Midas XL8

[charlyfarly]

Just had its debut at Frankfurt! Here is a link to have a bit of a drool...... :) :( Midas XL8

[london sound]

Was in ProSound News this week as well.

 

 

 

Ian

[dbuckley]

$265K.

 

What I find interesting is that they've gone exactly the opposite way to Digico; the XL8 there are alledgedly three independent mic preamps per channel, each with their own gain control, one intended for FOH, one for monitors, and one for something else, the rolling truck stones thing maybe. The Digico uses one preamp, controlable by any desk, with level matching.

 

But one thing is fairly certain: I'll never have to use one :)

[jayselway]

*drool*

[BlueShift]

Interesting,

 

Always good to see how the 'big boys' approach the world of digital mixing - Yamaha, Midas, Allen & Heath, Digico, Digidesign all have large scale digital consoles but all approach the change from analog in a different way. The yamaha offerings have one of the greatest pedigrees but are very traditional, most functions replicate an analog console. The Digico offerings seem to be more network orientated, having flexible control surfaces (not necessarily mimicing analog console structure) linked to central aimput modules. Allen & Heath's iLive system is a weird blend of both worlds. The midas XL8 looks like more of a audio control system than just a console, combining many audio control and processing functions into one console

 

Will be interesting to see who adopts the midas

[mackerr]

What I find interesting is that they've gone exactly the opposite way to Digico; the XL8 there are alledgedly three independent mic preamps per channel, each with their own gain control, one intended for FOH, one for monitors, and one for something else, the rolling truck stones thing maybe. The Digico uses one preamp, controlable by any desk, with level matching.

I kind of like the Midas way. While the Digico (and Yamaha PM1D) way is a good workaround, it is not a given that all the mixers are going to want the same preamp levels, even if the actual audio level in the console doesn't change. Particularly with the Digico tube preamps, there may be creative decisions about how hard to hit the preamps to get the sound you want. With the gain sharing schemes the actual preamp level could jump all over the place as the different operators try to get it their way.

 

Mac

 

 

The yamaha offerings have one of the greatest pedigrees but are very traditional, most functions replicate an analog console. The Digico offerings seem to be more network orientated, having flexible control surfaces (not necessarily mimicing analog console structure) linked to central aimput modules. Allen & Heath's iLive system is a weird blend of both worlds. The midas XL8 looks like more of a audio control system than just a console, combining many audio control and processing functions into one console

For what it's worth, long before the Midas XL8, Digico D5, or A&H iLive, the Yamaha PM1D was an audio processing engine with separate input and output frames that could be remote, and separate control surfaces that could be remote. Up to 3 control surfaces and DSP engines could share input modules, although until recently there was only 1 control of the preamp level. Now that a gain sharing scheme like the Digico D5 has been implemented that problem is reduced.

 

Mac

[dbuckley]

One thing is certain; theres been a lot of heat about what will Midas come up with, will it be worth the wait etc, and irrespective of how it goes in the marketplace, they could never be accused of bringing a "me too" to the party.

 

Of the big boys toys at the moment, the approaches I really like are the Digico system approach which as long as you buy into the whole enchilada it all works as a cohesive scheme. The one that really excites me though is the I-live. A mixer in a rack with multiple remote control surfaces is obviously the only way to go, and the I-live (if it lives up to the blurb) makes this verging on the affordable. Someday, all mixers will be that way, then only question is when will that be available for a similar price point to normal consoles...

[Pete McCrea]

I think this website gives an idea of what the 'Big Boys' think of the system.

 

I've not had a chance to really get into depths of the console, but I'm sure Midas have really thought it through well- the fact it has only just arrived is probably a sign of that.

[BlueShift]

For what it's worth, long before the Midas XL8, Digico D5, or A&H iLive, the Yamaha PM1D was an audio processing engine with separate input and output frames that could be remote, and separate control surfaces that could be remote. Up to 3 control surfaces and DSP engines could share input modules, although until recently there was only 1 control of the preamp level. Now that a gain sharing scheme like the Digico D5 has been implemented that problem is reduced.

 

Absolutely, I appreciate I was over generalising there, the PM1D did indeed incorporate many of the features that went on to become the mainstay of many companies offerings - but I think in general it is true to say that Yamaha's offerings havent strayed too far from the norm. And that is not a criticism at all, I really like the Yamaha consoles, particularly the PM5D and M7CL (havent had a chance to use a 1D much) - just an observation really.

 

My point was to emphasise how each company approaches it a little differently - analog consoles these days are pretty much all the same in terms of architecture, but the digital realm leaves loads of room for change and adaptation. It will be interesting to see how each different approach fares in the market long term - will each find their niche or will we all move toward network based modular control like the XL8?

 

Cheers

[Genelec777]

$265K.

 

What I find interesting is that they've gone exactly the opposite way to Digico; the XL8 there are alledgedly three independent mic preamps per channel, each with their own gain control, one intended for FOH, one for monitors, and one for something else, the rolling truck stones thing maybe. The Digico uses one preamp, controlable by any desk, with level matching.

 

But one thing is fairly certain: I'll never have to use one :blink:

 

The Mic Splitter system for the XL8 do have 3 independant mic pre's. Two of those have variable gain and the 3rd has a fixed gain (-6dB nominal) with transformer isolated outputs.

 

I hope this helps clear things up.

 

All the best,

 

Jason