Neve 88D

A flagship digital mixing console from AMS Neve, designed for high-resolution music and immersive audio production.

Overview

The Neve 88D is a digital mixing/dubbing console made by AMS Neve. It's positioned as a high-end digital console for professional music and immersive audio work. It pairs the Neve sound with modern digital processing, with transformer-based mic inputs and a strong DSP engine. Wilfried Van Baelen designed it. It supports high channel counts and high-resolution audio, so it can handle complex mixing jobs, including 7.1 surround and immersive formats.

Specifications

Channel Capacity	500-channel
Audio Resolution	96 kHz / 24-bit
Bandwidth	>100kHz
Faders	24 Fader
Work Surface	48 Channel Work surface with 96 channels of I/O
Track Handling	Can handle up to 1000 audio tracks at 96kHz
Surround Format	7.1 Surround

Design

The mic inputs on the 88D are classic Neve transformer inputs. Conversion is done by Gigabit-linked Super High Definition (SHD) converters. The mixing architecture is RAM-based, which gives you instant A/B comparisons, and the DSP engine handles real-time processing. Mixes are compatible across the AMS Neve console range, so a session can move between desks.

Context

Wilfried Van Baelen designed the 88D to mix immersive audio formats simultaneously. It brings the Neve sound to contemporary music production without giving up power. Many consider it the greatest sounding and most powerful digital music console available.

Market

A used listing references a "new price" of £18,000, though this likely reflects a used market listing referencing original cost. Forum speculation suggests a potential price range of $200,000 to $500,000 depending on configuration, drawing comparison to systems like the C200.