Gear Reviews

The whip-smart team at Ableton have finally released the long-awaited update to their sequencing, composition, and performance DAW, Live 9. New feature-sets include 64-bit support, Session View automation (with curves), easy audio- to-MIDI conversion, enhanced effects, a slick new browser, and tons...

Opening up the Eventide H3000 Factory plug-in for the first time will no doubt be daunting to many people, even those familiar with the studio staple H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer rackmount boxes, which were first introduced around 25 years ago. Fact is — there's a lot of stuff going on. The top...

There is no catch.

That was my original review. But my editors suggested I elaborate. Many people have contacted me to ask if the Apollo was a marketing gimmick or compromised in some way. I confess to find no "catch," limitation, or shortcoming of this product, particularly at this price....

At face value, Audio-Technica's new AT5040 large-diaphragm condenser looks like a standard, cylindrical, side-address mic, although the grille-to-body ratio suggests it may be a ribbon mic, since the basket is taller than what you see on your standard LDC. If you look closely through the...

Focusrite named the Forte after the groundbreaking console Rupert Neve designed for Air Studios. No doubt this was in an effort to differentiate the unit from the company's popular Scarlet and Saffire lines. In person, the Forte is slightly larger than a paperback book, and it sports a solid...

These days, in nearly every working class studio worth a spit, you'll find a couple of Fat Heads in the mic closet. I'm not talking about the Grammy Award winning janitor or the drummer with the head injury; I'm talking about the wildly popular Cascade Fat Head ribbon mics [Tape Op...

I recently noticed that Amazon has a great deal on Velcro 8" x 1/2", reusable, self-gripping, cable ties. The ties are made of two-sided material - hook on one side, loop on the other - that is much thinner than the original Velcro variety, and not nearly as hooky or fuzzy in texture. I...

I bought a dual-slot Echo Express Pro for my two Universal Audio UAD-2 Quad PCIe cards [Tape Op #67, #76] and hooked it up to my Mac Mini (Mid 2011) with a Thunderbolt cable. I installed the drivers on OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), and the UAD plug-ins are working great in PreSonus Studio One Pro...

Over the past few years, Slate Digital plug-ins have become de rigueur tools for music production and mixing in the digital environment. Steven Slate also produces a couple pieces of all- analog hardware, under the Slate Pro Audio moniker, that in my opinion, have not received the attention they...

In Tape Op #63, I reviewed the plans for a DIY ribbon mic sold by Rickshaw Records, the parent company of Austin DIY Ribbon Microphones. Since then, Austin launched two ribbon mic kits based on those instructions: a standard single-ribbon mono unit; and a fixed-angle, dual-ribbon coincident stereo...

This is going to be a short review. Pretty much everyone on the planet knows about Jeff Steiger's Classic Audio Products of Illinois stuff by now; these are DIY kits that began with a renewed version of the vintage API 3232 recording console preamp and then expanded out to include some unique...

After cutting his teeth racking vintage channel modules, David Marquette has augmented his craft with meticulous re- creations of - and "tips of the hat" to - classic outboard gear. I've reviewed a few of his Mercury devices in the past, being particularly blown away by the...

These days, I work with more than a few artists who use MIDI-based electro-rigs as part of their sound, including synths, sequencers, samplers, and drum machines. These rigs are fast becoming the norm on stages and in studios. In particular, two acts I work with - Elska and Graph Rabbit - have...