Gear: Top 7 Audio Products at NAMM

Every year music and audio companies showcase their products at NAMM.

1: Sennheiser Ambeo VR Mic
This mic is perfect for filmmakers looking to record in VR. Being compatible with a GoPros is a huge bonus. Learn more about it at this location in the video below:

2: Townshed Labs Sphere MIcrophone
This is a new large diaphragm condenser mic that emulates high end vintage and modern microphones. Unlike other mic simulators, this one has it's modeling inside it's plugin software, which is also UAD compatible, and has two capsules to help emulate polar patterns, proximity effect, and off axis response. for more information Check out the video below by pro tools expert:

3: Antelope Audio Orion 32 HD
Antelope audio is known for it's high end A/D conversion and clocking. Their newest interface includes pro tools HD connectivity, MADI, USB3, ADAT, SPDIF and 32 analog i/o. probably one of the most flexible interfaces i've seen. on top of all of this it has DSP plugins built in from high end brands like BAE, which emulates their 1073 neve clones. for more information check out this ask audio article.

4/5: Slate Virtual Recording Studio
Slate Digital has announced it's own interface and new microphone to it's Virtual MIcrophone System line. The new mic is a small diaphragm condenser that can also emulate dynamic mics. They are selling the new interface and mics as a bundle. the bundle is being called the virtual recording studio. Definitely a big bang for the buck for those looking to record drums and bands. Though the mics don't emulate the high end features of the Townsend Labs Sphere, they still sound great. The best part about this bundle is the low latency of the interface. At .7ms latency at 96khz this is as good as the pro tools HDX system without the need for a card on an Mac. Watch the announcement demo for more information:

6: Apollo Twin Quad
UAD's Apollo series are one of the more popular interfaces. The two channel Twin was also underpowered, until now. With it's mk2 release it has been boosted to quad, which is double the power of the old interfaces. Additionally, they improved the circuitry for a cleaner sound. for more information check out Ask Audio's article and video.

7: Softtube Console One mk2
Console One has always been a piece of gear I've eyed. a control surface that feels like a console. The problem was always that it didn't have enough plugins that would support it. Well with the mk2 version this is no longer the case. It now supports most UAD plugins. on top of that it has a price decrease to 499. for more information on this product read this article about it.