I was in the APB shop recently visiting the guys and gals and sharing a tasty Japanese style lunch at a nearby favorite resturant. Yummmm. JP showed me a bunch of ProDesk 8 chassis(s) that were waiting for a few straggling parts from their suppliers before final assembly. Shipment should begin very soon now. They are very anxious to get them rolling so that they can concentrate on getting their new 1 and 2 space rack mount mixer line (aimed at the install market) out the door as well. I had a one space 4 mic/4 stereo line mixer in our shop about a month ago Beta testing it and it is the bomb. APB quality in a install product. Very Cool. But that's another story. Since the Pro Desk 8 us going to be shipping practically any day now, I thought it should get a (p)review. [I had actually posted most of this over on the LAB a while back, but it was buried in a thread on the Spectra. I thought it deserved a spot here on the new SoundForum under a proper heading.]
We had serial #0001 in our hands doing the final beta testing for our friends in NJ. This is one sweet puppy. Those APB boys n' girls just keep figuring out more cool, useful features to pack into every new product! Things like: 8 groups, 8 aux sends, 8 mute groups, 8 (8x12) matrix mixers...hey, I get it - Pro Desk EIGHT!
But really, in addition to everything you get on a Pro Desk 4 (x2), other great new features include:
[] hi and lo eqs switchable between 8/12k and 60/120 hz respectively (still has the mid sweeps of course)
[] fader flip between auxes and groups - for monitor application
[] channel safes from mute groups w/ individual indicator lamps for local mute, remote group mute and channel mute safe
[] variable level option on the channel mono assign for subs on an aux function without actually using up an aux
[] "dim" switch for solo and mute lights for that sexy stealth look at night
We had this desk out over the weekend doing a multi-act street festival. It is basically a ProDesk 4 on steroids, so we were very familiar with what to expect from it performance wise. ( We have had two of the PD4s in use now for over a year and they are absolutely rock solid and sound fantastic.) This little console will not disappoint. It is a full on pro mixer in spades. Everyone that used it at the street festival absolutely loved it. Actually, there was one engineer that refused to use it...
Labster Jim Brooks showed up with his headlining band "Casper", toting his very own APB Spectra C, complete with outboard compliment already dialed in and his show "premixed". I think that Jim was impressed with the ProDesk 8, but not enough to give up his Spectra!
We got the ProDesk 8 out for another festival the following weekend. I got to mix about 8 regional bands over 2 days. As the case with all of the APB products, it’s just plain fun. Really easy to whip up a tight, coherent mix without even thinking about it. I had a great weekend doing justice to some really good bands. We got it back to the shop just in time to ship it off to make it's first official public appearance at the San Francisco AES Nov 4 thru 7.
My experience is that digital consoles can be great tools in the right application, and analog consoles can be great tools in the right application. There are many instances where I still prefer to take in an analog desk over a digital. ESPECIALLY an inexpensive digital. (There, I said it.) If a non vca, 8 buss analog mixer is on your shopping list, it is hard for me to imagine a better choice than the APB ProDesk 8.
We had serial #0001 in our hands doing the final beta testing for our friends in NJ. This is one sweet puppy. Those APB boys n' girls just keep figuring out more cool, useful features to pack into every new product! Things like: 8 groups, 8 aux sends, 8 mute groups, 8 (8x12) matrix mixers...hey, I get it - Pro Desk EIGHT!
But really, in addition to everything you get on a Pro Desk 4 (x2), other great new features include:
[] hi and lo eqs switchable between 8/12k and 60/120 hz respectively (still has the mid sweeps of course)
[] fader flip between auxes and groups - for monitor application
[] channel safes from mute groups w/ individual indicator lamps for local mute, remote group mute and channel mute safe
[] variable level option on the channel mono assign for subs on an aux function without actually using up an aux
[] "dim" switch for solo and mute lights for that sexy stealth look at night
We had this desk out over the weekend doing a multi-act street festival. It is basically a ProDesk 4 on steroids, so we were very familiar with what to expect from it performance wise. ( We have had two of the PD4s in use now for over a year and they are absolutely rock solid and sound fantastic.) This little console will not disappoint. It is a full on pro mixer in spades. Everyone that used it at the street festival absolutely loved it. Actually, there was one engineer that refused to use it...
Labster Jim Brooks showed up with his headlining band "Casper", toting his very own APB Spectra C, complete with outboard compliment already dialed in and his show "premixed". I think that Jim was impressed with the ProDesk 8, but not enough to give up his Spectra!
We got the ProDesk 8 out for another festival the following weekend. I got to mix about 8 regional bands over 2 days. As the case with all of the APB products, it’s just plain fun. Really easy to whip up a tight, coherent mix without even thinking about it. I had a great weekend doing justice to some really good bands. We got it back to the shop just in time to ship it off to make it's first official public appearance at the San Francisco AES Nov 4 thru 7.
My experience is that digital consoles can be great tools in the right application, and analog consoles can be great tools in the right application. There are many instances where I still prefer to take in an analog desk over a digital. ESPECIALLY an inexpensive digital. (There, I said it.) If a non vca, 8 buss analog mixer is on your shopping list, it is hard for me to imagine a better choice than the APB ProDesk 8.
