SETTING A NEW ISOBAR

All of these layers set the stage. The software begat the amplifier and DSP, which begat the fine control of ArrayProcessing and NoizCalc. But the promise of these higher-efficiency, more controlled speaker designs  — the ones Matthias conceived way back when — hadn’t yet been fulfilled. The time had come for new speakers. Boxes that would natively deliver immaculate directivity.

Full-bandwidth directivity has a number of instant benefits. The obvious one is that sound stays out of the places you don’t want it. Indoors, this means quieter stages behind the PA, and there’s less off-axis sound to excite the reverberant field — excitation that translates into low-end rumble and increased reverb times indoors. Bad news. Outdoors, all that sub-400Hz directionless spill is like a PTSD trigger for noise meters. With noise pollution standards only getting more stringent, it’s a problem big gigs can’t afford to have anymore.

Full-range directivity also translates into a better experience in the desired coverage area. You get a wider ‘usable’ coverage; it retains clarity and frequency balance at lower levels; and horizontal arraying is far easier when you don’t have to worry about low-mid, off-axis creep.

When the new SL series debuted with the flagship GSL8 and GSL12 speakers, their defining feature was immaculate directivity. Isobar plots of line arrays, even J, usually show a concentration of energy that starts to relax and bloom outwards below 3-400Hz. Not so with GSL. The red hot areas stay tight like a laser all the way down to 45Hz. It beggars belief, until you walk behind an array of GSL going full tilt and experience the dearth of noise back there. GSL also arrived with a companion, the natively cardioid SL-Sub, which altogether killed off the notion of directionless sound in a concert rig for d&b.

In a similar way to J, GSL also managed to do more for less. While GSL is up against boxes like L-Acoustics K1, it shaves off 25kg per box and is a tad smaller in every dimension. Also, while K1 is a three-way, quad-amplified box; the GSL is a three-way, dual-amplified box courtesy of d&b’s adherence to passive crossovers.

SMALLER SIBLING

But GSL wasn’t the final step in Matthias’ vision. It also wasn’t the reason I was over in Stuttgart for a sneak peak of a new mystery PA. The flagship GSL is a marvel, and necessary for festivals and stadiums. However, in the world of touring, bigger isn’t always better. For the majority of gigs, a box that’s lighter and more compact, without sacrificing on sound, is ideal.

It’s why J was a huge success for d&b. They needed another speaker to fill the gap it would eventually leave. One that had the same immaculate directivity as GSL, would fall within the weight limit of the J series (60kg), have plenty of headroom (especially down low), use the same D80 amplifier, and work seamlessly as a fill and delay system for GSL.

When we arrived in Stuttgart, there were hundreds of customers from around the globe and four members of the international press. The first day was straight down to business. Stuttgart is the automotive capital of Europe, home to the Daimler group (Mercedes, Chrysler) and the birth of the modern automobile. It’s also Porsche’s home turf.

d&b had parked us right in the middle of it all. Passing both Mercedes Stadium and Porsche Arena as we walked down the road to Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, the 15,500 pax arena where the mystery PA was ready to fire.

Schleyer-Halle isn’t a perfect venue, and there’s nothing special about the tiered seating or the makeup of the walls, but it is the place where every d&b line array is rigorously tested during the development phase. If a d&b PA sounds bad in Schleyer-Halle, then something’s gone horribly wrong.

K, HERE ’TIS

We’re soon introduced to the star of this particular show, KSL. It’s a big deal for d&b. This is the missing piece in the SL series; the speaker designed to replace the J.

Apparently the K stands for ‘Kleine’, which translates as ‘smaller’ in German. Product manager, Werner ‘Vier’ Bayer, explained KSL is designed to be the technically equivalent, smaller brother of GSL.

If you’re thinking in box sizes. The width and height of a J top box sits in between the bigger GSL and smaller KSL. A hang of 12 GSL is slightly longer than 14 KSL, and KSL is also lighter than J.

While GSL has done and will do well, d&b would expect to sell loads more KSL, so it’s important the little brother doesn’t become a side show to GSL’s impressive feature set.

From the outside, KSL really does look like a smaller GSL. It has the same grilles for the side-firing drivers, the same forked handles on the rear, and the same core driver layout. Two front-firing LF drivers, the two side-firing LF drivers, and a centrally-placed MF driver attached to a split wave-guide that skirts round the edges of the similarly centrally-placed array of HF compression drivers.

Naturally, every component is just a little smaller than its GSL equivalent. The LF drivers are 10-inch on the front, and eight-inch on the sides (14 and 10-inches on GSL), the MF driver is eight inches, and the two compression drivers have three-inch voice coils.

IMMACULATE DIRECTIVITY EXPLAINED

So, how did d&b achieve this miraculous immaculate directivity? Well, with directivity already sorted above 400Hz, the main point of attack was obviously down low. Using side-firing woofers to achieve directivity is not entirely new. In principle, by spacing the woofers a quarter of a wavelength apart you get a 90-degree phase shift, creating summation in the front and cancellation in the rear. Sounds easy. And it is, for a single frequency sine wave. But music, over two octaves from 50-200Hz? Not so much.

Having successfully relied on passive crossover networks with J, d&b played the same tune with its core drivers again. The side-firing LF drivers, MF driver and HF compression drivers are all passively crossed over and driven by a single amp channel. The front-firing LF woofers get their own channel. d&b then packaged the side-firing woofers into separate bass reflex chambers to the front-firing ones. It meant the bass reflex systems could be tuned differently. With GSL/KSL, the higher octave is emitted by the speaker cones, and the lower octave by the ports. Then d&b was able to apply frequency dependent delay with all-pass filtering to make them sum and cancel across multiple octaves.

Common sense dictates the extra directivity should result in a reduction of output power, especially headroom in the low end. It’s the common knock on cardioid subwoofers. As it happens, d&b found that wasn’t the case with the side-firing woofer configuration. Instead, if you do it right, you can achieve full coherency with the front-firing woofers. It’s as if the baffle size and cone area of the front bass reflex has been virtually increased, netting a 9dB bump in headroom.

Another issue with arrays is the drop in high frequency information over longer distances. While 125Hz will easily carry over 120m when unprocessed, information at 8kHz drops dramatically over distance. Unfortunately, that 9dB bump in low frequency headroom can’t be distributed to higher up in the frequency range. The only answer is to add more components up top.

Again, it sounds relatively simple, but with space at a premium — and most of it taken up by LF woofers and bass reflex chambers — there’s not much wriggle room. Also, with directivity the main concern, all the drivers have to be symmetrically placed for the system to function properly.

Adding two HF compression drivers with large three-inch voice coils left no room to squeeze the mid driver into the central axis. Instead, d&b borrowed the split exit horn from the V series point source speakers, which was a dry run for this design in SL. It allowed d&b to stick a whopping eight-inch mid driver on a dual-channel waveguide that wrapped around both sides of the HF drivers. The bipolar radiation also helps achieve a narrower, more controlled dispersion.

By placing the MF driver further back into the box, it nearly lines up perfectly with the side-firing woofers, setting a common time alignment baseline. There’s also a frequency band gap between the low frequency range of the side-firing woofers and the midrange driver. So even though they’re connected to the same amplifier channel, it means the processing can target each more accurately and focus in on their task; one to enhance directivity, the other to produce mid range.

PRACTISE MAKES PERFECT

All this would mean nothing if the KSL didn’t have the same amazing full-range directivity as GSL. But, gasp… it does. The isobars are impressive enough [see sidebar], with laser-like focus down to 50Hz, but in action, the rear rejection is equally as impressive as GSL. Sound from the FOH PA leaking onstage is officially a vestige of the past.

It also plays its part perfectly when hung as sidefill next to a GSL main array. Walking from side to side, and around the corner of the two arrays, it was impossible to distinguish where one overlapped the other. You can sometimes sense a tonal shift or low-end blurring where the two overlap, or a different voicing of the smaller model sidefill. You could stand directly in the gap between the two, and in full-range mode, from top to bottom the frequency spectrum and voicing remained completely intact when transitioning from GSL to KSL. Showcasing mains-to-sidefill continuity is not a common test at PA demonstrations, manifesting d&b’s trust in the SL series’ directivity.

KSL TO STAY

Throughout the day, there was plenty of time to experience the KSL in different configurations, including ground-stacked beside a cart of J series. While the incumbent sounded great, and familiar. There was an undeniable increase in clarity at all levels with the KSL, with a noticeable lack of power compression. Snares cracked harder, and kicks were delivered more consistently.

In some ways it was sad to see J like that. It’s been such a solid performer for so many years. However, there is such a difference out front, and an incredible shift behind with KSL, that there’s no doubt… immaculate directivity will soon be everywhere. Well, it’ll be exactly where you want it.

Column: Peter Holz

STEP 3: TUNING

If the word ‘tuning’ makes you baulk and instantly want to chastise someone about ‘getting it right during the take!’, then feel free to ignore this whole article; it probably doesn’t apply to the style of music you are making.

The countless hours I’ve spent tuning vocals in Melodyne has made it almost automatic. [fig-5] I primarily only use the Pitch and Pitch Drift tools, which means I’m rarely changing the actual curve the artist sang, just offsetting it. As soon as you adjust or flatten the curve, you will hear it.

Occasionally, I’ll use the Pitch Modulation tool to limit vibrato. I will also use it to lock a quick passing note the singer may have pitch bent over.

[fig-6] After the notes have been massaged with Melodyne I will usually feed that signal into Antares Autotune to give it a final squeeze and impart the tone Autotune seems to give. It’s something we’re all used to now! Importantly, I’m never using Autotune to correct or move any notes, it’s just swimming over the top. Also, make sure to keep each stage on a different playlist so you can always ‘go back’ if you need to. It’s basic house keeping.

HORSES FOR COURSES

Most instrumental elements in a modern pop song are more or less perfectly in tune. For this reason, even the best singers will still benefit from some pitch correction.

However, it’s still down to the actual song. Once, I recorded an extremely talented singer on two songs in the same day. One track was a modern electronic pop production which I rigorously layered, edited and tuned. The other was a more laid back soul tune with an acoustic piano as the main element. There was no need to tune anything on this second track as the natural tuning variations of the acoustic piano allowed the vocal performance to have more room to move in terms of pitch. It was a wider lane to move around in.

CHANGING TIDES

For Tides, Middleton’s main ambition was to capture more grit and energy, “because my other records are more neat and tidy.” He asked good friend, musician and producer Davey Lane (You Am I) to help him pull the pieces together. Lane helped with pre-production, then assembled a rhythm section, which included drummer Graeme Pogson from The Bamboos, and bassist Luke Hodgson (Megan Washington). Both were unknown to Middleton before the sessions, but he trusted Lane’s judgement, and thought that level of unknown would add to the vibe. “If I was morally opposed to one of them or if I just hated them, I’d cancel it straight away,” disclaimed Middleton. “But we got on, and I really want people’s character. I don’t want to tell people what to play, I give guidelines and ideas, then choose what I like at the end. Music is about people. It’s the story of our lives. I certainly want them to impart a sense of who they are onto that instrument.”

He’d never met string arranger Xani Kolac either, but she also nailed the brief.

With all the songs demoed up in his own studio, they went to Head Gap studios in two different blocks to lay down live beds. Although he wasn’t there for the tracking, Schram was happy about that choice at his end: “Anything that comes out of Head Gap is really malleable. They give you so many options that are all usable. I can grab just one mic and get the whole drum sound out of that. They also have the close mics aligned with the closer overheads, then they’ll have another combination of mics that seem to fit well together. That’s been consistent the whole time, just constant quality — a great-sounding room and they treat it professionally. If they’re not mixing it, they don’t paint anybody into a corner.”

SUBMERGED IN GUITAR HEAVEN

After the main beds were down, Middleton retired to his studio to overdub the guitars and vocals. “The philosophy was lets work out what we’re doing, record it a few times and just pick a take that feels the best,” said Middleton. “If it wavers a bit, that’s fine. I still carried that philosophy back here. I worked out roughly what I wanted to do then recorded a few times. There’s no copying and pasting, and as much as possible, it’s a whole take.”

Middleton’s recording ethos likewise limits the amount of meddling: “Put a good signal into a good mic and it should be a f**king good result if you’re playing well.” He’s definitely got the guitar sounds nailed. Middleton talked us through how he recorded the second song on the album, In Record Time, which drops down from the big beat, wall-of-sound opener to a more intricately-arranged, tight-sounding track.

While other songs are more straight out, ‘Vox in one ear, Fender in the other’ rock tunes, there’s less guitar on In Record Time, but it’s more specifically arranged. The main verse guitar is Middleton vamping along on his Diamond Anniversary Gretsch. “On top of that, there’s a counter guitar,” said Middleton, demonstrating a technique where you flick the whammy as you play to create a flutter sound. Another sound he makes is with a Boss Tera Echo pedal. “It’s not that popular, but it’s very good,” said Middleton. “It’s kind of a delay/reverb in one pedal. I’ll run it a lot, because it just floats around and makes it sound a bit Brit Pop-py, but when you strike it really hard it sounds like phaser-y delay repeats.”

On the solo, he broke out his Roland guitar synth. It’s a huge floor-bound synth linked to a controller guitar with all manner of knobs and switches. “I pulled it out of storage for this record, and used it a few times because it’s a secret weapon. The module has three sections; a bass section, a poly ensemble and a solo/melody. You can switch them on and off as well as blend the volumes of each section to create the sound. It’s got infinite sustain, too. It sounds like a guitar, but a bit special.”

His go-to guitar mic is a Royer R-121 ribbon mic sat half a foot away from the cone and occasionally accompanied by a Shure SM57 or ’50s Neumann CMV-551 condenser with an M7 capsule, which he also used a lot to mic his Gibson J-45 acoustic.

LINKING UP SECTIONS

On the way in, he uses his pair of Aurora Audio GTQ-2 Neve-style preamps built by Neve alumni, Geoff Tanner. “They’re really good and reliable, unlike half of the old school Neve stuff.” In his rack he’s also got a collection of outboard reverb and delay units, including a Real D spring reverb he uses a lot. “Whenever I would use any analogue effects, I would do it live and record the dry signal alongside the effected signal. I double tracked the solo and sent the left side into the Space Echo with a certain delay speed, then sent the other side into it with a different delay time to create movement, then bounced it all back in. I also grabbed little bits of the delay and reversed them.”

At the end of the chain, Middleton uses an iZ RADAR system. “It’s about 12 years old, and it’s just a multi-track recorder. It was the first one the pros were using around the transition from tape to digital, because it sounds amazing. The drums and bass and guide guitar went via tape, and everything else went through that to maintain that level of quality. Nick Didia still hassles me to buy it, but I’m not letting go of it.”

It all goes into Presonus’ Studio One DAW because “Pro Tools expired and I didn’t bother renewing it. I got onto Studio One a year and a half ago and much prefer it. I find it really accurate, easy to use, and as complicated as it needs to be.”

LIFTING THE ARIA CURSE

Back at Schram’s place, he’s dry and hearing his Kii Three cardioid monitor speakers better than ever courtesy of some new acoustic treatment from Chris Fatouros at Exponential Acoustics (see box item). It doesn’t mean he’s settled though, after our conversation he’s due to pack up the last bits of his studio and ship them off to Byron. He’ll be living near and working out of the newly revamped Rocking Horse Studios, which we covered in Issue 129. “I’ve been working out of there quite a bit with a band called Wharves and it’s been fun,” he said. “I like the Workshop a lot.”

Everything’s been really humming along since the ARIA curse lifted, said Schram. Hold on… ARIA curse? “You don’t want to win those f**kin’ things, they’re the kiss of death,” he said of his Engineer of the Year ARIA for Paul Kelly’s Life Is Fine. “You don’t work for a year after you get it.” He’s not sure exactly why that is — whether people think you’re too expensive now — but he’s sure it’s a real curse. “There was nothing in my calendar, then all of sudden it was booked until March. I thought, ‘maybe the curse has lifted.’ Sure enough, that morning they’d announced all the new nominations.

“Chris Thompson, another ARIA winner, rang me two hours later to say, ‘congratulations on getting nowhere near the nominations this year.’ It’s legit, you don’t want those pointy things. They’re a poisoned chalice. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Now Burke [Reid]’s got one, he can be miserable for a year until the curse moves onto somebody else.”

LOOSE LEASH

Schram hadn’t mixed any of Middleton’s or Powderfinger’s records before, except a “live recording from a tour in Sydney once, but not major releases. Not guilty… wasn’t me.” But Middleton knew all about Schram’s tendency to completely shake mixes up, and was happy to let him run with that. “I gave him free will,” he said. “I wanted his character in there, which is what he does. When he sent the mixes back, I was like, ‘holy s**t!’ I was genuinely pumped.”

“I felt I was off the leash and could push things as hard as I felt necessary,” said Schram, who prefers “to push it a little too far, then rein it in, rather than getting halfway to something.” Adam Ayan from Gateway Mastering actually sent back a “mini essay pointing out a buzz here, a clip there, and something else was too bright, and you’re hitting this too hard. Adam’s great, he lets me know if I’ve missed things, though not too often, which is nice.”

PRO PROCESSING

The DSP processing plays a large part in the sound of the DZR range. It starts with precision 96kHz converters then moves to Yamaha’s Advanced FIR-X tuning, an updated version of their FIR-X technology that provides phase-coherent EQ for the crossovers and the overall frequency response. The speakers sound tuned and ready to go but there are some useful options in the DSP.

There are controls for level, parametric EQ, delay, routing and factory presets. User presets can be stored and loaded via USB for fast setups, and internal tech info and log data can be exported for troubleshooting. The fairy-dust option is Yamaha’s D-Contour processing that combines overall EQ with multi-band compression. The FOH mode adds low frequencies for fullness, especially needed when the speakers are on stands. Monitor mode does the opposite and reduces the low frequencies that would otherwise be unnaturally boosted by reflections from the stage when used as floor monitors. Like digital mastering software, the compressor extracts every last dB out of the system by dividing the frequency spectrum into narrow bands and applying tight dynamic control to each band, forcing the frequency response to stay within limits and preventing overloads.

The subs share the 96kHz processing and have their own version of the dynamic EQ. They also produce impressive volumes with maximum SPL quoted at 136dB with LF response quoted at -10dB @ 33Hz for the DXS15-XLF and -10dB at a rumbling 30Hz for the DXS18-XLF. A dual-damping system reduces unwanted vibration at high levels and they’re driven by a modified version of the amp used in the full-range speakers. The frequency response is close to flat between 50-150Hz with the option of Boost mode that focuses on and enhances the 50-60Hz region for more punch, or Xtended LF mode that pushes the boost down closer to 40Hz for some real pants-flapping action. The drivers have an aluminium frame, ferrite magnet and a 4-inch voice coil. Finished in the same Polyurea finish and grille cloth they look good on the floor with a serious port along the bottom. Handles on either side are well balanced for convenient lifting and there are optional castors and covers available.

ONE MIC, MANY BANJOS

These speakers are fun to use and I’ve had great results. The Guildford Banjo Jamboree is a unique boutique festival I do every year and a great test gig. Three venues in three days that — apart from all the banjos — are a typical hunting ground for this sized system. These acoustic shows don’t really test the volume limits but they do demonstrate a speaker’s fidelity and stability. The first night was in the historic Music Hall, out the back of the pub. I used a pair of DZR10s with DSX15 subs. Most of the acts played around a single condenser mic, no DIs allowed. Don’t try it at home but the idea is you put up a high-quality studio mic, and turn it up as loud as you can. The hard bit is keeping it nice and stable, and not feeding back. Minimal or no foldback helps, as does a steady hand on the controls, and good linear response from the PA. The reward is the purest sound you’ll ever hear from a PA and it’s pretty good when you can clearly hear an acoustic guitar playing a couple of metres off the mic.

With D-Contour switched off, the DZR passed the volume test easily and I liked the sound quality from the first song. The high frequencies are particularly smooth and lacking the digital graininess I often notice with processed speakers. I’m crediting the 96kHz processing. The frequency response is neutral and remarkably flat between 50Hz–15kHz with just a couple of dB dip around 2-4kHz to reduce harshness. They’re crisp up high and they’ll sparkle if it’s in the source material but they’re almost mellow in overall nature, particularly at lower volumes. Not sharp, they don’t bite or bark unduly on peaks, and draw your ear to the instruments rather than the speakers. Hi-fi stuff.

MONITORING THE OUTPUT

The next day we were in a typically boomy public hall with multiple mics and wedges for foldback. It’s a boxy stage that’s always challenging for the monitors, especially with lots of condenser mics open on stage. I used a pair of DZR12s instead of my usual four speakers across the front. Again, not a loud show but I had the chance to crank them up on stage setting up and got a taste of how loud they can be; very loud and very resistant to feedback, with a good wide throw, too. It was the first year I can recall where no one on stage asked for more of anything all day. I guessed their levels and it seemed to work, which  means they were hearing it clearly on stage. The same thing happened the next day for the outdoor concert, two DRZ12s covered the whole stage. Portable speakers that can be used for FOH and monitors are valuable to production companies and venues. With the D-Contour set to Monitor and the horn rotated, these make excellent wedges.

I took them to The Theatre Royal in Castlemaine for a show and to explore what happens if you try and approach the claimed possible volume levels. I don’t take manufacturers claims about maximum volumes too seriously as I’ve found the sound usually starts to distort or deteriorate somewhere before their potential maximum level. Quality before quantity please. Rather than high volume my first impression of the DZRs was how quiet they are, the hiss at idle is studio-low and there’s no fan at start up. In my control room later I could hear the fan coming on and off again but it’s quiet and gentle compared to others I’ve reviewed. It might fire up after a few hours outdoors in the hot Aussie sun.

I set up the DRZ10s and DRZ12s and listened to them as full-range boxes first. With D-Contour switched to FOH the frequency response gets a noticeable low-centred boost around 60Hz, and just a dB or so extra at 10kHz. Music playback produces instantly pleasing results with surprising depth and throw from both models on stands. At low-medium levels the response is balanced with a full bass. At increasing volumes the exaggerated low-end limits the maximum volume. Using the HPF allows significantly higher overall levels as the drivers can concentrate on the mids/highs instead of trying to make big long waves. These are very capable speakers and to get the most from them they should be used with a sub for anything above medium level.

SUBBING IN

Using the subs transforms either model into a bigger deal, and if you’re going big then the DRZ12 is a great match with the 40kg DZR/XLF15 sub, either sitting on top or raised on poles if more height is needed. I found the combination offered a good balance between grunt and manageability but when more is more there’s always the 49kg DXS18-XLF with an 18-inch driver. I didn’t get to hear it, but I bet it’s awesome.

I did get to try a pair of subs in Cardioid mode and it’s a hit. Directivity is not really controllable with single subs and the amount of LF sound emanating from the sides and rear of your average sub is about the same as the amount coming out front. This can cause problems, particularly if the speakers are placed near the stage. To create a cardioid pattern two DXS subs can be placed beside each other, or stacked, with one pointing forwards towards the audience and the other pointing backwards. With Cardioid Mode 02 selected the coverage pattern magically becomes cardioid and greatly reduces the LF level at the back, maybe 20dB and worthwhile doing if you’ve got the numbers. The only downside is the sub showing its back panel to the world. I was expecting someone from the audience to ask me if I knew one was the wrong way round. Cardioid Mode 03 does the same but with three DXS subs per side, the center sub pointing the ‘wrong’ way.

REACHING A NEW LEVEL

The DZR12 plus DXS15-XLF combination makes a great pumping little EDM system that’s clean, deep and fills a room. Once you get to a certain level you can hear the processing working but it stays tidy and that’s where they want to stay. I’m waiting for the day one of these new portable systems to replace our house PA. This went a fair way even though it’s only about a tenth the physical size of the Theatre Royal’s ageing, but much larger, system. It was a good contest and I had a few disbelieving comments from the management, ’Is that really from the small system?’ Beyond that certain level they start to get harsh and lose their sweet quality, but it’s a high limit. I’m sure these are the loudest portable speakers I’ve reviewed and those crazy volume claims might be right.

Live mics and loud bands need loud speakers with the ability to let the vocals stay in front of the mix, even when the band is clearly trying to drown them out. The DZR speakers can help by being louder. The real-time control of frequency as well as level prevents the drivers from being overwhelmed and keeps the mid-range and high frequencies clear so the vocal cuts through. The annual Spring Ball was on while I had the speakers at the Theatre Royal so I used the DZR12s on stage, as the horns were already rotated, and made a drumfill with a DXS15-XLF sub and a DZR10. It was way better than our usual two 15-inches-plus-horn box. Dance band The Sugar Fed Leopards were the main act and they had everything working. The DZR12s were great as wedges again, loud and clear with little or no external EQ and they really don’t want to feed back. On a stand the Monitor setting seems to cut off a lot of bass but on a stage the response is even from low to high.

Compared to the DZR10, the DZR12 looks and sounds bigger than the difference in the size of the woofers suggests. It’s a wider cabinet that looks right sitting on a DLX/XLF15 sub plus it’s got dual monitor angles for mirror-image pairs of wedges. The DZR10 is more conveniently sized and easier to transport with a handle on the top but it’s only got the one monitor angle, and no feet on the angled panel, that made me reluctant to use it as a wedge on a hard stage.

I didn’t try them but also available is the bigger DZR15 that claims the same 139dB max volume as the DZR12 while it reaches down lower with a -10dB @ 34Hz LF response. I’m sure I’d like the hero DZR315 despite its 42kg. A three-way design, with the eight-inch mid-driver mounted on a big flare above and in front of the woofer. These boast 143dB max with a -10dB @ 31Hz LF response.

POWER TO THRIVE

The DZR series achieves the conflicting aims of simultaneously being strong and light. The build quality is high and these come with a five-year warranty to match.

There’s a lot of demand for point-and-shoot portable systems and it’s a hot marketplace. Louder is obviously better whether you use it or not; the same as speed in cars and motorbikes. Yamaha knows this. Volume with quality and flexibility is better still. Those 2kW amps and 96kHz processing help keep the DZR and DXS-XLF ranges ahead of the competition with a smooth, coherent sound quality and big volume numbers. Power and performance concisely delivered.
[ifso id=”49896″]

Of course, the perfect pairing for KeyLab Mk II is Arturia’s own Analog Lab virtual instrument. I was caught out when I fired up an outdated version of the software sending the KeyLab into a weird semi-control mode. A quick update saw the two come together like a dovetail joint.

You can scroll through Analog Lab’s sounds by either Category or Preset, with sufficient visual feedback on the screen to keep your head down. The row of nine faders with knobs atop link directly to the corresponding controls in Analog Lab. The cool part is you can have both Analog Lab and a DAW running simultaneously on your computer and easily switch control between the two using just the onboard buttons.

Ableton Live Lite is bundled with a KeyLab Mk II purchase, as is Analog Lab and Piano V from Arturia’s V Collection suite. For a first-time foray into the world of virtual instruments, KeyLab Mk II won’t disappoint. Neither will it let down a seasoned producer seeking a roadworthy and functional workhorse controller.