Arturia has announced its latest iteration of the popular MiniLab controller with the MiniLab 3. It retains the 25-key design with pads and knobs, however, the updated version gives way to a simpler and more refined layout and includes 4 mini-sliders. MiniLab Mk3 is a compact MIDI keyboard & pad controller that lets users make music, right out of the box. With a creative plug-and-play workflow, versatile assignable controls, 500 curated sounds from Analog Lab’s massive library, and a bundle of world-class creative software.

Hands-On, Easy To Use
From the great-feeling keyboard to the smart DAW-integrated pads and faders, to the real-time mini display, every aspect of MiniLAB 3 is designed to be intuitive, expressive, and a joy to use — for beginners and pros alike.

Creative Features
Enjoy a workflow that aids the creative process, with features like a built-in arpeggiator, Chord mode, custom DAW presets, and easy transposition. Making music has never been so accessible.

Portable, Compatible Design
MiniLAB 3 is built to fit seamlessly into any setup, from the bedroom to the stage, with its compact & lightweight design, deeper DAW integration, and MIDI out and USB-C connectivity.

Built To Last
MiniLAB 3 is built with longevity and sustainability in mind. A rugged road-ready design, a 5-year warranty, a minimum 50% recycled plastic construction, and 100% recycled packaging means this controller goes the distance.

Creative Software Included
On top of a world-class MIDI controller, users get a full package of premium music-making software, from an industry-standard DAW to well over 500 synth and keyboard presets

Main Features

• 25-note velocity-sensitive slim keyboard
• 2 banks of 8 high-quality velocity & pressure sensitive pads with RGB backlighting
• 8 rotary encoders
• 4 sliders
• Mini display & clickable browsing knob, with real-time feedback on tweaks and controls
• Built-in Arpeggiator
• Hold and Chord modes
• Custom-written DAW scripts for intuitive integration with major DAWs
• 8 DAW & user presets
• DAW Transport Control
• Octave up and down buttons for full range, Transpose for semitone transposition
• 2 capacitive touch sensors for pitch bend and modulation wheel
• Control input for pedal: sustain, expression, or footswitch
• USB-C MIDI connects to computers and MIDI Control Centre
• MIDI 5-pin DIN output for connection to external MIDI instruments and gear
• Seamless integration with all Arturia software instruments, including Analog Lab: select sounds, browse presets, switch parts, smart-assigned controls
• Users get a full package of premium music-making software, from an industry-standard DAW to well over 500 synth & keyboard presets
• 5 year warranty

Available In 3 Finishes
AR-MINILAB3BK (Black)
AR-MINILAB3DB (Deep Black)
AR-MINILAB3DB (White)

RRP A$189.00
SSP A$169.00

 Available to order now, ETA October 2022.

This year’s Blossom Music Festival, which annually runs from the Fourth of July weekend through Labor Day at Blossom Music Center, the summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra, saw the introduction of a new mixing system for the audience occupying the venue’s lawn area. Where previously engineers had some measure of remote control of the installed speakers covering the lawn from a Wi-Fi tablet, this year the venue implemented a Solid State Logic Live Remote Tile and SOLSA (SSL On/Off Line Setup Application) software driving a Solid State Logic Live L200 digital mixing console.

There was a definite downside to the previous tablet mixing system, according to Bill Fertig, IATSE Audio Department Head at Blossom Music Center and a front-of-house engineer with more than 35 years of touring experience. “It was fraught with a lot of problems,” he says, “the least of which was Wi-Fi.” Expecting a reliable Wi-Fi signal while mixing in the middle of as many as 15,000 people, many carrying smartphones, was always a risk, he says.   

“It’s not a very good mix environment, either. On an iPad, when you’re pushing a fader you can’t work on the EQ, unless you allocate the whole display to the EQ, and then you’re not pushing the fader. You could maybe use a bigger display, but it’s not the ideal situation,” says Fertig, whose extensive touring credits extend from Metallica, Eddie Murphy and Ringo Starr in the 1980s to Dream Theater, Jewel and Cat Power more recently.

When The Cleveland Orchestra partnered with a new production management team two years ago, Fertig pitched them on the idea of installing an SSL Live L200 console in the recording studio below the 6,000-seat Blossom Pavilion amphitheater. Such a setup would enable an engineer to mix for the lawn audience using a physical console surface — the 12-fader Remote Tile, which is identical in operation to the tiles in the console — instead of a tablet. It would also provide an interface to the Merging Technologies multitrack recording system that The Cleveland Orchestra’s recording engineer, Gintas Norvila, uses at Severance Hall, the organisation’s year-round home.

Fertig spent some time studying SSL’s website while researching the best choice of console. “There are a lot of great descriptions of a bunch of installations; schools and other places. SSL is really championing network audio,” he says. That was important, because Fertig needed to interface to the Dante network cards in the Yamaha amplifiers driving the Nexo line arrays covering the lawn, and he also needed a simple and elegant way to interconnect the L200 console and the Merging DAW in the studio.

“We have a pair of Yamaha switches in the amp room and with some VLANs we take that control to the top of the pavilion where there’s an amp rack that services some newly installed subwoofers on the lawn,” Fertig says. From there, on show days, the Blossom audio crew pull a network line and a power cable onto the lawn and plug in the Fader Tile and a stand-mounted Microsoft Surface tablet running SOLSA software, providing the mix engineer with complete real-time control of the remote L200 console. Fertig hopes to eventually run some permanent underground Cat 6 and power lines to the lawn mix position.

The simple, portable lawn mix setup is also a necessity in the region’s changeable weather, Fertig says. “You just pull the power and network cables, lift up the Tile, grab the computer and walk everything out of the rain. The audio is still working and the guy in the studio is now in control of the mix.” In the studio, the L200 console connects to the DAW via MADI and is also used to generate a stereo mix of each concert for the archive.

Having a second operator working in parallel in the studio also has its advantages. “In the past, if you were mixing out on the lawn, you couldn’t solo-in-place. But you have that advantage in the studio,” Fertig says. “It translates to a well-tuned mix, having two people working on it, one who can listen and solo instruments while simultaneously the other person is sitting on the lawn in front of the speakers and pushing the faders.”

Blossom Music Festival typically serves over 400,000 visitors during its summer season. This year’s program featured The Cleveland Orchestra, which is also known as “America’s finest orchestra,” presenting a broad repertoire, from classical works by Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, Elgar and Dvořák to the Great American Songbook and Stewart Copeland’s Police Deranged for Orchestra. Live Nation also programs a series of shows from across a wide range of rock, country and other genres at Blossom Music Center, which is 25 miles south of Cleveland and just north of Akron, under a long-term contract with The Cleveland Orchestra.

“We’ve walked that cable out to the lawn more than a dozen times this summer,” Fertig reports. On a recent show, a thunderstorm five minutes before the performance sent everyone scurrying. “We had to disconnect the Tile Fader and the computer, go into the pavilion and mix the show from the studio. Then we got a text: ‘We’re back on the lawn.” And away we went. So it’s fairly foolproof.”

Having used the SSL L200 console setup for a season, Fertig believes it could solve some problems at other venues. “I don’t know if there is anybody else doing this, but it seems like the Tile and SOLSA technologies lend themselves to a few other applications.” Indeed, he and the orchestra’s recording engineer have discussed remote mixing over an even greater distance. “He lives in New York, so we’ve talked around the scenario of him not having to come here for some things. There are a lot of cool things that could be done.”

Impact GXP provides keyboard players with all the right expression options needed for live and studio work. At the core is a newly designed semi-weighted action featuring 49, 61 or 88 velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive full-size keys. The streamlined no-fuss control panel is based on Nektar’s successful Impact GX-series, enabling advanced DAW integration with extended transport control, track selection, volume control, project navigation and options to open or close DAW windows. 14 assignable illuminated RGB buttons for direct MIDI program- and bank-selection deliver visual feedback at a glance.

Performance tools include a new real-time Key Repeat engine for creating inspiring rhythmic elements. Dedicated controls allow instant access to parameters like Tempo, Repeat Rate, Accent, Interval, Swing and routing aftertouch or modulation to velocity. The rear panel sports a MIDI Out jack as well as connections for one expression pedal and up to 2 footswitch pedals. All GXP controllers can be powered via USB or from an optional external power supply.

When used with Nektar’s Nektarine software, Impact GXP turns into a powerful master keyboard for hybrid or software-based MIDI setups: Up to 16 VST or AU instrument-plugins can be loaded into Nektarine for simultaneous use with direct patch control from GXP’s illuminated RBG patch buttons. It is also possible to define keyboard zones, layers and splits for the hosted plugins. All plugin settings and combinations can be saved in a single Multi-patch for recall at the touch of a button. Nektarine is included with Impact GXP and runs as a stand-alone application or as a VST, AU or AAX plugin inside any compatible DAW on PC or Mac.

Impact GXP also comes with a complete starter-pack for music production, featuring Steinberg’s acclaimed Cubase LE DAW software including HALion Sonic SE, Groove Agent SE, 23 audio effects and 5 GB of sounds & loops. Also included is a license for the versatile Retrologue 2 virtual analog synthesizer plugin which can be used with any VST, AU or AAX compatible DAW.

Impact GXP49, 61 and 88 work with any MIDI software on OSX, Windows and iOS and can also be used as a standard MIDI controller for external MIDI gear right out of the box.

Pricing and availability (MAP / MSRP):

• GXP49: US$189.99
• GXP61: US$229.99
• GXP88: US$299.99

Available in July 2021

The culmination of 40 years of mastering studio ergonomics experience, the new Solid State Logic UF8 controller delivers a new level of user focused design; insightful displays, intelligent fader and control access and function, multiple stand angles for user defined placement, and a production workflow-enhancing control layout. The high-spec touch sensitive faders, encoders, and high-resolution colour displays, compliment the premium build quality that belie this new price point for an SSL controller.

Expandable to a 32 channel control surface with integration for all major DAW platforms, UF8 is ideally suited to music creation, production and mixing, post production and webcasting. The new SSL 360° control software manages multi-controller configurations, customised user keys, and DAW switching across multiple layers, allowing for seamless switching between numerous sessions.

Andy Jackson, SSL Studio Product Manager, comments “UF8 is an obvious next step in SSL’s development in ergonomically designed studio tools for todays’ mixers, producers and creators. The layout and build quality are all about our fixation with ‘human engineering’; creating products that keep you in the creative zone with high-speed access to every fader or control, without operator fatigue or discomfort.”

Features:

• High-Quality 100 mm Touch Sensitive Faders
• High-Resolution Colour Displays
• 8 Endless Rotary Encoders
• Custom Workflows
• 5 banks of 8 user keys + 3 quick keys = 43 assignable keys per UF8
• Intelligent Multi-Purpose CHANNEL Encoder
• Mouse Scroll Emulation; Control of any plug-in parameter you hover the mouse over
• Integrates With All Major DAWs
• Workflow ready templates
• Switch Control Between 3 Simultaneously Connected DAWs
• Powered by the SSL 360° Mac/PC Application
• Expandable System; Chain 4 UF8s for a 32-channel SSL control surface
• Includes SSL Native Vocalstrip 2 & Drumstrip plug-ins

The UF8 is available priced: A$1,999.00

CMI Music & Audio announces the release of the Arturia MiniLab MkII Orange Edition.

The ultimate small-format 25-key MIDI controller in a cool, limited edition colour, with software included on registration.

Designed to fit in any workspace, and featuring 25 slim-keys, 8 RGB pads, 16 rotary knobs, and a fantastic collection of included software like the Analog Lab Lite virtual instrument, this iconic little MIDI controller now comes in a striking new orange colour.