A mic of a different color came from the Violet Design booth (no relation). The Wedge cardioid condenser offers Class A fully discrete transformerless circuit, gold plated XLR pins, a red body and a sleek looking housing for the capsule.

SLS was showing a bi-amped high output loudspeaker. The 2806H goes for $2375 and features a planar ribbon transducer mounted on an 80 degree waveguide to match the dispersion of the midrange at crossover.

Sony's ECM-957PRO one-point stereo mic was turning heads, mostly because of its turning capsule. The M/S mic features two elements, one which can be rotated to make the mic either front or side address and changing the directivity from 90 to 12 degrees. The built in M/S decoder and AA battery assures this will be a popular item for field recording. It goes for $449.95.

Burl unveiled the B2 Bomber Analog to Digital converter. It operates up to 192kHz and features one word clock in and two outs, high def metering, AES dual or single wire operation, S/PDIF out and is Class A all the way. It goes for $3999.
--Kevin Becka, Mix magazine

Moog Music Voyager Old School Synthesizer
It's back to basics with this new analog synthesizer from Moog Music, which brings its Voyager product line to a more affordable price point by eliminating presets and memories. Tweak those knobs! MORE

Euphonix Artist Series Controllers
Euphonix provides an advanced look at the company's affordable new Artist Series MC line of products for DAW control. MORE

SSL Pro-Convert
Solid State Logic's Pro-Convert, the digital audio project translator application for moving sessions from one DAW environment to another, is now shipping worldwide. Features include compatibility with more than 40 apps, converts to/from Pro Tools 7.x, Audio Tool audio file-format batch converter, frame-accurate offset feature, "housekeeping" features, fade-curve translation control, pan/volume automation curve conversion, track markers and PQ data, search-and-replace missing audio file functions and rapid offline conversion process. NAMM Booth #6907, Hall A
www.solid-state-logic.com

Steinberg SDK for VST3
Steinberg released the Software Development Kit (SDK) for VST3, the latest generation of its VST platform, and is already implemented in Cubase and Nuendo. Features include unique silence detection feature that automatically switches off the plug-in if no audio signal is being received; plug-ins are fully surround-capable, and can be configured to receive from and output to any I/O configuration, including any surround format; output buses can be reassigned at any time; sample-accurate automation; resizable editing windows; VSTXML for remote controllers; and more.
www.steinberg.net

Tell plosives to hiss off with Sonnox Oxford SuprEsser plug-in
Sonnox has introduced its first plug-in since becoming an independent company in April 2007. With the new SuprEsser plug-in, it is attempting to fill the void of a professional quality de-esser in plug-in form. The highly featured SuprEsser includes a Simple mode for fast fixes, but also effectively doubles as a linear phase dynamic EQ when used in Advanced mode. Employing three listening modes and an intuitive visual waveform display, users can locate the problem frequencies quickly. MORE

MSR Adds to Studio Acoustics
Well, we're in the midst of day 3 here at Winter NAMM and just got back from the MSR booth -- way down in Hall E among the majority of the musical instruments -- and they've got some exciting innovations coming. In addition to their complete line of acoustical products for the brick-and-mortar studios, MSR also takes a tiered approach to working with studio owners -- from mobile units to the project studio in your house -- developing three separate lines of acoustical materials based on the studio owner's space, project and needs. MORE

Sunrise Surprise
At NAMM today the most exciting thing I saw and heard was a synthesizer called the Solaris. It's a work-in-progress by veteran synth and sound designer John Bowen. What began as a soft-synth project outgrew the confines of John's computer, so he brought it to life as a living, breathing (okay, not really) keyboard instrument with lots of knobs and big, bright displays. It uses a variety of synthesis algorithms, from sample playback to FM to wavetable and more, and it gives you eight envelopes, five LFOs, and more types of filters than you ever imagined you might need. And the sound! It's a beautiful thing, and it will be April (or so) when John hopes to begin shipping the Solaris. I don't know about you, but I can't wait! But don't take my word for it; head on over to www.johnbowen.com/solaris.html and hear what I mean. MORE