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Focal Expands Monitor Range with “Shape Twin”

One year after the launch of Shape 40, 50 and 65 monitors, Focal is expanding its monitoring range with the line’s new benchmark product: Shape Twin.

Focal has expanded its Shape professional powered monitor series with the introduction of the “Shape Twin.” This new standard bearer of the Focal Shape series features two passive radiators, woofers equipped with a new Flax cone, and the latest ‘M’-shaped Aluminum/Magnesium inverted dome tweeter. Shape Twin is made in France, just like Shape 40, 50 and 65. Designed to meet the needs of near-field monitoring, these monitors combine an ingenuous design and numerous settings optimized for the acoustics of small listening rooms. Shape Twin stands out through its excellent rendering over the whole audio spectrum, its broad frequency response in the low end, and its high SPL considering its size. The compact design makes it easy to integrate even into the most cramped of rooms. Finally, its 2.5-way design gives it a decisive advantage when it comes to controlling the bass and lower mid-range registers, which are the hardest to control in small rooms.

Chick Corea Plays Vintage Vibe Keys on ‘Chinese Butterfly’

New ‘Chinese Butterfly’ album features Chick Corea playing the Vintage Vibe piano on two key tracks

Chick Corea and Steve Gadd released Chinese Butterfly today, a 2-disc album on the Concord Jazz label. With masterful playing by two of the most celebrated talents in jazz performing as the “Chick Corea + Steve Gadd Band,” Chinese Butterfly includes two tracks that feature Chick playing the Vintage Vibe Piano(tm)-the record’s first single, “Like I Was Sayin’,” and the 16-minute epic that closes the album, “Gadd-zooks.”

New CEntrance “MixerFace R4”

New hand-held product offers multiple options for easy on-the-go recording

CEntrance, a leading manufacturer of high quality recording and DAC products, has announced the new MixerFace™ R4 – Mobile Recording Interface™. About the footprint of a smart phone, the four-input recording interface is designed to make mobile recording quick and easy, while delivering professional results.

Vintage Vibe ‘Walnut’ Rhodes 88 Restoration

“Un-freakin’ believable!” said the owner of the museum-quality restoration of a Rhodes 88 Stage Piano which shows off Vintage Vibe’s exceptional craftsmanship and manufacturing capabilities

Vintage Vibe has revealed a crowning achievement in custom restoration: a Rhodes 88-key stage piano with a completely custom natural wood walnut case, white top, and unique accents for a mid-century modern look. Vintage Vibe, based in New Jersey, is the premiere restoration and repair company for Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and Clavinet electro-mechanical pianos, and the world’s leading manufacturer of after market parts for these classic and sought-after keyboards. The company also designs and manufactures its own instruments, the Vintage Vibe Piano(tm) and the Vibanet(tm) – modern takes on Rhodes and Clavinet pianos with improved performance, reduced weight, and sleek new looks.

CEntrance Debuts BlueDAC

CEntrance, a leader in Digital Audio, announced immediate availability of BlueDAC, it’s newest portable D/A converter and headphone amplifier. BlueDAC combines the best of CEntrance portable digital technologies to date, including a long-life rechargeable battery and a 24-bit/384kHz USB interface, and adds a brand new, custom, high fidelity Bluetooth radio receiver. Combining the wired and wireless inputs within the same product, BlueDAC becomes the perfect listening device for the modern audiophile. When used wirelessly, it delivers excellent sound quality over balanced headphones. When used as a portable or desktop USB DAC, it can access the full potential of modern, high-resolution content, offering 24-bit/384kHz fidelity and DSD capability. BlueDAC’s wireless connection pairs well with phones and tablets running iOS and Android. BlueDAC has been also successfully tested with a number of Digital Audio Players that offer a Bluetooth output. This wide range of connectivity options makes BlueDAC highly versatile and convenient at home or on the go.

New Dangerous Music “CONVERT-AD+”

Dangerous Music debuts new Analog-to-Digital converter during AES in New York

AES — New York — Dangerous Music today premiered the CONVERT-AD+ A to D converter. Building on their legacy of award-winning monitoring and mastering D to A converters, the CONVERT-AD+ is the culmination of the company’s technical advances over the past 15 years, as always, addressing both the sonic demands, practical needs of professional audio engineers and to put the soul back into music. The design and implementation of this unique converter realize the highest levels of quality and embrace the company’s credo, Sacrifice Nothing. The CONVERT-AD+ is set for release in November 2017, with a street price of $2,599. US.

Spectrasonics “Keyscape Creative” Library

Cutting edge collection of over 1200 Omnisphere patches for users who also have Keyscape

Spectrasonics has released the new “Keyscape Creative” library, a cutting-edge collection of over 1200 Omnisphere 2 patches specially designed for users who also have Keyscape. The vast new library was produced by Spectrasonics’ Founder, Eric Persing, and features a tremendous variety of patches created by the company’s renowned Sound Development team, to showcase the power of combining Keyscape and Omnisphere 2. Keyscape’s richly detailed keyboard sounds can be dramatically transformed using Omnisphere 2’s deep synthesis capabilities. The recently expanded team spent over a year to develop these unique sounds. The new patches offer an extremely wide variety of incredible sounds for modern music producers and are available now as a free update.

Amadeus Installs ‘3D Sound System’ in China

Over fifty Amadeus speakers installed featuring ‘3D Sound’ control, nearly seven hundred actors and twenty giant 30-foot soft LED screens create a re-enactment of the ‘Xi’an Incident’ commemorating the event’s 80th anniversary.

Amadeus, based in France, one of the premiere manufacturers of high-end sound reinforcement systems and custom studio speakers, has announced a 50-speaker install with ‘3D Sound’ control. The sound system compliments twenty 30-foot giant ‘soft LED’ screens and performances of 700 actors in China’s first live event dramatizing the historical 1938 ‘Xi’an Incident’ – which is credited to have created modern China. The State-run theater is located in the exact location where the ‘Xi’an Incident’ happened. Amadeus worked with its distributor, Guangzhou Sign King ET Co., Ltd., Swiss-based company Sonic Emotion, and British manufacturer of digital mixing consoles DiGiCo to design and install the sound setup within the massive new building.

Darrell Thorp Chooses Lauten for Foo Fighters

Seven-time Grammy winning engineer and mixer, Darrell Thorp, used Lauten Audio mics, including its flagship tube mic, Eden, on new Foo Fighters album “Concrete and Gold”

Engineer Darrell Thorp recently recorded the Foo Fighters new album at EastWest Studios in Los Angeles and chose to use loads of Lauten Audio microphones, including the Atlantis, Eden, Clarion, and the new Series Black LA-120, LA-220, and LA-320. The new Foo Fighters album “Concrete and Gold” (Roswell Records/RCA Records) was released on September 15, its first single, “Run,” hit the top 10 on the Rock Airplay Billboard charts in June. “We had a massive setup for recording the band,” says Thorp, “part of the challenge was we had 4 drum kits set up at once, a bass station, vocals, keys with 2 keyboards and pianos, and over 20 guitar amps, some in the live room and some in Iso-booths – I was using a lot of Lauten Audio mics.”

‘La Seine Musicale’ Complex Features Amadeus Speakers

Amadeus, French provider of high-end audio solutions and services, recently designed and installed speaker systems in the ambitious new musical cultural center, La Seine Musicale

The recently opened La Seine Musicale music complex just outside Paris’ center is a marvel of performance spaces. Amadeus, based in Paris, one of the world’s premiere manufacturers of high-end sound reinforcement systems, was chosen to equip the two main concert halls of the Seine Musicale building complex with their specially developed speaker systems. As the sole speaker manufacturer chosen for the momentous project, Amadeus also installed their speakers in multiple rehearsal spaces throughout the new music center. La Seine Musicale is a large-scale cultural public infrastructure, over 36,000 square meters, committed to host every type of musical performance. The building houses two main concert halls, five recording studios, and several rehearsal spaces – the main ‘Auditorium’ has seating for 1,150 guests. This hall is the symbol and the signature of the building with acoustics designed by acousticians Nagata Acoustics and Jean-Paul Lamoureux, and features a speaker system custom designed by Amadeus.