monitoring

2009 NAMM Show: At last year’s NAMM show, we were impressed by the technology behind KRK’s ERGO (Enhanced Room Geometry Optimization) room correction system.

It’s a system that automatically measures the acoustics of your listening room and adjust/corrects the output of your monitors to compensate. (See our video demo of the KRK ERGO system).

Just in time for this year’s show, KRK Systems has announced worldwide availability of ERGO. (It was originally expected in April of 2008). The ERGO system retails for $799.

2008 Summer NAMM Show: Mackie’s SRM 450’s have become a modern standard for live music amplification.

I’ve got a set myself, and can vouch that they sound great and are built like tanks.

Now Mackie has announced the next generation of its SRM Series, with the SRM450v2 and SRM350v2.

The new models feature efficient switching power supplies, a lightweight neodymium woofer and a titanium dome compression driver. The SRM450v2 is 11 pounds lighter than its predecessor and now cast in a distinctive midnight blue enclosure.

“The change in sound from the originals is noticeable across the entire frequency range- the low end is punchier, the highs are more brilliant and the clarity of the mids are greatly improved,” said John Boudreau, Mackie Brand Group VP. “The original SRM’s have been the industry standard for sound quality for a decade; we needed to step it up and create a new standard- that’s what we’ve done with the SRMv2.”

The sound improvement may be great – but, in my book, cutting 11 pounds off the weight may be the best new feature. Read more…

PreSonus Audio Electronics has introduced the Monitor Station mixing console.

The Monitor Station is a desktop monitoring and communications system for your recording studio. Based on the award winning Central Station, the Monitor Station is designed to provide everything you need to control your recording environment.

You can listen to your mixes on different speakers; with and without the subwoofer, compare your mixes to your favorite CDs and vinyl, listen in mono to check phase cancellation, use talkback to communicate to the artists during recording, and send Cue Mix to the four headphone amps and the Main Mix to your speakers.

Features:

• Main Speaker Volume control
• 3 stereo inputs (two balanced TRS, one RCA Aux/Phono)
• 3 sets of balanced TRS speaker outputs, each with level adjustment
• Talkback microphone with volume control to feed headphone and Cue output
• XLR input for external dynamic talkback microphone
• Accurate fast-acting dual 8-segment LED for metering
• 4 loud and clear headphone amplifiers with separate volume control and input selection
• Main and Cue stereo output have independent input source selection
• Dim with variable level adjustment
• Aux and Phono level adjustment
• Mute and Mono

Dangerous Music is shipping D-Box, a multi-purpose hardware product for DAW users. The 1U rack-mount box combines 8-channels analog summing technology and a collection of important features garnered from other Dangerous products. The D-Box has an integrated programmable monitor control section with analog and digital inputs, on board 24 bit/96KHz D-to-A converter, talkback, dual headphone amps, speaker switcher and more.

“As the digital recording environment continues to evolve we at Dangerous responded to the need for a high-quality multi-function product that is both compact and affordable to all DAW users,” says Bob Muller, Dangerous Music’s Founder and Co-owner. “In the D-Box we combine our signature analog summing section with what we feel are some other useful capabilities that we’ve developed in our other products, like the Monitor ST. Most computer musicians struggle with controlling monitors, smooth switching between analog and digital inputs and with headphone cues when tracking and mixing. We’ve solved those problems in a very integrated way, with no sonic compromise and within a very small footprint.” Read more…

2005 Winter NAMM: Mackie showed their two recently-announced headphone monitoring products for home and professional studio use; the HM54 Four-Channel Headphone Amplifier and the HMX56 Tabletop Matrix Mixer/Amplifier. Available at authorized Mackie dealers in early Q2, 2005, both models offer Mackie’s trademark robust steel construction and exceptional sonic quality. Read more…