Here are a couple of really cool user control devices. First the Optimus Maximus keyboard. Every key of the Optimus Maximus keyboard is a stand-alone display showing the function with which the key is associated. What does that mean? 113 individual OLED displays with a resolution of 48×48 pixels and 16 bit color. The pictures show a light on dark configuration, which is easy on the eyes and perfect for illuminating a keyboard in a dark theatre. With eack key being a display the options are limitless for creating custom key looks for triggering sound effects, showing short-cuts for your DAW or playback software. There are so many possibilities.

Then theres the Jazz Mutant Lemur interface:

The Lemur is a top of the range control surface for audio and media applications, that breaks from the prior art on several grounds. Its major innovation consists in its brilliant modular graphic interface concept and its exclusive multitouch sensor technology. The continiously growing palette of configurable graphic objects enables you to design made-to-measure interfaces by using the free available JazzEditor. This endows the Lemur with the unique and protocol independant capacity to adapt its behavior according to the application you are controlling: sequencers, modular synthesizers, virtual instruments, VJ software, 3D animation tools and light control.

It does a lot and has the capabilities to work with may well knows DAW and music creation programs such as Logic(tm), Protools(tm), Ableton Live(tm), Nuendo(tm), Cubase(tm), Sonar(tm) or Digital Performer(tm). It uses OSC (Open Sound Control) which is ‘a protocol for communication among computers, sound synthesizers, and other multimedia devices that is optimized for modern networking technology’ to interface with Reaktor, Max/MSP, Audiomulch, SuperCollider, Pure Data or Bidule and any other OSC compliant device including Meyer Sound’s LCS system.

Optimus Maximus Keyboard
Jazz Mutant Lemur Interface

So I went to NAB for a short while this year, and I thought I’d post a little gripe. If there are any manufacturers listening. DON’T SHOW GEAR YOU DON’T HAVE. I am sick to death of seeing “Empty Boxes” at trade shows. I realize this is a competitive business, and everyone wants to be the first on the block with the cool new stuff, but ‘fer cryin’ out loud.

A certain company (I have to work in this business too) was, yet again showing another empty box. The last “empty box” didn’t turn into a a “full box” for 2 years after it was first seen at a trade show. (And it still doesn’t work very well). I talked with many manufacturers, and many of them showed me cool stuff that was under development, but these devices weren’t on the floor, looking like real products. They were shown to a handful of people who were told, in no uncertain terms, that they were looking at a product that was under development, and made no promise of ship dates, or added functionality. One manufacturer didn’t show me the box at all, and was very honest about not being able to ship, and therefore not being able to show.

He deserves an award.

Maybe next year I’ll bring my own empty box. It’ll do everything I can think of, cost next to nothing, and have it’s own sliding ship date. I wonder who can build that for me.

If you can’t ship it, don’t show it.

We tried something a little different this past year with the batteries we have been using in the wireless mics. It has always been the case that rechargeable batteries were too flakey to use in a show. I never trusted them. However, I had the opportunity to try some rechargeable AA batteries, and was actually impressed. Energizer’s line of NiMH rechargeable batteries are quite impressive. In a Sennheiser 5212 transmitter we were able to get 7 to 8 hours of operating time using the 2500mAh model. We have been using them in shows for 6 months without incident. 4 batteries can be purchased for between $10 and $15, making them very cost effective. We have gone the route of replacing them every 3 to 4 months, as they do start to loose some of their performance. NiMH batteries are also easier to recycle than standard alkaline and don’t contain the highly toxic cadmium like NiCad rechargeable.

Regardless of weather you use rechargeable or disposable batteries, please recycle. There is a company called Toxco that handles a lot of Federal, State and HazMat recycling contracts. Toxco has a program called The Big Green Box For a purchase price of $58 you get a UN rated corrugated container that is 13″L X 13″W X 8.5″H that has a 43-pound weight capacity. Once The Big Green Box™ is purchased, all shipping, handling, and recycling fees are included. The Big Green Box™ includes a UN approved, pre-labeled container, pre-paid shipping to and from the recycling facility, and of course, all recycling fees. You simply buy it, fill it, seal it, and call UPS. The Big Green Box can be used to recycle batteries, such as alkaline, lithium, nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium ion, and other household batteries as well as cellular telephones, pagers, wireless communication devices such as PDA’s, MP3 players, chargers, portable tools, laptops, and any other devices that are designed to operate on battery power.

The Beatles are releasing the LOVE album both as a stereo CD and a 5.1 mix on Audio DVD. These mixes are amazing… You can see the press release on The Beatles web site. The album will be sold as a CD or a special edition containing the CD and DVD versions of the music. The track list contains nearly all the pieces created for the Cirque du Soliel show at the Mirage in Las Vegas. It even includes the music from the transition moments in the show, and the oft mentioned mash-up of Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows.

While the album is set to be released on November 20th in the states, the Telegraph has a comprehensive review of the album on their site.

“The music is stunning. I think the most amazing thing about it is that you can pull it apart and all the elements carry with it the essence of the entire song,” said Olivia Harrison.

The track list is as follows: (from The Beatles News Letter)

1. Because
2. Get Back
3. Glass Onion
4. Eleanor Rigby
Julia (Transition)
5. I Am The Walrus
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand
7. Drive My Car/The Word/What You’re Doing
8. Gnik Nus
9. Something
Blue Jay Way (Transition)
10. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You (She’s So Heavy)/Helter Skelter
11. Help!
12. Blackbird/Yesterday
13. Strawberry Fields Forever
14. Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows
15. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
16. Octopus’s Garden
17. Lady Madonna
18. Here Comes The Sun
The Inner Light (Transition)
19. Come Together/Dear Prudence
Cry Baby Cry (Transition)
20. Revolution
21. Back In The U.S.S.R.
22. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
23. A Day In The Life
24. Hey Jude
25. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
26. All You Need Is Love

Amazon is taking pre-orders for this historic album:
Love (Special Edition CD + Audio DVD)

Cadac recently issued a press release about the announcement of the S-Digital console. If anyone got the sound and automation for theatre right it will be Cadac. I can’t wait to see and hear this one. Brian found pictures on Flickr!!

Entertainment technology has been steadily moving the way of switched networked systems, and more specifically, wireless networks. Entertainment technicians are generally very good at troubleshooting. Due to the nature of live entertainment, we have become very good at quickly and efficiently finding and fixing problems. After all the show must go on. Wireless networks pose an interesting problem. While dealing with a wired network, the methods of finding and fixing, are tried and true, when the wires are absent and the network part of the network seems fine, serious tools are needed to diagnose and fix problems. Wildpackets makes software and hardware to analyze several layers of the OSI model. The most difficult of which to troubleshoot is the physical layer, when it is wireless.

OnmiSpectrum is a suite of analysis tools to visualize and identify signals, interference, channel utilization in the 802.11x bands. The hardware/software package is very affordable, especially when compared to other spectrum analysis tools. OnmiSpectrum also offers the user a great deal more information about the nature of the signals than a standard spectrum analyzer.

It is able to help answer the question, “Is it my equipment, or my environment?”

LAS VEGAS, July 3 PRNewswire — Cirque du Soleil, Apple Corps Ltd. and The Mirage hosted a gala premiere for LOVE with more than 4000 guests invited to an exclusive party after the performance to celebrate LOVE at The Mirage.
The reviews have been good so far. Take at look at these:

Some Multimedia content, including Red Carpet footage and B-Roll can be found at PR News Wire.

So I’m looking for a portable RAID array… After a little searching it seems that there are a lot of choices, but, as usual, my requirements severely limit the playing field.

Here’s what I want:

• 1. Portable, or somewhat portable.
• 2. 4 drives - would like 5
• 3. SATA interface for the drives.
• 4. Firewire interface for the device to the computer
• 5. Able to do Hardware RAID level 5.
• 6. Hot swappable drives.

It’s a tall order. Here’s what I found.

First, it seems that finding a unit with SATA drive interfaces and hardware RAID just doesn’t exist, which is unfortunate. So, IDE interfaces all around.

Micronet Platinum RAID: FireWire800 + USB 2.0 - Looks to be a solid unit. Built on the ARC-5010 (IDE-to-IDE Subsystem) by Areca, then packaged nicely in a chassis that looks to be a Shuttle XPC from a couple of years ago. This unit has all of the above listed items. There is also the NitroAV VANGUARD V from Firewire Direct. The specs look remarkably close to the Micronet unit. This one comes packaged in a brushed aluminum chassis and has the drives mounted horizontally as opposed to the Micronet which mounts them vertically.

LAcie has the “Biggest” series of RAID enclosures. Their wares sport 4-bay arrangements ranging from RAID 1 to 5. Perhaps the most recognized name on the list, these devices look solid as well, and carry a 2 year warranty in the US.

You may be able to find the Micronet on Amazon… it seems to come and go.
MicroNet PR1000U2F 1.0 TB Platinum RAID USB 2.0, FireWire 800
LaCie 1TB Biggest F800 with FW800 and USB2.0

Every day, millions of unfortunate souls are subjected to the devastating effects of bad sound. From posh night clubs and trendy coffee houses to churches and synagogues, from festivals and raves to rehearsal studios. Weak, muddy PA systems dot the globe, inflicting their damage on music makers and casual listeners alike.

The Coalition to End bad Sound - Join Us Today!

I’m Posting this one again, because I think everyone needs one of these. I got one for Christmas and I love it. Here’s a neat gadget. I am always looking for new toys. I can use to play my music library. I have a Turtle Beach Audiotron in the family room hooked up to the stereo, and I love it. It’s great to have my whole library available to me at the touch of a button. This Christmas I’m looking to put some kind of digital music receiver in the bedroom. For the longest time I was sure it would be another Audiotron, but the Roku Soundbridge looks very promising. Like the Audiotron, it plays all the standard audio files (mp3, wmv, aac) as well as wave files, which is very important to me, as I have ripped many of my CD’s as wave files. I also wanted a unit that would be able to retrieve the music files from my computer with out the need to be logged on and/or running a particular piece of software. The Audiotron does this.

The Soundbridge uses a new(ish) collection of technologies to provide seamless serving of music files form the host computer. On a PC it uses Microsoft’s Media Connect which runs in the background as a service. It’s reasonably transparent, although I found out later it doesn’t run on Windows Server 2003, or support serving files on file shares. Alternatively one can choose to run Musicmatch and use their UPnP server, which works, but has a limited feature set as compared to the MS products. For the Macintosh audience, the Soundbridge integrates with Apples iTunes, and uses the Rendevous and other proprietary technologies. There is also an option to use Twonkyvision . Soundbridge can also use the Open Source SlimServer, which gives you access to playing ogg files as well, but is not supported by Roku. (but it works just fine) For more info the server stuff see this link.

As far as DRM (yuck) goes it depends on which server you choose to use, however it seems that it won’t play DRM protected AAC files purchased on iTunes music store. It seems this is Apples doing as they won’t allow protected music to be streamed to third-party devices. The Soundbridge comes in three models, the M500 ($179), M1000 ($249) and the M2000 ($499). There is essentially no difference in the operation or features, but the M2000 has a 12″ 512×32 vacuum-fluorescent screen that displays 4 lines of text. The M1000 has a smaller 280×16 2-line vacuum-fluorescent screen. Both units offer IR remote control, wired and WiFi (via compact flash card) connectivity.

Other Music Machines:

Linksys Wireless-B Music System WMLS11B

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Wireless Music

MuzicVault 40GB MP3 Jukebox Player includes Palm Tungsten E2 PDA Bluetooth Controller