Buzz : Featured Coverage, Review

WIRED’s Michael Calore calls Keystation Mini 32 “a standout in the large crop of keyboard controllers”

Mark Williams — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 07:32:00 GMT

The iPad has turned into a platform for music makers everywhere to hone their craft. As a result, some pretty cool iPad compatible music gear hit the market in 2011. WIRED’s Michael Calore only included a select few, however, in his recent “Musical Hardware for iPad Songsmiths” feature online. So you can imagine our smiles when we saw that Michael found the Keystation Mini 32 a worthwhile addition, calling it a “standout from the latest crop of [keyboard] controllers.”

Michael got a chance to check out the Keystation Mini 32 and it seems he was convinced that good things can come in small packages. Michael points to the Keystation’s portability, mentioning its capacity to draw all the power it needs from the iPad. He ensures readers, however, that just because it can fit in a backpack does not mean the Keystation lacks features. “Most controllers have one or two octaves, but this one has two and a half, for a total of 32 keys. And yet it's still very compact.”

Michael also highlights that users of the Keystation can extend beyond your fervent pianist. “The knob and three of the buttons on the left edge are programmable, as is the key velocity, so the Keystation Mini can double as a surprisingly accurate drum machine controller.”

Thanks so much for the review, Michael. We here at Avid know iPads are the future and we are psyched to offer products like this for musicians on-the-go.

If you’re a music maker and iPad junkie don’t miss Michael’s full buyer's guide on WIRED.com here.

Electronic Musician deems Avid’s Sibelius a “score!”

Mark Williams — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:16:00 GMT

Electronic Musician’s January issue takes a deep dive into Avid Sibelius 7 notation software in their gear review section, and reviewer Gino Robair's verdict? “Score!”

What first struck Gino was the all new user-friendly interface of Sibelius 7. He specifically called out the well-organized tool bar and drop-down menus for praise. Not only did Gino find the Ribbon great for beginners, he also says “longtime users will likely find features they didn’t know existed in Sibelius.”

Gino suggested the new text feature updates are “sure to make an impression on Sibelius users,” calling out the ability to edit and resize text with ease. He also mentions the new support for graphics and the integration ability that makes it easier to share your work.

Another major selling point for Gino – the new sound library! “The sound library is top-notch across the board,” he writes after giving a detailed look into the updated library provided with Sibelius 7, noting everything from the basic instruments to the chance at utilizing templates for mariachi and salsa band, Orff-instrument ensembles and handbell choir.

Last words from Gino: “Sibelius 7 should be a no-brainer for newbies and previous owners alike”.

Thanks for the review, Gino. We are ecstatic that you found the all new Sibelius 7 to be a total success. Check out the full review online, and be sure to pick up the print edition which also features quick tips on Avid Pro Tools!

Mix Magazine reviews Avid’s Fast Track C600 Audio Interface

Mark Williams — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 10:25:00 GMT

“The company has taken its time and gotten it right.”

Brandon Hickey at Mix Magazine checked out Avid’s new Fast Track C600 and gave it a detailed and glowing review. He was impressed with the makeover and took his time savoring the new look – and was pleasantly surprised by the complex workflows the new interface and monitor controller could handle with ease.

The revamped design of the unit was the first thing to catch Brandon's eye, as he pointed out the its large volume control, generous space between knobs and buttons, innovative monitoring controls, and large 8-segment LED input meters. With its new desktop-style orientation and it's simple, uncluttered layout, he found the new design to incorporate an incredible amount of functionality in a small, compact, refined format.

Brandon was also quick to point out the improved software mixer ("where the C600 really raises the bar,") quality mic-pre's ("impressive amount of detail and clarity for a product in the this class,") and a monitor management system capable of delivering three separate monitor mixes or providing full 5.1 control ("most exciting, in my opinion.") He gave Avid their dues on the new product, suggesting their focus on customer feedback was the catalyst in creating a fantastic solution.

Overall, Brandon had some pretty great things to say about Avid’s latest audio interface:

“The Fast Track series’ overall cosmetic design has gotten a complete overhaul…ergonomically this is a refreshing alternative.”

“…with all the flexible routing options, a greater variety of professional workflows can be managed in a very comfortable way.”

“Great design, good amount of I/O, pleasing sonic quality and a useful new monitoring section.”

“Playing the features-per-price game is always a balance of tradeoffs, and it seems like M-Audio is at it again, finding the perfect recipe of bang for the buck.”

So after all the anticipation surrounding the possibility of a new fleet of M Audio USB interface, did Avid stand up to the hype? As far as Brandon is concerned, “…the company has taken its time and gotten it right.”

A shout out to Brandon for taking the time to review the product and for all the kind words. Check out the full review here and keep up on the latest professional audio and music production news on Mix Online.

Keystation Mini 32 Review: "Size Isn't Everything"

Mark Williams — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:14:00 GMT

Russ Hughes at the AIR Users Blog had the opportunity to check out the new M-Audio Keystation Mini 32 and his review has just been posted on the blog. So what did Russ think?

"I think it's a great keyboard, at a great price. It proves that size isn't everything."

Russ looked at the functionality, playability, and the command and control options of the Keystation Mini 32 and he definitely came away impressed. "All in all, the build and functionality is great. It's an ideal keyboard for having on your console or for using with your iPad, it would even fit in your bag if you want to make music on the road."

Above all else, Russ was keen on the simple, plug-and-play functionality. "It works. Plug it in and it controls anything connected to it. I threw Pro Tools, Garageband, Maschine, Massive and a few others and straight away it just worked. I like that." Russ shares the fact that while his regular studio remains packed up do to a nasty flood, the Keystation Mini 32 has become his main controller is his mobile studio set up.

"it may be small but it still kicks ass," Russ concludes. "For this reason it's get an Editors Choice Award."

We couldn't be happier that Russ loves his Keystation Mini 32 as much as we do. Check out the full review here, and follow @airusersblog on Twitter to keep up with Russ' non-stop stream of tutorials, features, and often insightful commentary.

Keyboard Magazine Honors Mbox Pro With KeyBuy Award

Mark Williams — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:21:00 GMT

In their July issue, Keyboard Magazine took an in-depth look at the Mbox Pro and found quite a bit to rave about. So much so that they saw fit to award the Mbox Pro their prestigious KeyBuy Award!

Keyboard Magazine awards their KeyBuy designation to products that offer best-in-class performance and truly unexpected value. "This one took me by surprise," writes reviewer Craig Anderton. "It’s not an overstatement to say I was shocked by the quality of the new Mbox Pro and the line overall."

Anderton took a good hard look at the units construction, features, and most importantly its technical performance specs."If you care about specs," writes Anderton, "they’re extremely impressive, with audible results. Low-frequency response rolls off by less than 0.5dB at 5Hz—that’s serious low end—and even at a sample rate of 44.1kHz, response is essentially flat up to 20kHz, after which it falls off a cliff . There are no noise components above –120dB, and most sit around –130dB. That’s seriously quiet. As to distortion, all I could find was a second harmonic distortion component at –110dB, and a third harmonic at a hair over –100dB. Short version: These specs are audiophile-quality and very few interfaces meet them."

Thanks so much to the editors at Keyboard Magazine. You can read the Mbox Pro review here.

Mix Publishes Pro Tools|HD Native Review

Mark Williams — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:46:00 GMT

The media has been buzzing for months now about Pro Tools|HD Native, the newest generation of Pro Tools HD core systems. Delivering professional-quality results with the lowest latency of any host-based DAW, HD Native is quickly becoming the go-to system for tracking and mixing.

Mix Magazine just published a full review in their June issue and they were impressed. Pairing HD Native with an HD OMNI interface and Pro Tools 9 HD, reviewer Brandon Hickey put the system through it's paces and was impressed by the latency controls, the sound quality, and the incredible performance now available to small and mid-size studio owners.

HD Native's impressive low-latency workflows garnered special mention. "I kept backing off settings in the playback engine to see how low I could go," writes Hickey. "With H/W Buffer Size set to a mere 32 samples, running four processors at 85-percent CPU usage, I could still keep my disk buffer at the lowest setting and play back without error. On top of that, I was able to overdub a vocal; due to the scaled-back settings in the playback engine, no noticeable latency was incurred in the headphones. Shocking!"

"The PCIe-based throughput," concludes Hickey, "…gets the job done with or without the additional DSP provided by traditional HD core cards. The end result is that the prestige of Pro Tools|HD is now more affordable than before."

Check out the entire review at Mixonline.

AIR User Blog Reviews Pro Tools|HD Native: "The End of My Search For The Holy Grail."

Mark Williams — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:00:00 GMT

The AIR Users Blog had the opportunity to review the newest generation in Pro Tools|HD systems and the results are in. "Pro Tools HD Native, an OMNI and Pro Tools 9 is the end of my search for the Holy Grail...I've found the holy trinity of professional recording."

Blogger Russ Hughes was impressed by nearly every facet of the system, from the HD|Native's incredible latency specs to it deep integration with the HD OMNI interface. He found the sound quality of the system to be amazing, noting a "tighter bottom end," and audio he described as having "more transparency" and "room to breathe." He was also impressed by the "warm and open" sound of the OMNI's mic pre's.

He admits to pushing the system hard. "I'll be honest, I was trying to break it." Dropping the buffer down the 32 samples yielded no discernible latency on projects that struggled with 1024 sample buffers on other systems. "When Avid say 'near zero latency,' they actually mean it."

Russ concluded his review by bestowing his prestigious "Editors Choice Award" on the system. "If you are serious about making great sounding music, or about making money from recording, then I strongly suggest you seriously consider Avid Pro Tools HD Native/Omni and Pro Tools 9....as far as I'm concerned it's the best. It is for this reason that I have no hesitation in awarding this system my Editors Choice Award."

Harmony Central Puts the Mbox Pro to the Test in Ongoing Pro Review

Mark Williams — Wed, 18 May 2011 09:54:00 GMT

Harmony Central editor-in-chief Craig Anderton has been giving the Mbox Pro a serious look in his HC Pro Review, and the recent test measurments he posted are so good we wanted to share them with you.

If you're not familiar with Harmony Central's Pro Reviews, they combine Craig's vast professional expertise with a unique forum style format to deliver a truly interactive product review. Over the course of several weeks, Craig will post detailed product images, sound samples and test results along with his professional opinions, while moderating a larger discussion revolving around his posts that users and even the product's designers participate in. This interactive review format provides an opportunity to dive far deeper into the details that a normal, static review format would allow, and gives Craig the opportunity to focus on the specific features his readers are most interested in hearing more about.

As part of Craig's Mbox Pro Pro Review, he tested the performance of the unit's converters and signal path using Rightmark's RMAA6 software and he recently posted the results online. His independent measurements confirm what we've been saying all along - the Mbox Pro features best-in-class performance. And now Craig posted the graphs to prove it.

"I gotta say - the test results/specs are impressive, as in, extremely impressive. No wonder Avid wasn't the least bit concerned when I said "we're really going to put this through the microscope, you know."

Intermodulation: "The Intermodulation Distortion is particularly dramatic, as in, "where is it?!?" Yes, there's you 60Hz and 7kHz tones, which should in theory produce intermodulation distortion products, but I'm really not seeing much of anything except a teeny distortion product at 180Hz and another at 240Hz - and nothing for all practical purposes at the high end. Either I really, really need new glasses, or the Avid engineers did their job."

Total Harmonic Distortion (THD): "Now for THD vs. level. With digital systems, distortion increases as levels decrease because you have less resolution. The following shows that at -6dB. THD is well under -84dB, and at -15dB, THD remains under -72dB - more extremely respectable specs."

Noise Level: "And again, we have another outstanding spec: There are no noise components higher than -120dB, and many of them sit around -130dB. Few interfaces are able to achieve this level of performance, let alone any I've tested."

The Mbox Pro Pro Review is curretnly underway and I absolutely think it's worth checking out - there are more graphs, more specs, and a great discussion that's ongoing. Contribute your own questions today!

Product Review: Avid MC 3.0 and DX Line

Taryn Unruh — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:50:00 GMT

Videography's Oliver Peters posted a review on Avid's HD editing lineup. Read his article to learn more about what's new in the software and hardware, and how the systems will impact you as a digital content creator. A few excerpts:

"...unlike other software NLEs, when a Media Composer real-time effect plays in the full quality mode, it is indeed just that and does not require rendering."

"These results exceed the performance of Avid Media Composer Adrenaline or an Apple Final Cut Pro system with an AJA or Blackmagic Design card."

"As with real-time performance, Media Composer 3.0 won the speed test when compared with similar sequences using Final Cut Pro 6.0.3 running on a quad-core (3GHz) MacPro."

"Avid Media Composer remains the most feature-laden, powerful NLE on the market - at the most affordable price ever."

For the full review: "Avid's New Thinking and the DX Hardware"