Category Archives: Namm 2017

Computer Music - Hardware, Equipment & Instruments, featured, Namm 2017

Back To Black – Antelope Bring Out A New Addition To The ORION Family, The ORION32 HD

Bulgaria seems to be a bit of a busy place for Pro Audio at the moment with Antelope pushing out some absolutely fantastic gear and progressing on the software side of things at a staggering pace. The Balkan Mountains truly are alive with the sound of music…courtesy of Antelope’s pristine AD/DA conversion and supreme clocking!

Truth be told, it’s a pain (in a good way) keeping the content updated for their products, the guys and girls over at Antelope are like a machine, churning out updates to their FPGA based ecosystem of interfaces – giving their customers extra functionality and making additions to the free FPGA FX packages.

Enter the new addition to the family – the stunning looking ORION32 HD was announced at NAMM and I imagine Pro Tools HD users are pretty happy. It’s compatible with any DAW on the market via a HDX port or USB 3.0. This means no matter what you choose to use in the studio you can benefit from 64 channel 192kHz audio I/O, Zero Latency Monitoring, industry-leading AFC clocking and as you’d expect, flawless conversion. Throw in the usual plethora of connectivity such as ADAT, MADI, S/PDIF, Wordclock and mastering-grade Monitor outs and you have a beast of an interface. Now if you have a Pro Tools HD setup and a customer comes in with a laptop project made on Cubase, Logic or Presonus etc then you can simply use the USB port to integrate their project directly into your existing setup – no extra interfaces needed!

Coming back to the free FPGA FX package, if you’re not aware of it – Antelope have integrated a fine selection of free hardware-based vintage FX. The ever growing library includes hardware-based vintage EQ’s, compressors and Auraverb. The exquisite collections of Vintage EQ’s include authentic models of Lang PEQ-1, BAE 1073, 1084, 1023, UK-69 and many other classic British and German vintage units. If vintage compressors are more to your favour, how about a life-like model of the FET76 aka the legendary UREI 1176LN?

One more thing to note is the impressive software control. The routing matrix is pretty neat and even that has had some little tweaks over the last few software revisions to make it even easier to use. The control panel can be run on any machine on the network allowing for remote access to all the important stuff and as a side bonus, the control panel can be resized at will – its the little things that can make a huge difference in the right circumstances!

The ORION32 HD is available for pre-order at Scan Pro Audio, go take a look!

Equipment & Instruments, Namm 2017

IsoAcoustic ISO-Pucks At Namm

IsoAcoustics decoupling stands have been a popular option with the team at Scan for quite a few years now, and with the launch of NAMM this year they have expanded their range further with an announcement of the new ISO-Puck model. Designed to isolate and support your speaker much like the larger stands, the Pucks have a far lower profile, with a height of only 1.18 inches (3cm/30mm) and compresses to just under an inch (2.5cm/25mm) when in use. At only 2.3 inches (6cm/60mm) in diameter, the ISO-PUCK’s round shape makes it flexible enough to be ideally positioned on any surface, including the narrow spaces atop a meter bridge where other stands may prove too over-sized.

For larger devices you can scale your use of the ISO-PUCK system as they are designed to be used in multiples, allowing you to match the weight of each speaker or amplifier. With each Puck capable of bearing up to 20lbs you can combine 3 or 4 of them to support the weight of the particular bulky product requiring isolation.

Much like the larger ISOAcoustic stands, the multi-part construction design of the ISO-PUCK allows it to flex and move which helps to isolate and manage the energy generated by the driver in the speaker. The ISO-PUCK features a flange suction cup on the top which adheres to the speaker or top surface, as well as a bottom suction cup flange which adheres to the supporting surface. The energy is transferred to the core of the multi-part isolator in between which is met with resistence of lateral movement giving a dampening effect to any vibration moving through the stand. Despite the changes to the form factor this still works in a similar fashion to the larger stands already available, so it should continue to offer us the markedly improved clarity along with wider and more detailed sound staging that we’ve come to expect from the IsoAcoustic range over the years.

Take a look at the IsoAcoustic range @ Scan