There are too many industry trade magazines for anybody to keep up with them all. When I spot news items that I think are particularly interesting, I will post them here, including the source.

*12.30.98*

Soundfisher is going to make an audiofile database that can search and/or categorize soudfiles by type or instrumentation. Sounds interesting. Read about it here.*10.2.98*

Here's a good article about Recordable DVDs, from the DVD Conference in Burlingame, CA.

*8.10.98*

The iMac looks like it will be a huge hit, and the second question out of everybody's mouth (after "How much?") is "Will it work for music sequencing and composition?" It does seem like the right price point for running Vision or Performer, but there are some questions about whether it will work, due to some of Apple's radical technological changes (USB, no ports, no ADB, no floppy). For discussion about the iMac and music, you should check here.

Prosoniq has new Pandora software that has the ability to identify and eliminate specific parts within a mix, whether vocal or instrumental. This could be very cool. Check out the audio examples of it at work. Very impressive.

*7.22.98*

Well, here's the latest new entry in the PC Digital I/O fray. The Pulsar from Creamware lists for $1298. You should read up on it. It sounds pretty powerful.

*7.13.98*

Apple made a big splash, and pleased the audience with an iMac simplicity shoot-out at the Macworld Expo keynote. The video features a 7 year-old setting up an iMac in one-third the time of a 26 year-old setting up an HP Pavilion. The movie is 5MB and can be viewed at http://www.apple.com/imac/simple.html.

-from Maccentral.com

*7.12.98*

According to Stereo Review, Philips will be introducing a dual-transport CD-Player/CD-RW recorder this fall. The CDR-675 will be priced at $650.

3D Audio will be opening a new "tapeless" mix room based around a 64-track ProTools 24 system. Equipment will include an ADAT Bridge I/O and 888/24 I/O for loading in the mix elements. Plug-ins will be plentiful, in addition to great analog gear from Pultec, Focusrite, and Tubetech, TC Electronic, and Lexicon. One of the focuses of the new room will be mixing for international clients. With this system, clients will be able to send in multitrack tapes on ADAT or other formats, have them mixed and then listen on DAT in there own familiar setting. Any changes to the mix can be made "after the fact" since everything will be recall-able. Check with us about rates for mixing and mastering your next single or album.

Sweetwater Sound now has a free bulletin board for selling used recording gear. Check it out.

*7.8.98*

Check out the new Tascam DA-45HR High Resolution DAT. It records 24 bits on DAT tape.

*5.7.98*

Today, Apple announced its vision of the future of Internet computing, the "iMac." Set for a fall shipping date, you should check out the specs for this $1200 marvel. These are the specs straight from Apple.

" The iMac will come fully loaded. You'll get everything you need to explore the internet for just $1,299*. That "everything" includes a 233MHz PowerPC G3 processor, 512K of backside level 2 cache, 32MB of SDRAM (expandable to 128MB), a 4GB IDE hard disk drive, Mac OS 8.1, two 12Mbps Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, a 4Mbps infrared technology (IrDA) port, keyboard and mouse. Plus built-in a 24x speed CD-ROM drive, built-in 15-inch monitor, built-in 10/100BASE-T Ethernet support, built-in 33Kbps modem, built-in stereo speakers with SRS sound, and something else that comes built-in with every Macintosh. The ability to do serious work, and have serious fun."

*4.23.98*

A technical article about DVD-Audio by Oliver Masciarotte, scheduled for release in MIX Magazine's June issue.

*4.20.98*

Did you know that there will soon be a microphone on Mars, so we can eavesdrop on the Red planet? Very interesting.

US News and World Report has stories about HDTV (and its entry price) and phasing in DTV.

*4.17.98*

The Nashville Tornadoes of 1998. Read all about it. It was something else.

*4.13.98*

Know anything about digital watermarking. You should. Check it out.

*4.3.98*

Check out the new FireBall equalizer from Intelligent Devices, Stephen St. Croix's company.

*3.98*

Unexpected Problems for DTV-Digital TV

Here are copies of newspaper clippings and reports concerning the first DTV broadcaster, and what they unexpectedly found when turning on their transmitter.

Thursday, March 5, 1998 7:24:34 AM

From: Clyde Miller,KERA

Subject: DTV News

 

Dallas-Ft.Worth's first DTV station signed on last Friday then immediately signed off when it interfered with heart monitor telemetry at Baylor hospital which was using the channel. WFAA-TV, the ABC affiliate on channel 8, was assigned DTV channel 9. Baylor has ordered new equipment at a cost of $200,000.

________________________________________

Thursday, March 5, 1998 9:13:02 AM

From: John Merli,PBS

Subject: WFAA Problems

HDTV Means Hospital-Disturbing Television

Wall Street Journal (B1) 3/4/98

(Dallas) -- Last Friday afternoon, WFAA-TV became the nation's first TV station to begin permanent operation of a digital transmitter, venturing into the new world of high-definition broadcasting. But just after the transmission began, some of the 60 wireless heart monitors at Baylor University Medical Center stopped sending data to nurses' stations. By late Friday night, they thought they had the problem solved. But on Saturday, the interference started all over again. It turns out that the unlicensed,low-power transmitters in Baylor's heart monitors use portions of the radio spectrum equivalent to TV channels 7 and 9. Steve Juett, the senior clinical engineer at the hospital, called the station before it turned its digital transmitter back on. WFAA sent 10 engineers to evaluate and hasn't transmitted a digital signal since. Though the disruptions didn't lead to any harm, WFAA says it will wait until the hospital's new system is working before resuming its digital broadcasts.

______________________________________________

Saturday, March 14, 1998 8:38:36 AM

From: Clyde Miller,KERA

Subject: DTV news from Dallas

WFAA-DT is back on the air today (SAT. 3/14) two weeks after shutting down because of interference to heart monitoring telemetry in area hospitals using channel 9. The local hospital association called a meeting of TV stations, FCC, FDA, and manufacters of medical telemetry last week. The hospitals wanted a better advance notification system for secondary users when stations would start using their new allocations. Commercial stations said advance publicity might compromise their competitive positions. The FCC contended that adequate public notice systems were in place through their web site. All agreed that nobody wanted to take the slightest risk that might endanger a life. A smaller working group will be set up to find a solution.

*3.2.98*

CUPERTINO, California--March 2, 1998--Apple Computer, Inc. today announced price cuts on its Power Macintosh G3 line of personal computers

*2.24.98*

People are talking about the MOTU 2408 digital interface. Here's where you can get the info.

*1.29.98*

Did you know that Sound Designer II will not work with ProTools 24? Check out the rants at the Digidesign forum.

*1.25.98*

Check out the exhaustive PARIS web site at www.paris.ensoniq.com

*1.2.98*

For more information about the Apple G3 Macs, get it straight from the source. For system speed comparisons, click here.

A press release for the new Orb drive system. It sounds very promising, especially the part about "video-ready" potential, which means audio professionals should be fine. Here's an excerpt:

Castlewood will provide four versions of ORB: internal IDE, external parallel port, internal SCSI and external SCSI. Various configurations are compatible with different operating systems, including DOS, Windows 3.X/95/NT and Macintosh. The two external configurations will carry a suggested retail price of $199.95. Individual 2.16 GB disks have a retail price of $29.95. The IDE and parallel port configurations will be available shortly. The SCSI versions will be available in the first quarter of next year.

*12.29.97*

SyQuest founder Syed Iftikar has introduced a $199 storage device that will compete with Jaz drives. Called the Orb, it is the first product from his new company, Castlewood Systems. The $199 drive uses proprietary 3.5-inch cartridges with a capacity of 2.16 GB each. The media costs $29.95 each. The drive offers a sustained data-transfer rate of 12.2 MB per second and an average seek time of 12 mS. Slated to ship in the first quarter of 1998, the Orb includes a set of formatting and storage-management utilities called Orb-it Tools. The Orb is not compatible with media designed for either Syquest or Iomega drives.

from MacWorld, February 1998

 

* 12.12.97 *

Panasonic announces first rewritable DVD

For computers, that is: Panasonic's LF-D101 DVD-RAM drive, the first of its kind, will hit stores this month. The unit will list for $799. The drive can read and write to a new kind of double-sided DVD with a 5.2-gigabyte capacity ($40) or a single-sided disc with a 2.6-gigabyte capacity ($25). Both discs are erasable and housed in a plastic cartridge, which is removable for single-sided discs. The drive can read DVD-ROM and DVD-R computer discs as well as DVD movie discs and any kind of CD. However, DVD-RAM discs recorded on the LF-D101 will not play in current DVD players or DVD-ROM drives.

Stereo Review, January 1998

 

Also check out the January 1998 issue of Stereo Review for a very informative review of the new Phillips CD-R/RW Recorder. At a list price of $649, you may be surprised how good it is. But there are some catches. For the technical specs, check out the Phillips' web page.

 

More news to come........