Still recovering from four intense days of walking in the gigantic Frankfurt Messe complex (an average of 10 miles a day), and with more press kits and literature than any human will ever be able to absorb, I would like to thank all of those companies and people who spent the time to talk to us and share their news with our readers. To those we missed or just said hello (...and often promising to return...), we're sorry but that's what happens in gigantic shows such as Musikmesse and Prolight+Sound. (Feel free to flood our emails with announcements we might have missed).

 For our non-European readers who have never visited Frankfurt, I know it's hard to explain how BIG these shows are compared to anything else, but believe us, it's not easy for any publication to cover these events when microphone and recording technology companies are a mile away from the pro audio halls and you have to walk another mile (or two) to get to the Yamaha exhibits and find companies - such as Gibson Brands - which prefer (naturally) to be in the guitar hall... Just to provide some comparison, at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show 2015, there were a record 1,621 exhibiting companies, while in Frankfurt (and 2015 was not a record year) there were 2,246 exhibitors. Add to that the fact that halls in the Frankfurt Messe complex are not all aligned and connected, like in Anaheim, CA.

 Anyway, it was certainly worth it to be there and learn that the audio industry is feeling upbeat, in the middle of all the corporate changes (they never stop), changing business models, and economic uncertainties in different regions of the world (which, like switches, are always going to be up or down). In general, most professional audio companies in attendance with large exhibits were reporting double-digit growth for the last two years.

 In general, new product launches showed positive trends, with more spectacular and advanced solutions at affordable prices. As we've posted on our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages - and you can see from the news on our website - live sound solutions are getting much more sophisticated and integrated, with digital consoles featuring larger touchscreen displays and network connectivity helping to achieve higher-quality results all the way up to the predictability of sound reinforcement systems. Talented audio engineers never had it so good! On the recording front, things are also evolving in an extraordinary way, with better, faster audio interfaces, better software solutions and better-sounding mixing and outboard solutions. And for all our devoted audiophile readers, yes, all the new digital gear is at least 24-bit/96-kHz capable - the current industry standard in pro audio applications.

From a business-oriented perspective, its important I share the news that, even though "the musical instruments continue to be a roller coaster," in the words of the Frankfurt Messe organizers, the market is back to growth since last year. Compared to 2013, Germans last year again spent more 4.5% on musical instruments (967 million Euros), and forecasts estimate a growth in sales up to 2.8% in 2015. Event technology is also on an upward trend, with the demand for staged events continuing to grow worldwide. Prolight+Sound 2015 reflected that momentum, with a record number of exhibitors involved in lighting and sound engineering, stage technology, media technology, and AV-systems integration.

  Still, even the Frankfurt Messe organizers recognized there is a need for evolution and innovation. For 2016, the Musikmesse and Prolight+Sound will see sweeping changes, with a complete reorganization of the exhibition halls, new hours (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.), and new dates to ensure they are as distant as possible from the NAMM Show (and do not clash again with the NAB Show).

The Musikmesse will be open to the public, from April 7-10, 2016 (Thursday to Sunday), while the Prolight+Sound (trade only) will open earlier in the week, April 5-8, 2016 (Tuesday to Friday).

In my opinion, this is a positive announcement, which will tremendously improve the shows, if well implemented.

Meanwhile, back to the US, where AXPONA/AudioCon are about to start (The Westin O'Hare, Chicago, IL, April 24-26, 2015)!