The YELLOWTEC iXM from Audio Processing Technology Ltd., a delightful new product.

As with the previous event, the main players at this year's Inter BEE are in television field. Last year, there were many new models on display based upon the theme of the migration towards tapeless television cameras, and this year, there is an increase in the number of booths exhibiting peripherals to support this trend.


■ Easy and simple performance ― the future in street side interviews

We walked around the exhibition looking for products to use with radios, and found something quite interesting. Under its slogan of, "Easy and simple performance ― the future in street side interviews", Audio Processing Technology Ltd. exhibited a microphone-type recorder, a product called iXM from the German company YELLOWTEC. At first glance, it appears to be a regular wireless handheld microphone, but it actually incorporates a recorder. This new idea integrates a microphone, compact mixer, and recorder functionality, which are essential requirements for street side interviews.

The recording media is SD cards, and power is provided by a built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery, 3 x AA batteries, or both. The ability to use commercially-available AA batteries is quite convenient and the microphone has a headphone jack for monitoring, which enables playback of recorded content on-site and confirmation of content. Furthermore, the microphone also includes a LINE input socket and a USB port, and as a whole, is a very attractive-looking product.

Up until now, there have been many portable recorders incorporating microphones but because these are recorders, they all tend to have a boxy shape and do not look appealing when held out in front of someone being interviewed. To address this issue, the iXM is designed to look just like a microphone, and can be used as such. Also, because it is a genuine microphone, the sound quality is far superior to that of microphones found on ordinary portable recorders. The microphone heads are exchangeable, with omnidirectional, cardioid and supercardioid options available. A specific microphone head must be selected at purchase but if other heads are purchased as options, this will provide enhanced versatility as these can be changed on-site to answer different usage scenarios. All things considered, I found to the iXM to be a very interesting new product.

[Inter BEE News Center]
Photo 1: The Audio Processing Technology Ltd. booth.
Photo 2: YELLOWTEC's iXM