In this video from Musik Messe 2017 in Frankfurt Germany, Pro Tools Expert Technical Editor James Ivey shares some of his highlights from the show floor. 

New Products

Zylia Portable Recording Studio

This is a two part solution in the form of a 19 capsule sphere shaped microphone that hooks up to your Mac or Linux computer via USB and software recording application.   The microphone is placed in the middle of the players or vocalists, (not more that 7 for best performance) and you record to the multi-channel recording software. The Zylia software then does some very smart analysis and can generate individual wav files of each of the performers. These can then be imported into your DAW for mixing.  You can find out more at the Zylia website.

DMSD Audio Tools Decouplers 

The DMSD speaker decouplers were being used all over the recording and keyboard hall at Messe this year. The product looks quite simple but it really works. There are two sizes and you choose depending on the size and weight of your speakers. Both sizes come in boxes of 8 (4 for each speaker).  You can find out more about the DMSD decouplers and their range of stunning studio furniture at their website. 

Funnel Tunnel 

The Funnel Tunnel comes in two varieties. One which is designed to act like a sub mic for bass drum and bass applications but it was the longer product that was being demonstrated on a guitar cabinet that was most innovative.  A very simple design but it really worked well, giving the guitar back its bottom end and filling up the tone.  I look forward to getting one of these to try. At the moment the company is so new they don't even have a website but we hope to get a unit to demo very soon. 

Delta Transconductance Band Compressor

If hi-tech pro audio equipment can be art, this is it. The Delta compressor was stunning to look at. A true work of beauty. It is a fully valve (tube) vari-mu compressor with 6 mono or 3 stereo channels that are transformer balanced in and out.  The channels have 24 different cross-over frequencies with first order Butterworth or second order Linkwitz Riley filters.  This is squarely aimed at the mastering market so, not one I am going to take on the testing of, but as soon as we hear of one being used in the real world we will do our best to get to see and hear it in action.  You can find out more from the Electric Signal website. 

Tuna Knob

The Tuna Knob is a very simple to use stick-on device that allows you to control rotary dials and features of any iOS device.  It's very quick to change to other controls on your device as you can see in the video.   Just apply a little pressure to adjust the parameter then pull the Knob off and stick it on the next control. You can find out more at the Pepperdecks website.

Kii THREE Professional Studio Monitor Speakers

Although I did not hear these on the show floor I was invited to an event in one of the hotels near the Messe to listen to these amazing new Kii THREE speakers.  I want these in my studio. Stunning does not do this justice.

They have to be heard to be believed. The stereo image from the Kii THREE was so well defined The bass was driving yet tight and punchy. The top end was smooth and rich but not harsh.  I am very much looking forward to getting these into the studio but I am worried that I will not want to give them back.

You can find out the full features and the technologies behind these fantastic speakers at the Kii website.