Yamaha has annouced its new portable 1 unit rack audio interface: the i88x. This new 24 Bit/96kHz audio interface works on the Yamaha mLAN (FireWire) protocol and features 2 instrument/mic phantom-powered inputs, 6 line inputs, ADAT I/O, S/PDIF I/O and MIDI I/O. The i88x ships with mLAN drivers for Mac OS 9 and drivers for Mac OS X are under development.

The i88x can be used as extension for 01x or MOTIF using mLAN16E due to mLAN support as well as a stand-alone Audio/MIDI interface.

Ed: Well, it's great to see Yamaha finally shipping some mLAN stuff, but with few products supporting the protocol and no OS X support, I think I'll stick with my plain-vanilla FireWire audio interfaces! -PK

At NAMM '04, M-Audio annouced a new FireWire audio interface, the FireWire 18/14, featuring 2 FireWire ports, a 24 bit/192 kHz AD/DA converter, 2 Neutrik phantom powered mic inputs, 6 line inputs and 4 line outputs. The FireWire 18/14 will manage 18 inputs channels (8 analog inputs, 8 ADAT and 2 S/PDIF) and 14 output channels (4 analog outputs, 8 ADAT and 2 S/PDIF).

The M-Audio FireWire 18/14 audio interface will be available in March '04 for EUR/US$700.

Crackle... hiss... rumble... click... pop... hum... When it comes to audio, it can be a filthy mess out there. So Bias announce SoundSoap Pro, a new high-end audio restoration solution for Mac OS X as a companion to its existing SoundSoap, featuring multiband noise reduction; click, crackle & hum removal; plus noise gate - all integrated into a single RTAS, AU or VST plug-in.

SoundSoap Pro will be available Q1 2004 for a retail price of EUR599.

Mackie has just announced 9 new products :
- 3 new Onyx mixing consoles 1220 (12 inputs) , 1620 (16 inputs), 1640 (16 inputs + 4 bus), with ability to add the OnyxFW option (to get a firewire audio interface)
- a new 8 inputs audio interface with lot of outputs
- the new TT24 , a live mixing desk
- The dBx console
- Big Knob, a useful switcher
- Traction, a new sequencer

Tascam has announced several new products at NAMM including:

- 2488 : a 24 bit, 24 tracks, 36 channel Portastudio with CD-Writer and USB2.0 interface.

- US-2400 : a DAW controller interface with 25 100mm motorized faders, 24 rotating encoders, joystick for surround, HUI emulation....

- 2 news DJ-oriented double CD-Players with a new option, an add-on for your turntable to use it as a controller for the two new CD player.

Just enough informations to give you a good reason to read the rest...