached in the early to mid 80’s. Much of what followed has been a rehash of a classic piece of kit – sometimes with adaptations for modern studio environments and sometimes just simply copies of one degree or another of quality. This year, two things grabbed my attention more than most and I’d like to give them a special paragraph.
The first one is the Softube Console 1. When I first saw it online in a press release and even subsequent demonstration videos, I didn’t understand the actual impact and importance this unit has on the way we work today “in the box” with a computer screen, keyboard and mouse. Humans are very visual creatures. Our brain prioritises the information collected by our eyes over the information collected aurally by our ears. Many engineers and producers have spoken at length about how the screen, keyboard and mouse are engaging the technical left hand side of our brain far too much which masks the creativity side of brain from focusing on the music and the art of our craft. Various controllers have been helpful with this (i.e. Avid Artist series, SSL Nucleus, etc…) but none of them offer a complete solution to emulating the ergonomics of a full mixing console. This is exactly what the Softube Console 1 offer with full dedicated controls over everything a console channel strip has to offer – input section, gate/compressor dynamics, EQ, transient shaping and output section. With everything at one’s fingertips, one can ignore the screen and peripherals to concentrate on the music. Sitting in front of this unit has opened my eyes to the right way of working and the true potential at hand.
The second unit that really got my attention was the Electronaut M97 compressor/limiter from the Chicago-based Electronaut Company. I’ve been looking at the Electronaut website with curiosity for some time now so running in to the company director and gear designer, Rob Roy M. Campbell (I swear, it’s his real name!), was a very pleasant surprise. The M97 is a single gain stage compressor design driven by a powerful DC amplifier – a design that is expensive to implement but has proven to sound superior (i.e. Fairchild 660/670). But it’s not just the actual compressor design that struck me, it’s the out-of-this-world tasteful front panel design, mesmerising radial meter which uses licensed Dorrough Electronics technology to accurately meter the input, output and gain reductions; and most importantly, it allows for easy user calibration and monitoring over the health of the tubes via a special calibration mode that displays the results on the beautiful meter. There is really a lot to say about this unit, including praise for elegant internal design, choice of components, ease of serviceability, and especially Rob Roy himself for being a super cool guy! Keep watching his website and follow him on the social networks as I am sure there will be a lot more awesomeness to come from his lab.
As for the rest, check out the random photos below.