AFMG establishes North American Office

German company AFMG, known for its leading acoustic simulation and measurement programs EASE, EASERA, and SysTune, announces the formation of the company’s first official office in the United States. Headed by Bruce C. Olson, AFMG Services North America, LLC will be taking responsibility for all inquiries arising in the US and Canada.

Harman Professional new Technology and Signal Processing Business Unit Facility in Salt Lake City, will enhance operational efficiency and provide Harman Professional staff with world-class resources with a new 50,000-square-foot Technology Center. The new building replaces the existing Sandy, Utah operation and will serve as headquarters for more than 160 employees, overseeing company-wide R&D for all brands.

Definitely a first. English brand Bowers & Wilkins was never a conventional speaker manufacturer, always venturing into new areas, from being a record company, with its B&W Music label, to sponsoring music festivals and, in recent years, trying multiple digital lifestyle product segments. Now, B&W decided to create a Sound System for music events. Not for sale, at least for now…

Steinberg announced the forthcoming release of Nuendo 6.5 in the third quarter of 2014. The new point update for Nuendo post and audio production software adds refinements and new features to better serve the demands brought to post-production engineers, including integration with Yamaha’s Nuage system. According to Steinberg, "6.5 streamlines many areas of the software, comes with several new signal processors and has a heavy focus on its ADR taker system.”

With the acquisition of Dev-Audio, Biamp Systems is expanding its technology offering for corporate boardrooms and the conferencing market. Biamp is recognized worldwide for delivering an expanded product suite of digital audio networking solutions and digital signal processors for Public Address, from conference centers to transportation hubs and multi-building facilities. Having more microphone processing technologies always helps.

Dave Erickson built his first multi-zone audio system in the early 1990s using C microprocessor code he developed on Freescale MC68HC11 microprocessors. In early 2014, he detailed how he upgraded the eight-zone system, which uses microprocessor-controlled analog circuitry.

The latest version of Nugen Audio’s VisLM loudness metering plug-in now supports the compliance needs of game audio producers as they launch 7.1 surround audio titles. Nugen Audio already provides the broadcast, post-production and music production industry with end-to-end loudness management, metering, and correction tools. Now, game production houses can also ensure loudness compliance for the latest platforms.

The Swiss based manufacturer of high performance home entertainment systems Revox GmbH, has appointed TC Group Americas (TCGA) as its North American Distributor. Both companies see real sales potential in particular for the Revox Joy network music players, and TCGA’s distribution network in North America will help realize their goals.

The technology development consultancy Redux Labs has unveiled what they believe to be the industry’s thinnest soundbar. It uses the company’s SurfaceSound technology to drive the sound from a 1.2m panel of Corning Gorilla Glass and deliver very high quality audio (equivalent to $1k soundbars on the market today) with a sleek look and at a significantly lower pricepoint.

London music start-up ROLI, whose award-winning product, the Seaboard GRAND keyboard, met with unexpectedly strong demand creating waiting lists of up to a year, is now poised to scale production and expand globally. The music technology start-up designed the Seaboard GRAND keyboard, reimagining the piano keyboard as a soft, continuous surface with polyphonic pitch bend, vibrato and per-note dynamic changes. The concept amazed visitors at the NAMM Show 2014, marrying the intuitiveness of a traditional instrument with the versatility of digital technology.