It’s time to look back at the trends, innovations and overall audio gear that’s come out in 2015 (or is worthy of the spotlight). There’s a lot of great gear, decent gear and just-plain-bad gear. There are cool gadgets and gadgets that only look cool. Here’s the list of what we think is worth consideration.
Along with myself and Brian, Beau Brown and several other techs have contributed their thoughts on this list and are noted below. I should note each category below may have more than one listing because we didn’t want to filter it down to one.
Trends of the Year
Brian: Affordable, quality digital sound boards
Chris: Multi-track digital recording
This year has seen the release of more sub-$10k digital consoles than any other year. DiGiCo jumped in with the S21, then we have the Yamaha TF-series, the PreSonus RM32ai and the evolving Allen & Heath QU-series initially released at the end of last year. And let’s not to forget the iPad-based consoles.
Along with these digital consoles is the multi-track recording aspect. This is great for both editing a recording and for use in virtual sound checking. Even analog consoles like the Soundcraft Signature 22MTK and Signature 12MTK offer multi-track recording. Yes, an analog console with multi-track recording in the $450-$800 range.
Accessory of the Year
Chris and Brian: Mini Cat-5 snakes
Sometimes simple is necessary. Be it for a portable church or not, a massively long analog snake sometimes doesn’t work. These mini-snakes enable four or so XLR cables to be plugged into a device which converts the signals to travel along a single Cat-5 cable and then is broken back out into the four or so XLR connections. Some can also be used with Ethercon.
These are available from Rat Sound (Cat Tails, Cat Rack and CatSnake line) as well as Radial (Catapult).
Innovation of the Year
Chris and Brian: NemoSyn nDrive
Carrying along with the trend of the year, the nDrive allows for easy multi-track recording and playback directly via their device, avoiding the whole PC/Mac debate and DAW software. Starting at $499, based on memory size, this little box makes virtual soundchecks a piece of cake.
Per their web site, “During recording and playback you can create markers that allow you to jump from song to song with ease.This will make dialing in that vocal or snare way easier than trying to do it live or during rehearsal. [Also] all 32 tracks are recorded to the removable SD card and can easily be transferred to your computer if you want to mix down a session at a later date.”
This is a piece of gear meant for a specific situation. I could argue for this just as quickly as against it. I’ve been at churches where the techs do a good job and the virtual soundcheck option would be well-received, but the idea of presenting them with a computer and software DAW would be too much. This would be ideal. But then I’ve also been at places where they would gladly step into a computer for virtual soundchecking and should pass on the nDrive.
The nDrive presents a solution (opportunity) for a specific situation. Is it right for you? It is if your church would benefit from it. And honestly, I’ve seen some really small tech booths too small for a dedicated audio PC so this would work in that situation as well.
