Pro audio is increasingly a software-based proposition, and that observation was revalidated at the AES Show, the annual confab of high-tech soundhounds (17,892 of them, to be exact) that met this year in San Francisco’s Moscone Center (Oct. 3-5, 2008). And while there is a vocal contingent within the pro audio community that bemoans, with some justification, the commoditization of sonic quality that has to some extent accompanied the evolution of digital audio, ultimately software is what will also assure that sound keeps pace with picture as media head into a high-def media future.

“I like analog signal processing as much as anyone else,” comments music recording engineer and multimedia producer Mark Hornsby at the show. “But I would never trade that for what I can do with audio in a digital file format.”

The software of pro audio these days lies in two main arenas: platforms and plug-ins. The former are represented by the leading multitrack recording, manipulating, editing, mixing and transfer platforms, of which Digidesign’s Pro Tools continued to dominate the market. Digi used AES to debut its new Pro Tools 8, whose basic LE version upgrade sells for $149 with its HD version upgrade costing $249. It dovetails with Digi’s new Ethernet-connected Video Satellite link that interfaces Pro Tools with an AVID Media Composer, putting the power of a full-on video editor combined with fully synched HD audio. “Pro Tools 8 was designed to let the user stay within Pro Tools from conception to completion,” says Digi marketing manager Max Gutnick. PT 8’s GUI has been redesigned along with the addition of new features, including the doubling of inserts per channel. Fans of PT v.7.4’s Elastic Time time-stretch feature will enjoy using Elastic Pitch on PT 8, which allows a selected audio region to be transposed, in semitones or cents, in real time, up to four octaves.

The newest iteration of the V-Studio from Roland’s Cakewalk integrates the former’s expertise in hardware design with the latter’s software prowess. Updates to the core Cakewalk SONAR software engine within the new VS-700C workstation offers workflow enhancements, new features and performance optimizations throughout. New SONAR features include: updated Loop Explorer 2.0 view, dedicated instrument track (single track optimized for mono/stereo virtual synths), numerous audio engine optimizations; and new transport, control surface, routing, and editing refinements.

Basic system software upgrades were prolific at the show. Fairlight upped its Dream II recording/editing/mixing on the CC-1platform to v.2, centered mainly on workflow enhancements for the integrated audio-video platform. New features include internal file importation and conversion and the ability to upconvert SD program material to HD. SSL’s AWS 900+ SE upgrade was introduced and includes the MIDI-over-Ethernet system introduced earlier this year with the SSL Matrix console. MIDI over Ethernet replaces existing MIDI connectivity with a single Ethernet connection that enables the console to communicate directly with the DAW host computer.

Plug Me In
The other big space in play was with plug-ins, a fast-growing cottage industry in which (mostly) third-party developers have been busily rendering virtual versions of most of pro audio’s signal processing engines. No need for a pricey vintage LA-2A compressor when the same processing can be had for a couple hundred dollars as software. Not surprising then that nearly one entire wall at the expo had demo stations lined up like stalls in a Middle Eastern souk, where companies including Celemony, Antares, Serato, OverLoud, Sound Toys and Neyrinck showed off the latest entries into the plug-in universe:

• Waves Audio added its popular Z-Noise noise reduction processor to its Restoration, Broadcast & Production and Diamond bundles, along with processors including X-Noise, X-Hum, X-Crackle, and X-Click. The 24-bit/96kHz Z-Noise reduces a wide variety of unwanted sonic artifacts -- hiss, ground hum, computer noise and many other undesirable sounds – in real-time without impacting the quality of the original source. Z-Noise includes both Learn and Extract modes for capturing noise profiles plus a 5-band graphic noise profile EQ, and its Adaptive mode continually updates profiles that change over time. The new Restoration bundle lists for $1,800 Native, $3,000 for the TDM version. Diamond, Broadcast & Production and Restoration owners with Waves Update Plan coverage can add Z-Noise for $400 through their user accounts.
• Overloud’s Breaverb comes with a hardware controller reminiscent of the classic Lexicon 224 XL. Various values can be input through six sliders that control reverb category, room and plate sizes and characteristics, predelay, tone, equalization and gating. Overloud also introduced its THI guitar amp simulator plug-in, which offers tons of cabs, amp heads, speaker simulators and some useful add-ons like a tuner and a configurable user interface.
• Eventide debuted a TDM plug-in version of its E-Control that provides real-time control of its H8000 series H7600 and Eclipse multi-effects processors, available in December for $199.
• Virtual instruments were represented by products like Spectrasonics’ Omnisphere power synth plug-in. A hybrid synth engine has plenty of onboard samples as well as filtering that includes chaos envelopes, composite morphing, DSP synthesis, variable waveshaping, and Spectrasonics’ patented Flex-Mod modulation routing system. MSLP: $499.

Phil French, president of storage solutions provider Glyph, which was showing its GT 050Q FireWire portable drive, agrees. He and director of marketing Peter Glanville see music on hard drives increasingly migrating to solid-stage storage, once more choices and lower prices in that space appear. “Three to five years and we’ll see a pretty much complete transition to solid state in pro digital audio applications,” says Glanville.

The AES Show has settled into a routine now of shuttling between New York and San Francisco in alternate years. Both locations have plenty of music business and history as context for the expo, but underneath it all, as audio goes deeper into digital territory, the journey will seem more like a cruise between Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley.

Dan Daley (danwriter at aol.com) is an experienced journalist and author, covering the business and technology of the entertainment industry for over 20 years. His work has appeared in numerous publications, both trade and general interest, including Billboard, The New York Daily News, Mix Magazine, GRAMMY Magazine, American Way, Spin, History Channel, TravelHost, International Business, USA Today, ArchiTech, and many others.