New Gear Alert – AES 2019 Edition: API’s 50th Anniversary Units, Launchpad X + Mini MK3 from Novation & More

AES 2019 is here! Let’s dive right into some of the most notable new offerings we’ve seen thus far, with more to come next week.

API announces the 862 and 2500 50th Anniversary Editions.

API commemorates their 50th Anniversary with special limited editions of their popular 862 and 2500 units.

Adding to the collection of products celebrating the company’s 50th Anniversary, API is pleased to announce the debut of two new limited edition units, the 862 50th Anniversary Edition Channel Strip and the 2500 50th Anniversary Edition Stereo Bus Compressor.

The 862 features a combination of the 550A EQ and 312 Mic Preamp 50th Anniversary editions, integrating the original 500 Series PCBs exactly as they were designed by API’s founder, Saul Walker. Each 862 Anniversary Edition is individually serialized denoting its status as part of a limited run of only 50 units.

The 50th Anniversary Edition 2500 Bus Compressor offers several new features, including flexible output mix blending, LED gain reduction meters, premium VU meters, and a 2U, gold-faced chassis. As with the 862, a limited run of 50 units will be produced. Carefully designed to deliver API’s signature analog sound, the 2500-AE delivers warmth, clarity and punch, whether used for subtle adjustments or heavy compression effects.

The 50th anniversary 862 and 2500 are available now, priced at $3,600 and $4,500, respectively.

Novation introduces Launchpad X and Launchpad Mini MK3.

Novation furthers Launchpad with the release of Launchpad X and Mini MK3.

Made to perform, Launchpad X is Novation’s essential MIDI pad controller for Live, enabling fast and effortless clip and scene launching, expressive instrument play, and direct transport and mixer control. Launchpad X’s 64 velocity- and pressure-sensitive RGB pads are Novation’s most responsive yet, while Drum and Note Modes provide automatic switching between percussive and melodic instrument triggering, and the dedicated Capture MIDI button means you’ll never lose a great idea again.

With USB-C connectivity and no drivers to install, Launchpad X puts everything you need right at your fingertips, so you can spend less time mousing around and more time making music.

Made to move, Launchpad Mini is Novation’s most compact and portable 64-pad MIDI grid controller, giving you everything you need to start performing in Ableton Live—and it’ll fit in your bag. Bright RGB pads perfectly match your clips and scenes, making it easier than ever to see your Ableton Live sessions, while immediate and tactile access to Live’s performance controls liberate you from the mouse and keyboard, and Drum and Note modes let you instantly flip between playing beats and melodies.

Whether you prefer the advanced features and velocity sensitivity of X or the unrivaled portability of Mini, there’s a Launchpad for every performer and producer.

Launchpad X is priced at $199.99; Launchpad Mini MK3 is priced at $109.99.

Steinberg launches WaveLab 10.

Steinberg’s Wavelab is back with version 10, adding crucial enhancements to workflow, routing, and more.

Steinberg is offering two editions of their award-winning audio mastering software: WaveLab Pro 10 and WaveLab Elements 10. WaveLab Pro offers a comprehensive feature set that meets all demands of mixing and mastering studios, post-production facilities, sound designers, musicians, journalists, broadcasters, and other audio creatives.

WaveLab 10 offers several tools and enhancements that are exclusive to the Pro edition, such as allowing you to integrate external effect devices into the signal flow by providing more flexible ways to integrate them. New to WaveLab Pro is also Reference Track for adding a reference audio file and then toggling between the reference audio file and other tracks. WaveLab Pro now also opens up to other audio editors, providing you the option to access and modify audio with other editors like SpectraLayers from within WaveLab.

Both Pro and Elements versions now offer video playback support, letting you arrange, edit, and process the audio of video within Audio Montage. The Audio Editor now includes undo/redo edit history in order for you to move from one edit to the next and recover previous versions of edited parts without losing the changes made to the rest of the audio.

WaveLab Pro 10 is available at a special introductory price of $377.60 until December 31st, 2019 (reg. $499.99; $472.00 for the download-only version). WaveLab Elements 10 is priced at $99.99. Various downloadable updates and upgrades are exclusively available, and customers who have activated WaveLab 9.5 or earlier versions since September 17th, 2019 are eligible for a free, downloadable grace period update to the latest corresponding version.

Softube unleashes Console 1 Fader.

Building upon the Console 1 Channel Strip controller, Softube offers a broader approach to tactile mixing with Console 1 Fader.

The Console 1 mixing ecosystem is an efficient and elegant modern mixing solution, combining hardware and software to give you the best of both worlds: the versatility, affordability, and usability of in-the-box mixing, alongside the workflow, feel, and focus that dedicated hardware can bring.

Tapping into the same purpose-designed software environment as the original Console 1 Channel Strip controller, Fader brings new levels of control over the wider world of mixing. Ride up to ten channels at once, working volume, high- and low-cut filter values, drive and drive character (modeled desk saturation), and more. Then page up for ten more channels. And ten more, giving easy access to the whole mix, even when tracks number into the hundreds.

Ten touch-sensitive 100mm Alps motorized faders give premium professional feel and feedback, while the weighty powder-coated steel chassis means durability and substance in a sleek Scandinavian design.

Console 1 Fader is available now, priced at $699.

Sonnox announces the release of the Oxford Drum Gate.

Sonnox offers a refreshing take on cleaning up your drum tracks with the Oxford Drum Gate.

The Oxford Drum Gate solves the problems encountered when using traditional tools to gate drums; chatter, mis-detection, choked and lost ghost notes… to name but a few. Its swift and logical workflow directly addresses the needs of those already tired of the complex and time-consuming alternative workflows needed to get the most musical and transparent results.

Need to reduce spill on a snare track in a dynamic mix of backbeats, ghost notes, and cross-stick hits? Address this with Drum Gate’s “Detection” circuit. Tired of fighting abrupt and un-musical gating? Do you want to keep the natural ring of toms and remove the spill around them? Use the “Decay” parameters. Improve the consistency of the drummer’s performance with “Leveller”, and augment/replace individual drums with samples and confidently retain the dynamics from the original performance with Drum Gate’s MIDI functionality.

Oxford Drum Gate is available for an introductory price of $172 until December 4th, 2019 (reg. $230); try a free demo here.

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