MusikMesse sees Thermionic Culture announcing the Fat Bustard Valve Mixer.

Previewed at the last AES NYC show, the Fat Bustard has a total of 12 inputs arranged as 4x stereo pairs and 4x mono with pan controls, all with toggle mute switches. The simple but amazing Bass and Treble EQ has 0.5dB stepped Lift controls while there are 6 way stepped Bass & Treble Cut controls. This unit also includes a really sweet and effective stereo width control, a little reminiscent of some vinyl lathe cutting EQ's. Four valves are used on the master buss, a pair of 5965 double triodes, the first half of which is pre-amp/eq, the second half is gain makeup in conjunction with the dedicated 'Attitude' feedback control which determines the amount of THD. The Attitude control can yield a clean signal or add gain and some "valvy" 2nd harmonic distortion. The other pair of valves is the larger 6SN7 double triode connected in parallel to give massive headroom cleanly (approaching +30 dBm).

Additional pair of AUX inputs is also provided for future channel expansion by adding the optional Little Bustard 16 channel expander, which will be due later this year.

Retail will be approximately £2800.00 ex VAT.

Another co-operation between Steinberg and Yamaha have resulted in two FireWire Interfaces, the MR816 CSX and MR816 X Advanced Integration FireWire audio interfaces.

Both units feature unprecedented integration into Cubase, and offer a full range of audio I/O options and onboard DSP with the renowned REV-X reverb. MR816 CSX also offers the acclaimed Sweet Sport Morphing Channel Strip plug-in, with both DSP effects available as a VST3 plug-in in Cubase.

Features :

- True Integrated Monitoring: no latency, DSP-powered FX* and full Cubase Control Room support including independent Studio mixes
- Complete Cubase user interface integration throughout: direct access from Cubase with no additional software mixing or external windows required
- 8 discrete Class A analog 'D-Pre' mic preamps with combination XLR and TRS analog inputs with advanced new inverted Darlington circuits and switchable phantom power per channel, as well as digital ADAT and S/PDIF I/O
- Quick connect: Next-generation of plug and play with instant routing of inputs to Cubase channels from the hardware with the push of a button
- DSP power for Cubase*: Up to 8 simultaneous onboard DSP-powered Sweet Spot Morphing Channel Strip with compressor, EQ as well as REV-X reverb – available within Cubase during mixing

*Sweet Spot Morphing Channel Strip available in MR816 CSX only

Those new units will support Mac OS X, Windows XP and Windows Vista, and will ship in Q3 2008.

RME presents the new MADIface, the world's first portable MADI solution for Laptops, providing 128 channels of audio with up to 192 kHz.

Consisting of the HDSPe ExpressCard MADI and a small breakout box, the MADIface offers full MADI power: 64 channels input and 64 channels output, up to 192 kHz sample rate, in MADI embedded MIDI transmission, complete TotalMix that is even remote controllable and has all features of the 'bigger' HDSPe MADI, as well as lowest latency and CPU-load. To make the usage as comfortable as possible, the power for the breakout box is provided directly by the ExpressCard, so no external power supply is required.

The MADIface is fully compatible to all devices with MADI interface. While many MADI-based devices require an additional word clock or AES line, the MADIface uses SteadyClock to extract the reference clock at lowest jitter directly from the MADI signal, making long-distance connections even more convenient. Although not available at the MADIface itself, word clock input and output are thus available when using another RME MADI device.

Included software: DIGICheck for Windows: Spectral Analyser, professional level meter for 2, 8, or 64 channels, Vector Audio Scope, Global record, various other audio analysis tools.

Drivers: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/64 (full ASIO multi-client operation of WDM, GSIF 2.0 and ASIO 2.0), Mac OS X Intel (Core Audio and Core MIDI).

Musik Messe 2008 sees the launch of the Focusrite's fourth Liquid solution, Liquid Mix 16. Combining the same pool of classic EQ and Compressor emulations with a control surface, Liquid Mix 16 brings the sound of the priceless and the historically significant, within reach of even the most modest studio owner.

Each of the sixteen mono channels (or eight stereo channels) provides Compressor and EQ emulations selectable from forty Compressors and twenty EQs. As with Liquid Mix, a hybrid seven-band 'super EQ' is available in every instance, built out of separate classic EQ sections. Each channel appears as a separate VST/AU/RTAS effect within the sequencer and will work within all major sequencers, including Pro Tools. Liquid Mix 16 launches with Liquid Mix v2.2 software, ensuring compatib ...

M-Audio unveils the Fast Track Ultra 8R, an 8x8 USB 2.0 audio/MIDI interface with 8 preamps and MX Core DSP.

Features :

- high-speed USB 2.0 interface - simultaneous 16 x 8* 24-bit/96kHz audio
- MX Core DSP technology - flexible channel routing, monitor sub-mixing, and effects processing
- 8 preamps with M-Audio Octane technology
- two completely independent headphone outputs
- compatible with Mac and PC > works with most audio production software

*when playing back 8 software return streams

M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R will be available at an MSRP of $629.95.