On the portable device side Alesis introduced the iO4 - a 4 channel device interface to USB2. The unit features a small form factor for a 4 channel input (XLR or 1/4" mic with phantom power, guitar or line-in), input line level control , MIDI input/output, with 24 bit (48KHz) A/D & D/A converters. The unit features an external power supply connection and a monitor output capability in addition to the two 1/4" jack main audio outputs and the USB data.

There were a number of new microphones shown at the show. At it is a studio centric audience (pro and home recording) the diversity of microphones was quite large, and most companies had expansive displays. We had the opporunity to talk about several of the offerings from Blue, Senheiser and MXL.

Blue introduced their first USB / iPad Mic - the Spark Digital. This is higher end microphone that is based on the Spark XLR studio microphone It has a high fidelity condenser capsule with a medium diaphragm that can be used for vocals, drums, pianos and instruments. The unit features a unique digital control called the Focus Control which provids two different sonic options with a single button interface in one product. The unit includes an adjustable desk stand and built-in shockmount. It also includes y-cables for each platform with a headphone jack for zero-latency real-time monitoring. The Spark Digital will be available in 2012 with an MSRP of $199.

Blue was also showing their Bottle Rocket, Bottle Rocket Stage Two and Bottle Rocket Stage One interchangeable capsule studio microphones. These tube microphones feature the ability to have and configure, with a preamp, one microphone body in a studio, and be able to change the characteristics of the sound. The interchangeable capsules called “Bottle Caps” are Blue's innovative system of nine pickup heads, each offering a different tonal characteristic and pickup pattern. They range from targeting airy highs to deep lows, and allow the system to capture anything from vocals to bass, wind instruments to horns — and everything in between with a level of detail and clarity typically found only in expensive and rare vintage mics.

Senheiser introduced thier new XS Wireless microphone system. This cost effective professional level solution is available a a vocal, instrument, headset and presentation mode configurations. The system featuring a sub $500 MSRP, with true diversity reception. The system has 960 available frequencies tunable in 25khz steps on a 24MHz switching band. The center frequencies are switchable between the 548-572Mhz band and the 614-638MHz band. The unit has a bodypack transmitter, a selection of multiple mics, an EM10 receiver and provides 10 hrs of operation on 2 AA batteries over a 250ft transmission range. The unit has a standard balanced XLR and unbalanced 1/4" outputs. These capabilities and frequencies are new to the price point.

MXL was once again showing thier full range of mics from USB recording through high end studio. One of their new studio series mics is now available as a full kit. The V67 series is easily identified by thier green body color and offer a full line of stuido mics - a stereo condenser, a dual diaphragm condenser, a large diaphragm condenser mic, a large capsule condenser mic and a small diaphragm instrument mic. The V67GS is a large diaphragm mic targeted for vocal and string instruments. The mic combines Class-A FET circuitry with a transformer coupled output for an open sound with an omnidirection pattern. The V67GS has a high-pass roll-off switch for an additional -6 dB pad for versatility in application.

MXL V67 Recording Kit

A companion mic is the instrument targeted small diaphragm V67N condenser mic that is a cardioid patterned pickup that is targeted for bright instruments such as acoustic guitars with interchangeable capsules allowing for recording of pianos, drums, and choirs. It has a ver clear tone and flat response curve that makes it a very good mic for recording the band behind the lead vocalist. These mics are bunded in a kit with the shock mounts for easy recording use. The kit has a single V67GS and two V67Ns with the replacement capsules and the shock mounts all in a padded case. The kit is available now for MSRP of $449.

On the Prosumer side, they introduced thier new DP-24 Portasound mixer recorder that now features a full color screen and control interface. The system has a 24 track 24bit/48KHz recording system that includes an integrated CD burner or can output the mix to USB. For simplified operation the unit has a 12 channel strip control in the display. This unit is a single piece portable unit that is targeted for small home studio, but optimized for live performance recording/mixing.

The device features 8 XLR-1/4" combo jacks with phantom power, SD card storage, direct recording input from guitars and basses, a chromatic tuner and metronome, MIDI in and out, multi-amp modeling and two Mixdown effects including reverb and chorus, as well as a mastering effect. The unit will be available in Q1 and has an MSPR of $799.

In this same recording and mixing area, they have introduced the US-125M USB mixing module. The device is targeted at Internet level broadcasting and capture by featuring 16bit/48KHz audio and is self powered from the USB connector. The device is a mixer that brings stereo audio input from a computing device via USB along with four inputs with dedicated level controls: a Microphone input (balanced XLR/TRS on rear or unbalanced mini jack on front) with switchable limiter and Signal/Overload indicator, a Guitar input (standard phone jack). The unit has a simple-to-use audio interface that is targeted at all levels of musicians and features a loop mix capability. This fucntionality make it a device of choice for online streaming & collaboration, sound-on-sound recording with online video and audio, video production, podcasting online gaming, musical instruments training and for generalized home recording.

In the handheld arena, they introduced the DR-40 4 track recorder and the DR-100mkII Linear PCM recorder. These are both high end recording products that feature 24bit/96KHz audio resolution to SD and SD-HC cards and XLR support with phantom power. Both units feature new microphones and pre-amps as well as improved internal performance and controlls. The new flagship DR-40 product, also has combo jacks for the XLR, a chromatic tuner, master effects and reverb, variable speed playback and overdub capabilities and a number of features normally found in table top and console units. It is available now at an MSRP of $199.

For the growing use of the iPhone/iPad/iPod in the live performance space, they have introduced the iXZ - Mic/Guitar interface connector and the IU2 - audio interface for Mac/Windows/iOS devices. The iXZ is a single device interface that features a combo XLR-1/4" connector with phantom power, a headphone jack and an interface to the analog line in input (miniplug) of the iDevice. It is a simplified device for connecting external devices for recording and monitoring, and sampling, while operating from 2 AA batteries.

IU2 device is an extension of the USB interface line and adds a 30pin idevice interface to the unit. It features two XLR inputs with phantom power for use with high-quality condenser
microphones. The mic inputs feed an onboard microphone preamp and high performance A/D converter for better sound performance than those built into the iPhone and iPad providing low
noise and less tendency to distort. The inputs also accept line-level signals or you can plug a
guitar or bass directly into your device. A zero-latency monitoring path allows musicians to hear themselves directly through the unit, without any distracting delay. MIDI in and out are provided to interface with synth and drum machines, and a digital output connects to digital mixers or recorders.

They introduced several new products and new retail plan. In retail, they were going to be adding “shop in shop” layouts in some of the larger locations to better emphasizes the extent of the product offering as well as the interoperability and compatibility of the brand as a full musical solution.

Their press conference started with the introduction of their flagship V-Piano grand and Jupiter 80 Pianos. These utilize the non-compressed modeled (vs sampled) synthesis engines in the V series of instruments. The units, on the same physical scale as a baby grand, represent a big advantage to home piano owners and club/theater owners as they do not require constant re-tuning and play the same in all weather conditions year round.

The next big announcement was accompanied by a demonstration and performance by the legendary Jeff “Skunk” Baxter. Roland has taken over the branding and distribution of the thier Midi controlled VG Stratocaster that was jointly developed with Fender. The device features both a 13 pin Midi interface and a traditional 1/4" jack, and uses the exclusive Roland divided pickup. This product the result of their work in guitar synth that started in 1977.

To go along with the piano and guitar announcements, they also showed the updated V-Drum & cymbals, the V-Accordion - which features both a USB and MIDI interface and a large number of mixers and recorders. One of the most unique products they brought out came to Roland through an acquisition and is being branded as R-Mix. This audio processing software creates full 24 bit “music minus one” tracks. That mean you can remove voice tracks from songs to create kaeoke tracks or remove instruments (on a harmonic basis) from songs to creating backing tracks for instruments play-alongs. The software was shown on PC platforms at the show and is available now.

The Rockband3 platform has new software and added new devices - Midi support, a keyboard and most importantly new guitars and guitar modes. In addition to the Fender Mustang Pro guitar with built in controller, they have added a play along and learn to play guitar. In Pro mode or learn to play mode, the guitar (which is based on the Fender Stratocaster) has a control button where the 6 strings would be between every fret (yes a whole lot of buttons). The game play now includes all of these controls as requirements and the position of the buttons corresponds to actual sting and fret combinations for a real guitar. The controller, in free play mode, acts a a mdi style controller and can be used to practice with playback.
 

In addition to the guitar, there is a standard midi interface keyboard for the game and a Midi Pro adapter that allows for connecting real midi devices to the games. These devices include full size keyboards, electronic drums and midi-guitars/basses. These devices can be used with GarageBand thorugh the Midi interface.

All of these devices are available now, and we will have several of these products with in-depth reviews in the coming months.

The interface was shown with a large variety of plug-in devices and stomp boxes. It can be used to support effects pedals, lighting, microphone preamps and a whole variety of “live performance” and “studio setup” gear. What is unique about the interface is the 1 time installation on the host to identify the device, and then it creates a network connectivity map. In this structure, once the device is identified, it does not matter where in the chain it is connected (an issue for firewire and USB) and in what sequence in the network it is hooked up (a DHCP consequence for IP based connections). The network is tolerant of connecting the device on one format (such as USB) one time and then a different interface next time (e.g. CAT5 or Firewire) and still recognizing the device, being able to load the controls and configuration and operate from a connection diagram.

CopperLAN - Plug-in modules and control panel

The embedded code and its associated SDK for client side device creation uses a custom controller core that does not require the DHCP interface and has a virtualized NIC for multiple protocol interfaces. The system is based on a a free to use RTOS that has an embedded Linux core, and operates with NXP2300, Pic32, and Renesas SH2 controllers in addition to DMX controllers.

CopperLAN - Additional Modules

The peer-to-peer system operates as a “dumb switch” configuration next to the standard internet NIC, so both Mac and PC platforms can still have a full WAN capability in parallel with the CopperLAN system. One of the nice features of the host side package is the ability to create a “snapshot in the time machine” so gig and session configurations, and device settings can be saved and both reloaded or played back on demand. To help store all of these “time machine” views, the device can operate with a standard NAS.

The SDK for the development and host side is available as freeware from the site. For endpoint hardware that is designed and sold, the organization has a low cost fixed royalty pricing of 2EU/unit that is paid when the end unit is sold at retail, not put in the distribution channel.

A number of vendors have products today, and the interface was designed by musicians with an engineering background, rather than engineers who played music so the usability and real world functionality are high.

Imagination Tech Tablets at CES

The current version (PowerVR5 and PowerVR5XT) are multi-pipeline models that have improved shading performance for 2D graphics, dimensional 3D graphics and both stereoscopic and autostereoscopic 3D displays. These cores are supported by OpenGL as well as OpenCL for their development. The cores, which are the dominant display technology in the Apple iSeries products, the Intel STB chipset and the Samsung Galaxy phones, allow for simplfied multi-transcoding by having the same underlying core in the platforms.

A major update was the inclusion of the HelloSoft VOIP technology into the Imagination product line. Its incorporation of the multi-codec compatible voice mixing system, allows for voice traffic to be compressed and sent in a more efficient manner, along with their video stream on the both wireless and cellular networks.

The video side concluded with a quick overview other their further integration of their ray tracing product. The OpenRL ray tracing  is currently available as an API at this time while the hardware IP implementation is in progress. PowerVR OpenRL™ is usefull for accelerating ray tracing in both graphics and non-graphics (e.g., physics) applications. The RayTracer is being integrated by a quickly growing community of developers in rendering applications for a wide range of markets, including film and video, games, architecture, and industrial design.

IMG Tech Caustic Ray Tracer Block Diagram

The cross-OS, cross-platform API is the only ray tracer that takes advantage of multiple heterogeneous compute devices simultaneously. This means that CPUs, OpenCL GPUs, and Imagination’s Caustic ray tracing accelerator cards are fully utilized for the fastestray tracing performance possible. OpenRL. like OpenGL, hides the complexities of interfacing with different graphics devices by presenting a single, uniform interface for multiple platforms and applications.

Since the preview in Dec, the unit was now updated to support both the iPad and the Kindle Fire in addition to Android phones/tables and smart TVs. The unit was shown to be able to support 4 simultaneous devices through the Wifi access port. This device could be used as a centralized backup to USB storage (hard disk or flash drive) or to be an optical storage unit that allows for writing of the photos, music and videos to DVD without a computer in the loop.

Unlike the Seagate GoFlex product, that only works on a LAN level, this unit can connect and both upload/download devices as an IP reachable node on the internet. This allows a WAN level connection from the mobile devices when you are away from the home network. The device is DLNA compliant and can be controlled by those devices as well as be a source control for DLNA devices. This allows the HDD and disk to searchable from the end point devices.

The DVD player in the device can support two separate devices watching the data simultaneously, as long as they are not on the same point in the disk. This means you can start a disk playing to the TV, and when it gets to track 1 or later, you can start a tablet or mobile device on the same media starting at track 0.

The unit has an internal antenna that supports 802.11b/g/ draft n protocols. As it is a streaming only device, the DVD and photo data are not transcoded on send, and the end point devices have to be able to handle the color depth, and resolution of the source files being sent. The unit is available in Q1'12 in retail outlets at an MSRP of $129.99 and is available in black, white and red. This is the only device on the market that allows DLNA control and access, LAN and WAN access capability for existing phyiscal media content that is both owned and rented. Based on the streaming traffic congestion, it is most times more practical to rent a disk from an automated kiosk or mail service and play it on these devices than consume large quantities of a data plan traffic or suffer for pauses and interruptions due to WAN bandwith limits on live cloud based content streaming.

Videyo conferencing on Alcatel LTE network

The unit was transmitting about 100 feet in the demo, and the technical members in the booth indicated, if there was access to power, they new LTE kits would transmit functionally between 900m and 1Km of the optimal 2Km reach of the cellular technology. The product was shown using the Vidyo video conferencing system between a desktop computer and mobile device. The running system is shown in figure 1. A drawback of the whole configuration is the packet loss protocol issues with current video conferencing. While the network shows high bandwidth data in the transfer stream, it also has a very high packet resend requirement to complete a communication loop. Figure 2 shows not only the packet loss numbers, but also the reduction in actual throughput in the network when the RTP protocol is used for video traffic.

Alcatel LTE and video conference data transfer

An issue for the practical use of these networks and applications that are utilizing RTP, is the minimum bandwidth requirements. Figure 2 also shows the actual transfer bandwidth being used for the VGA level (considered HD) video conference. As most broadband services in the US for residential applications have low upload capabilities (typically 1/10 of the download speed, or near 100Kbps) it is not on the same path for upgrade as the download speeds. Figure 3 shows the estimated bandwidth requirements for simple HD (above 320i) video conferencing as recommended by multiple vendors at the show and highlighted in the Nvidia booth as a new GPU based activity.

video confernce bandwidth requirements

The realities of the LTE environment, the distance and data rates it supports and the prevalence of the RTP protocol in the use of conferencing leads one to believe that these technologies may not be universally available outside major metropolitan areas in the near future.

This year’s show featured the introduction, in an expanded booth, of their Monster Digital storage brand. These products, being organized and engineered by Jay Tandon, who comes from a long time family in the storage business, are being brought to the high end consumer retail market under the Monster brand. To do so, they had to be brought up to Monster standards of high visibility and informative packaging, an all inclusive package that even bring assembly screwdrivers for installation and all required setup and transfer software needed to utilize the device. The packages even include a transfer connector that allows connection compatibility with the few percent of OEM computers that do not use the standard locations for the connections.

The products introduced included a high speed CF memory card, an SSD and a hybrid disk drive. All of these were leveraging latest technology on Flash Memory, with the hybrid disk being an exclusive 500GB drive with 8G of Flash and the SSD being 400GB platform. These products will be available in Q1 ‘12 and we should have some product reviews later this quarter. The Flash products are being created by JDT Technologies which has a manufacturing agreement with sub 30nm fabs for the cores, so the performance and reliability are at the lead edge.

The system design is based on simplifying the purchasing and setup experience for the higher end of the mass market buyer. This is accomplished with three options for powered speakers, center channel, surround channels, and subwoofers. The powered speakers have an optical line of sight ultrasonic configuration port that sets the sweet spot of the sound automatically for a single plane surround sound environment. This planar setup requires the speakers to same height mounted on pedestals and does not currently support in wall or in-ceiling or ceiling attached products.

The three keys to the format are: (1) the wireless configuration and setup, (2) the audio quality and (3) ease of setup and configuration. The system was demonstrated using standard 5.1 surround sound encoded DVDs which had 16bit 44khz data on it. This is optimized on balancing the delay and volume from the speakers in a full digital mode. The system utilizes a DSP in the receiver rather than a traditional crossover circuit to split the bands.

The format is being supported by speaker manufacturers like Polk Audio, Klipsh, Pioneer and Sharp initially, as well as perennial standards sponsor Silicon Image. The product is being released at several price points and power levels for the speakers. The group is focusing on both receiver and speaker manufacturers to incorporate the technology and help them with the RF aspects and the Radar Avoidance aspects of the U-NII band radios when used in multiple countries.