Midas

It was 1970 and a company called Midas amplification was formed in London by Jeff Byers and Charles Brooke, manufacturing transistorized guitar amplifiers and speaker cabinets. The location was extremely fortuitous as many PA companies visiting Martin Audio would then go next door to see what Midas was working on. The two co-located companies became synonymous in the minds of many live sound customers and the calibrated Midas / Martin modular PA systems became a regular fixture on concert tours in the 1970’s, with Martin Audio responsible for the loudspeaker cabinets, while Midas manufactured the electronics.

1975 saw the first dedicated Midas monitor console, with early customers including Clair Brothers Audio for clients including Elvis Presley, Yes, Billy Joel and The Beach Boys. Another innovation of early Midas consoles was a built-in active crossover, which became necessary for the new multi-way active sound systems gaining popularity in the UK.

While the streets of the UK may have been reverberating to the new sound of anarchy in the mid-seventies, elsewhere in the world British rock supergroups reigned supreme. A giant three-section console was created for Pink Floyd’s “Animals” 1977 tour which had separate master quadraphonic and stereo outputs. For the band’s legendary “The Wall” tour in 1979, Midas provided a console with 105 channels of custom-built quadraphonic sound.

The DN735 Solid State Recorder was first introduced in 1989. This innovative product was a solid state recorder for stereo audio editing based on video tape with a three minute memory which was huge for the time. It sold well to the BBC and video post production companies.

1989 also saw the launch of the DN500 series of dynamics processors, based on designs purchased from local Midlands company Rebis. The owners of Rebis had decided to go their separate ways, and with the front panels changed to the classic KT anodised aluminium, four new products were added to the range. That year Midas also launched the rackmount XL88 Matrix Mixer, with eight inputs and eight outputs.

The next Midas console that re-established the brand in 1990, the XL3 was essentially a monitor version of the XL2, but with the innovative use of VCA faders (fitted on to the front of the original chassis) making the product suitable for Front of House mix duties, too. It came in 40, 32 and 24 channel versions and a 16 channel extender, or sidecar, was also made. Its 16 mixes could be used as output mixes, sub groups or auxiliary masters.