Sontronics presents a new active ribbon microphone called Delta.

The Delta has been designed to deliver the classic tonality of a traditional ribbon microphone, but with the added reliability and consistency that active electronics offer and rugged build to allow it to be used in live sound applications as well as the studio. This new microphone excels in miking electric guitar cabinets and is designed for applications ranging from subtle electro-acoustic finesse to shred-metal mayhem.

It features optimized sensitivity and 48V pre-amplified electronics to deliver solid audio consistency combined with a significant improvement in signal-to-noise compared with traditional transformer-based ribbon mics. The Delta has a 20Hz to 15kHz frequency response and can accept maximum SPLs of 135dB.

Before it reached production, the Delta was beta-tested by various studio producers and engineers, all of whom pushed the microphone to the max. Justin Smith, engineer for Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal, states: "The Delta is amazing. It really handles anything you throw at it, from quiet, non-distorted guitar to balls-to-the-wall, amp-on-11 stuff. As soon as you have more, we want them."

The Delta comes in a rugged aluminium flightcase with its shockmount and is available immediately at a list price of $799.

Welcome to the MusikMesse 2009 ! For the next 4 days Frankfurt is going to be the center of the audio world : every name that counts will be there to present you all the latest musical products from around the world, those you'll maybe use tomorrow.

The whole 440Network Team is on the starting blocks to provide you the freshest news in this "MusikMesse Frankfurt 2009 Special Report" and in our Daily News Section.

Enjoy !

MusikMesse 2009 Videos on 440tv.

Teenage Engineering presents the OP-1, a pocket size controller for your favorite software sequencer but also a synthesizer.

OP-1 stands for Operator 1. When you connect it to your laptop, it lets you control your sequencers transport with the common play, stop, rec, forward and rewind. You can use it to control your software synthesizers with the 4 rotary encoders and 16 dedicated quick keys for fast selections.

When you disconnect the OP-1 from your computer you suddenly have a stand-alone portable wonder-machine with 8 synthesizer models, 8 samplers and effects like Delay, Flutter, Filters and EQ all built in. Use all that synthesizer power to record your work with the truly unique (at present time, secret) sequencer. Teenage Engineering promises you a really cool and creative way to record your sounds and tweak them in a completely new way. Use the magic step sequencer/arpegiator to get the notes right. If that is not enough use the built in motionsensor that sense every shake or move you make and turn it into really cool sounds. Then relax and sample a beat from the built-in FM radio or memorize a tune by whistle it into the built-in microphone. Play your piece to your friends through the built-in speaker. Or...convert it right away to mp3 and mail it to them.

On the right side of the case you'll find all the neccasary connectors.

• 3.5mm input for audio/external microphone
• 3.5mm output for line out /headphones
• 3-pole power-connector for charging the internal battery or for use with power adaptor.
The power connector itself is the same as used in robotic automation applications
• USB 2.0 port for hooking up your OP to your computer transferring your recorded music
• Two holes special machined for carry strap
• Turn the machine upside-down there are two M6 holes for use with our Studio System parts.

Clavia has just announced that the OS of the Nord Wave and the Nord Electro 3 have been updated to version 2.02. Besides a few bugfixes, those new OS also include some new features as well as well as the compatibility with the Nord Sound Manager application.

For more informations, please visit their website.

RME presents the Fireface UC which is basically a Fireface 400 with USB interface.

Based on a newly developed RME Hammerfall core, the Fireface UC (USB Compact) uses the USB 2.0 high-speed bus and provides ultra-low latencies even with multiple channels. The smallest buffer offered under Windows Vista has 48 samples, under Mac OS X 14 samples.

The optimization for Windows and Mac OS X is partly based on a double firmware within the unit, realizing an optimized functionality and operation according to the currently active OS. Under Mac OS X the unit's MIDI ports are even class compliant, the Operating System therefore automatically uses its included MIDI driver.

Features:

- 18 inputs / 18 outputs
- 8 x analog I/O
- 1 x ADAT I/O or 1 x SPDIF I/O (optical)
- 1 x SPDIF I/O (coaxial)
- 2 x MIDI I/O
- Sample rates up to 192 kHz on all I/Os
- Two digitally controlled Mic Preamps in high-end quality
- Two balanced universal inputs for line and instrument signals
- SteadyClock for maximum jitter suppression and clock refresh
- Enhanced stand-alone operation with rotary encoder and front panel operation
- 54 Level Meter Peak/RMS, hardware-calculated
- TotalMix: 648-channel mixer with 42-bit internal resolution

The Fireface UC will be available in June 2009.

* Minimal latencies are not guaranteed as they depend on the specific computer and application.