I just purchased a new ATB16. The price went up to $4500 last week due to some changes they have made to the board.

They've made it truly modular?! - I guess it's easier to get stuff replaced.

They've improved the "feel" of the faders. Is anybody aware of what other changes may have been made?

I hear that connections will be changed to D-SUB with XLR's for the main outs. DUH! This was begged for from the beginning. heh

I think they said they would change the angle on the master meter section too so it's easier to see.

I am glad they are doing all this... but what is freaking hard about the meter bridge? I mean... does it really take over a year??

Sorry to be so negative... I really do like the console.

have these changes already been applied the current shipment of boards?

You gotta be kidding me! I have already spent quite a bit of time and some money making cables to work with the board as it was originally discussed in the manual!!

I am being told that the next batch won't be available until mid April 08.

Is there any documentation of this? I have a 24 on order currently and if there's a notable improvement to the board a month away, I'd like to know that for certain.

I checked with two distributors, Mercenary and Bayview. Both of them told me the same thing.

You could easily mod it for dsub. dsub connectors are a fraction of the cost of XLR. If someone could just fabricate a new backplate with dsub slots instead of xlr cutouts it would be a couple hours of crimping and that would be it. I may look into it
someone send me the layout of the backplate I'll model it up in PROE layout the silkscreen artwork send it to the shop. Probably cost $150 or so

Whats the rear plate look like?

Mine arrived today. I hope with the new faders they don't do away with this awesome feature built into mine where, as you work, the entire left side randomly cuts out, and then you wiggle the fader around (or sometimes push the channel mute in and out a few times), and it comes back in. Awesome for previewing what your mix will sound like on systems where one speaker is disconnected.

I will say, the sound was nice. I like the EQ. But man. I dunno about the build.

Does yours have D-Sub connectors in it?

no. it arrived at the retailer last friday. i suppose the last of it's kind. it will most likely be arriving back at the retailers next week. couple of other issues on top of the left side routinely cutting out. Disappointing, as it does sound nice.

Hey guys I hate to burst your bubble here but there are no D-Sub connections on the ATB nor have we ever said that there would be. I'm not sure where this rumor came from but it is just untrue. Now on future mixers, well that's another story.
As for the actual changes made to the ATB that account for the price increase, here is the official list.
Upgraded faders
Upgraded 1/4" jacks
Solo indication on every channel

to finish off everything mentioned here, how about the modular aspect?

Well that's just WAY too bad. Seriously. D-Sub would cost you less, cost us less, and is far more suitable for most applications. Totally bummed out here. And I won't tell you who told me that... because he is one of the good guys... and the first time he has ever been wrong on something like this.

I was actually going to buy one myself and was waiting for the next revision with d-sub connectors. Hmmmmmm

So... are you going to offer an ATB+ or something? That mixed messages are confusing me....

Thanks,


p.s. Oh... and since you are here.... What is going on with the meter bridge?!!?! lol.... Thanks again.

I've been talking with their service regarding my problematic board and asked about the revision. Apparently mine already has the upgraded faders. The modular aspect will be on a new board coming next year which will be more expensive. Tricolor LEDs for solo/mute on every channel and new back 1/4" jacks are apparently what will be different from this last run and the mid April revision.

Wow, a new console eh. It's good you're going modular with every channel. If something is wrong you can just pull the bad channel. I'd pay more for that. I was watching Toft in a video today talking about how the ATB was designed the same way his older ones were and I couldn't recall a Trident with 8 channel buckets in it. So this is definitely a step in the right direction. I'm diggin this company. I hope you're considering a transformer option on the channel inputs and master outputs. You could double the cost of the tranny strips and people would still pay for it. Nobody's done that yet....... and it would double the sales of the actual consoles too. Costs could be kept down by offering it as an option. Hell, I'd only need 8 channels with tranny's....know what I mean. Q options on the EQ too. I don't really need it variable either. Something like the EQ-2NV from Great River where it's just a button that selects Low/Med/High Q and Shelf/Bell (w/Med Q) button on the hi & lo bands. Tell me you guys are gonna raise the bar again.

Stuff like this makes me pretty nervous. On the verge of ordering one, but I don't want to be shipping the damn thing back and forth across the Atlantic just because it doesn't work right brand new out of the box. Don't these things supposedly go through two rounds of QC before PMI ships them out?

Hmmmm... a modular console. I wonder if this is the "A-range" they have been talking about... or an ATB+??

If an ATB+, I think this could be really, really cool.

What I would want on an ATB+

• Modular Channels
• D-SUB connections
• Transformer based mic pres
• A REAL meter bridge
• At least one stereo aux send with pan, two would be nice. 6 mono, 2 stereo is ideal for providing monitoring for tracking sessions.
• Faders a more "standard" format so they could be easily replaced with an automation system
• Truly "Flippable" paths with solo/mute on "monitor". And what I mean by truly flippable is that in tracking mode we could come in to the console either via the line input or the mic input, then hit the EQ and insert, then hit the "monitor" knob for level and from there go out to tape, then tape return would come back on a dedicated tape return (not the line in) and route to the large faders/pans. This is the way most people want to work when tracking. That way "tape" levels are on the "little fader" and not in the way, and you can "mix" on the big faders as you track. Then on mix... the big faders and "monitor" knobs could all be routed to the 2-bus. This sounds big... but would actually be only a very small change from the current design.

If they keep the EQ's, improve the pres slightly... with added transformer, etc... the cost increase really shouldn't be that much. As a matter of fact, they don't even need to make the channels modular for me.

With these changes and say... a $2000.00 increase in price on the 16 channel board... this would be the ultimate modern analog console for the money. I don't think anyone could touch it for the price.

jmtc...

-I would add a global flip (IP reverse).
-balanced inserts and D/O's
-16 bus
-pre/post eq insert

I don't care too much about the pre amps, but would gladly accept improved pre's if it didn't jump the board price by an insane amount.

Yeah, what's the deal on the meterbridge? How much longer?

any chance of selling a set of the faders to pilot program users? i have to go in and replace the master fader anyway so if i could get the upgraded ones id be interested. what do you think justin?

I was interested in the ATB 6 months ago....and there's still no meter bridge. It seems like a rather long time.

did the pilot program buyers ever get there "special gift" or whatever it was?

As a pilot program person, I'd be interested in info on any upgrade packages we could get to bring us up to current specs. Then again, seeing as I haven't been having a lot of problems, the upgrades would have to be easy and cheap for me to care.

Now, as for the special gift, nothing ever came of it. At least, I never got anything.

Is there ANY news on the Meter Bridge or studio furniture for the ATB-16? Toft hasn't had any news on their website forever, plus PMI doesn't have any news on their website either. Also, is the Firewire card out yet?

I think the meterbridge is actually finally on the way. I spoke to Malcolm in March and he said he had a prototype for it now. And I think someone from PMI commented on it recently as well.

+1 on poor build quality. Also, 1 out of 33 of the faders on my board are grainy feeling and/or sticky. they aren't even Mackie quality IMO.

The board they had on display at AES NYC had these really smooth faders. I went home to make sure I wasn't crazy about hating my faders and sure enough, there was a huge difference. I went back the next day and talked to PMI about it, and they said they would take care of me.

Called them after AES, and I was told about the new faders and that I would get a set when they became available, call back in february.

Call them in Feb and I'm told the faders are in, but they're going to cost me roughly $1000.
I told them to forget about it, just replace my lame faders with ones that are as smooth as the ones on the AES board. They tell me they do have an extra set. So they send out a set of faders that were personally checked by Justin at PMI(according to him) and they were even worse than the ones already in my board!!!!! You can't even do a reliable fade with them! (Yeah, I still mix OTB) I sent them back.

When I told PMI the new set of faders sucked, I was told they came right out of the AES board. They are so full of shit. I call shenanigans on PMI. And that doesn't count the tons of BS i got from them while waiting for the board. fuuck Sorry, but there it is.
One of us lying and I wish it were me, because at least I'd be a liar who can manually ride a vocal track..

I'm sorry to hear about your misfortunes with Toft. I was really torn between the ATB and Midas Venice 320. I'm glad I picked up the 320.

A few too many of these horror stories floating around the internet for it to be just bad luck I think. I wish PMI would comment.

Think I'll stay in the box.

nIC