GML APC-1000
George Massenburg's moving-fader automation went into studios through AMEK's modular frame. It was a 1980s mixdown machine with a starting price of $200,000.
Overview
The APC-1000 is an assignable production console built by AMEK Systems and Controls Ltd. under licence from GML, Inc. GML is the George Massenburg Labs moving-fader automation system, which had already proven itself in studios across Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Tokyo and London. AMEK's advertising called the partnership "the formula," pairing AMEK's equalisation and build quality with what the copy called the world's most advanced computer-assisted mixdown system. The console came in a wide variety of frame sizes, with up to 128 inputs. Each channel strip was freely assignable, with reset of all switches and manual recall of all knob positions. Standard automation was the GML Moving Fader System. Module width was cut to one inch (30mm), so more inputs fit into a smaller footprint.
The APC-1000 differs from a conventional large-format desk in its philosophy. It is an all-input design with no traditional setup mode. The monitor mix during tracking and the stereo mix during mixdown are the same process, so fader automation is engaged from the first note. AMEK and GML pitched this as "virtual mixing." The goal was to build the finished stereo product from the start of the session, instead of treating tracking and remixing as two separate stages. The GML system itself is purpose-designed for multitrack and audio-video post production, with automatic timecode recognition and programmable timecode offset values for each mix. It slaves to SMPTE code with an internal resolution of 8.33 mS (quarter frame) and can control up to 128 faders and 7 switches per channel to that accuracy. Necam and Solid State Logic fader and mute data can be converted into GML format through the floppy disk drive input, which helped studios coming off older automation platforms.
The computer is a pair of Motorola 68000-series microprocessors clocked at 12.5 MHz. They run the Idris software operating system, 100% compatible with Unix V6 from Bell Labs, from a 40 Megabyte Winchester hard disk. A 1-Megabyte Dynamic RAM holds the mix in progress. Finished mixes are stored to the hard disk and later archived to floppy diskette. Mixes can be structured into directories and subdirectories, so multiple producers, engineers or clients sharing a room can keep their work entirely separate and password-protected. The software is split into two shells. The outer shell handles normal mixing operations and the various write and read modes per fader. The inner "mix editor" is the command centre for editing all data. It lets the engineer merge, splice, copy, swap, erase, insert and delete mix data, and shift data for individual tracks or an entire mix backward and forward in SMPTE time. Six dedicated faders handle subgrouping as submasters.
Pricing was firmly in the top tier of the market. DB Magazine (July 1988, p.54) listed the APC-1000 at a starting price of $200,000.00, with frame sizes scaling upward from there. It ended up in rooms that could justify that. Sunset Sound in Hollywood integrated a 64-fader GML system with an APC-1000 in Studio 2. Green Street Recording in New York ran an 80-module mainframe with 56 input channels. Studio Jive in Tokyo installed one with GML automation in a control room whose 6:4 control-to-studio ratio reflected the priority given to the desk. Studio Sound (April 1989, p.45) carried a testimonial from Sunset Sound president Paul Camarata, who described the console's sonic qualities, recall and reset functions, compact construction and GML automation as satisfying the studio's most discriminating clients. Engineer Al Schmitt, a five-time Grammy winner, was quoted in Studio Sound (July 1989, p.77) calling it "a very comfortable, musical console with a great control surface" - among the finest he had worked on.
AMEK's own advertising in Studio Sound (June 1986, p.87 and August 1986, p.33) positioned the APC-1000 as the recording industry's first viable alternative in its class. It highlighted reset, recall, 64 busses, keyboard control and the GML moving fader system as headline features. The console was one of three AMEK ranges, alongside the G2520 and the CLASSIC, manufactured under licence from GML, Inc.
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