Midas Consoles

Last updated
Midas
Industry Professional audio
Founded1970, London, England
FounderJeff Byers, Charles Brooke
Headquarters
Makati
,
Philippines
Area served
Worldwide
Parent Music Tribe
Website midasconsoles.com

Midas is a company that designs professional audio consoles. Founded in London in 1970 by Jeff Byers and Charles Brooke, today the company is part of the Music Tribe group of brands.

Contents

Midas consoles are used by audio engineers for live sound mixing. Applications for these consoles includes Front of House (FOH) and monitor console positions. Midas also markets the digital audio distribution components that are commonly used with their digital consoles as stand-alone digital snakes, or larger multi-site audio distribution networks.

History

Originally founded in 1970 by Jeff Byers and Charles Brooke as Midas Amplification, a London manufacturer of solid state guitar amps, the company relocated near Euston Station in London, next door to Martin Audio, in 1972, and began producing the PR System modular mixer in 1974. Midas mixers were adopted by the tour sound market, and used by Clair Brothers Audio on the concert tours of Elvis Presley, Yes (band), Billy Joel, and The Beach Boys. Pink Floyd used Midas consoles on their Animals Tour in 1977 and The Wall Tour in 1979, and Frank Zappa used Midas consoles on his 1980 World Tour. Midas experienced success in the musical theatre market as well, with their consoles used for productions of Evita and Cats . [1]

Midas launched the XL, the first of a series of large-format professional touring consoles, at the New York AES Convention in 1986. Development of the XL was costly, and in December 1987 the assets of Midas Audio Systems Ltd. were purchased by Klark Teknik. Under this new ownership, Midas released the XL2 in 1988, the XL3 in 1990, and the XL4 in 1995. [1] [2] The XL3 and XL4 established Midas as a leading live console manufacturer for the next two decades, [3] and the XL series would grow to include the XL200, and XL250, as well as smaller models targeted at the club and regional sound market.

A Midas Heritage 3000 mixing console on the right at the Front of House position at an outdoor concert. Two Consoles at FOH.jpg
A Midas Heritage 3000 mixing console on the right at the Front of House position at an outdoor concert.

Beginning in 1998, Midas introduced the Heritage series consoles, including the H3000, H2000, H1000, and H4000.

Midas introduced their first digital console, the flagship XL8, at Musikmesse Frankfurt in 2006. Notable XL8 features included three preamps per channel to enable front of house, monitor and broadcast control surfaces to be fed from the same input rack, dual redundant master control processors, and integration with the Klark Teknik Helix EQ system via the Rapide remote. In September 2008 at the annual PLASA tradeshow, Midas introduced the PRO6 Live Audio System, the second networked digital audio system from Midas. Employing technologies developed from the XL8, the PRO6 offered similar audio performance in a more compact form factor.

In 2010, Midas introduced the PRO3 and PRO9 digital consoles, along with the VeniceF digital-analog hybrid ("Digi-Log") console, which replaced the Venice analog console. At the 2011 PLASA show, Midas unveiled the PRO2 and PRO2C consoles, which offered Midas digital features from the larger PRO and XL8 consoles in a more compact package and a lower price point. [4] The following year at InfoComm, Midas introduced the PRO1 digital console, with an even smaller physical footprint and lower price point than the PRO2/PRO2C. [5]

A 19-inch rack holding several professional audio devices including a Midas XL88 8x8 matrix mixer at the bottom Matrix mixer in rack.jpg
A 19-inch rack holding several professional audio devices including a Midas XL88 8×8 matrix mixer at the bottom

In January 2014 at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, Midas introduced the M32 ($4,999 MSRP in USA), based largely on parent company Music Tribe's highly-successful Behringer X32 mixer, sharing most of the X32's operating system, but utilizing Midas' Pro series microphone preamps. (X32 uses slightly different Midas-designed preamps, with Cirrus Logic A/D converters and a sample rate of 48 kHz. Midas Pro preamps are 96 kHz and use Midas' own MIDAS-8000 8-channel A/D converter, which reportedly has better performance numbers than Cirrus Logic chips used by most other console makers).

At that same time, Midas began retiring much of its analog console product line, including the Heritage, Legend, and Siena series, while maintaining the Verona analog console and VeniceF and VeniceU analog-digital hybrid versions of the original Venice console an active part of Midas' product line.

Linux is used at the core of all Midas digital consoles. This is mentioned prominently in their marketing materials, as well as in their preference for Linux development and kernel programming experience in job postings for development positions. At the core of all Midas Pro desks is standard PC motherboard with 4GB flash card (for OS and data storage).

Midas became part of the Telex Group, which was subsequently acquired by the Bosch Group in January 2006. In December 2009, Midas and Klark Teknik were acquired by Music Group, a holding company chaired by Uli Behringer. Music Group was later rebranded as Music Tribe. [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixing console</span> Device used for audio mixing

A mixing console or mixing desk is an electronic device for mixing audio signals, used in sound recording and reproduction and sound reinforcement systems. Inputs to the console include microphones, signals from electric or electronic instruments, or recorded sounds. Mixers may control analog or digital signals. The modified signals are summed to produce the combined output signals, which can then be broadcast, amplified through a sound reinforcement system or recorded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preamplifier</span> Electronic amplifier that converts weak signal into strong signal

A preamplifier, also known as a preamp, is an electronic amplifier that converts a weak electrical signal into an output signal strong enough to be noise-tolerant and strong enough for further processing, or for sending to a power amplifier and a loudspeaker. Without this, the final signal would be noisy or distorted. They are typically used to amplify signals from analog sensors such as microphones and pickups. Because of this, the preamplifier is often placed close to the sensor to reduce the effects of noise and interference.

Open Sound Control (OSC) is a protocol for networking sound synthesizers, computers, and other multimedia devices for purposes such as musical performance or show control. OSC's advantages include interoperability, accuracy, flexibility and enhanced organization and documentation. Its disadvantages include inefficient coding of information, increased load on embedded processors, and lack of standardized messages/interoperability. The first specification was released in March 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stage box</span> Interface device used in sound reinforcement

A stage box is an interface device used in sound reinforcement and recording studios to connect equipment to a mixing console. It provides a central location to connect microphones, instruments, and speakers to a multicore cable (snake), which allows the sound desk to be further from the stage and simplifies setup.

Solid State Logic (SSL) is a British company based in Begbroke, Oxfordshire, England that designs and markets audio mixing consoles, signal processors, and other audio technologies for the post-production, video production, broadcast, sound reinforcement and music recording industries. SSL employs over 160 people worldwide and has regional offices in Los Angeles, Milan, New York City, Paris, and Tokyo, with additional support provided by an international network of distributors. Solid State Logic is part of the Audiotonix Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMS Neve</span> British audio equipment manufacturer

AMS Neve Ltd is a privately owned audio engineering company who specialise in digital and analogue music consoles, outboard equipment and post production consoles. AMS Neve was the result of the amalgamation in 1992 of AMS with Neve Electronics.

Harrison Audio Consoles is an international company based in Nashville, Tennessee that manufactures high-end mixing consoles, Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), audio plugins, and other audio technologies for the post-production, video production, broadcast, sound reinforcement and music recording industries. The company is renowned as an industry innovation for its "in-line" mixing console design that has subsequently become the standard for nearly every large-format music console. Over 1,500 Harrison consoles have been installed worldwide, presenting a significant percentage of the overall world market share for high-end audio consoles. The company founder, Dave Harrison, was inducted as a Fellow in the Audio Engineering Society for this technical contribution of the recording industry and in particular the first 32-bus "in-line" console.

LOUD Audio, LLC is a professional audio company based in the United States, operating in the U.S., Canada, and Shenzhen, China. Originally founded as Mackie Designs, Inc., the name was changed to Loud Technologies Inc in 2003 to differentiate its founding subsidiary, mixing console manufacturer Mackie from its eponymous brand name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital mixing console</span> Electronic device used to manipulate audio input signals using digital signal processing

In professional audio, a digital mixing console (DMC) is a type of mixing console used to combine, route, and change the dynamics, equalization and other properties of multiple audio input signals, using digital signal processing rather than analog circuitry. The digital audio samples, which is the internal representation of the analog inputs, are summed to what is known as a master channel to produce a combined output. A professional digital mixing console is a dedicated desk or control surface produced exclusively for the task and is typically more robust in terms of user control, processing power and quality of audio effects. However, a computer can also perform the same function since it can mimic its interface, input and output.

Euphonix was a professional audio company located in Mountain View, California, United States. Euphonix produced the first successful line of large digitally controlled analog audio mixing consoles in the late 1980s and has since moved on to all-digital systems. In 2010, it was acquired by Avid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Mick</span> British audio engineer

"Big" Mick Hughes is the British live audio engineer for Metallica, a position he has held since 1984. He had to miss the 2021 shows due to post-COVID-19 travel restrictions and was replaced as FOH engineer by Greg Price who continues to mix Metallica on their 2023/2024 M72 World Tour.

CobraNet is a combination of software, hardware, and network protocols designed to deliver uncompressed, multi-channel, low-latency digital audio over a standard Ethernet network. Developed in the 1990s, CobraNet is widely regarded as the first commercially successful audio-over-Ethernet implementation.

Yamaha Pro Audio, Inc. is a division of the Yamaha Corporation that offers a complete line of beginner professional audio products for the live sound and sound reinforcement markets. It has a long history of introducing significant products for the professional audio market such as the PM-1000 modular mixing console, the REV1 and SPX90 digital signal processors, the NS-10 studio monitors, and the 01v, 02R, 03D, PM1D, PM5D, QL5, M7CL, CL5, and PM10/7 Rivage digital mixing consoles.

Klark Teknik is a company that designs and develops professional signal processing and audio equipment. Located in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, UK, the company was founded in 1974 by brothers Terence and Phillip Clarke. It developed a number of new types of equipment in the audio field, winning a Queen's Awards for Enterprise in 1986. It is now owned by Music Tribe.

Audient is a British company based in Herriard, Hampshire, England that designs, manufactures, and markets mixing consoles, audio interfaces, microphone preamplifiers, monitor controllers and signal processors.

Music Tribe, formerly Music Group, is a holding company based in the City of Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is chaired by Uli Behringer, founder of Behringer. Music Tribe's portfolio includes Behringer, Cool Audio, Midas, Turbosound, TC Electronic and TC-Helicon, Tannoy, Klark Teknik, Lab.gruppen, and Aston Microphones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matrix mixer</span> Audio device that routes multiple audio signals

A matrix mixer is an audio electronics device that routes multiple input audio signals to multiple outputs. It usually employs level controls such as potentiometers to determine how much of each input is going to each output, and it can incorporate simple on/off assignment buttons. The number of individual controls is at least the number of inputs multiplied by the number of outputs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional audio store</span> Retail business

A professional audio store is a retail business that sells, and in many cases rents, sound reinforcement system equipment and PA system components used in music concerts, live shows, dance parties and speaking events. This equipment typically includes microphones, power amplifiers, electronic effects units, speaker enclosures, monitor speakers, subwoofers and audio consoles (mixers). Some professional audio stores also sell sound recording equipment, DJ equipment, lighting equipment used in nightclubs and concerts and video equipment used in events, such as video projectors and screens. Some professional audio stores rent "backline" equipment used in rock and pop shows, such as stage pianos and bass amplifiers. While professional audio stores typically focus on selling new merchandise, some stores also sell used equipment, which is often the equipment that the company has previously rented out for shows and events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audio interface</span> Device used to interface audio signals with a computer

An audio interface is a piece of computer hardware that allows the input and output of audio signals to and from a host computer or recording device.

AES50 is an Audio over Ethernet protocol for multichannel digital audio. It is defined in the AES50-2011 standard for High-resolution multi-channel audio interconnection (HRMAI).

References

  1. 1 2 Burton, Jon (December 2019). "Midas Touch: The Story Of The Midas XL3". soundonsound.com. SOS Publications Group. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  2. ↑ "Midas XL4: Ten Years After". mixonline.com. Future plc. 1 December 2005. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  3. ↑ "Science Museum Group Collection: Midas XL3 Live Performance Mixing Console". sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. The Science Museum Group. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  4. ↑ "PLASA 2011: Midas launch PRO2 and PRO2C consoles". audioprointernational.com. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  5. ↑ "AV: Midas launches new PRO1 digital console". prosoundweb.com. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  6. ↑ "MUSIC Group - www.music-group.com". music-group.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
  7. ↑ "Behringer's Music Group acquires Midas and Klark Teknik". pro-music-news.com. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.