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Gear Reviews
A Collection of Software Synthesizer Reviews
Nostaligia and desire for vintage, or recreations of vintage, analog synthesizers is at an all time high. Even Behringer, whose business is based on producing affordable versions of popular gear, has jumped into the market of recreating vintage analog synths like the Mini Moog which would indicate...
Gear Reviews
Babyface Pro Desktop USB Interface
Great sound, flexible, tough, balanced, professional I/O, MIDI I/O, expandable, built-in DSP, bus-powered — these features and traits shouldn't have to be mutually exclusive in a compact, mobile AD/DA interface. Yet, here we are in 2017, and I was still fiending for the perfect portable solution...
Gear Reviews
bx_rooMS Reverb Plug-In
bx_rooMS is the first reverb plug-in from the mid-side gurus at Brainworx. Developed in conjunction with Thomas Fiedler, bx_rooMS utilizes Fiedler's TrueSpace technology, which according to Brainworx, "provides a continuous range of algorithms for any selected space size, allowing continuous...
Gear Reviews
Chase Bliss Audio
I was asked to demo real flanging for some friends a while back, so I recorded the same material onto two tape decks and attempted to play them back at the same time, to create the rich, whooshing, comb-filtering of flanging at its best. Probably 80% of my attempts created echoes instead of...
Gear Reviews
EchoBoy Jr. Plug-in
Tastes great and less filling! I normally am not into the "light" versions of things, whether it's food or software, but I have to confess, I love EchoBoy Jr.! I've always considered EchoBoy (Sr.?) to be the best, most comprehensive delay under my plug-in menu. But sometimes, it's more than I need,...
Gear Reviews
MFTwenty5 Modular Console
Not long ago, I moved into a new space to mix. It's great. I got it sounding good with some acoustic treatment, and it has a stellar view of the water here in Seattle. It is an inspiring place to be, and because of that, I have been on a mission to make it a viable place to work (these things take...
Gear Reviews
Morphine Additive Synthesizer/Chromaphone Modeling Synthesizer
I tracked down these two soft-synths because they're both fairly unique — not only different from each other, but also very different from others currently on the market. I'd venture a guess that 90% of the virtual instruments on the market fall into one of two categories: emulations of analog...
Gear Reviews
Shelford Channel
Rupert Neve is the most well-known name in pro audio, and for good reason. To this day, Neve consoles remain the stuff of legend, and the mic preamp from the Neve 1073 module is arguably the most widely imitated piece of audio gear out there. After the original Neve company was sold, Mr. Neve went...
Gear Reviews
Symphony I/O Mk II Audio Interface
Hmm, what metaphor do we go with here? How about: Apogee's new flagship interface is a badass truck that drives like a futuristic sports car. Nailed it. Lemme explain. The new Symphony I/O Mk II is an incredibly solid and reliable beast — a sleek, matte-black, 2RU-height, multi-channel audio...
Gear Reviews
Synclavier V
In 2014, I reviewed UVI The Beast [Tape Op #104], a sample-based virtual instrument recreating the sounds of the infamous and very expensive Synclavier workstation, which New England Digital Corporation first released in the '70s and continued to manufacture (and update) into the '90s. While The...
Gear Reviews
TDI Tuner & DI Stompbox
It's rare these days for a truly unique piece of gear to rear its head. What is surprising about the Sonic Nuance TDI is that it is such a simple combination of two familiar, somewhat mundane tools — a direct box and a digital tuner. It's hard to believe that no one has thought of merging these two...
Gear Reviews
The Art of Recording a Big Band (film)
"It's not rocket science — putting good microphones up and getting a balance in a good room." So states Al Schmitt, as we watch him and Steve Genewick lead a two-day master class while recording the Chris Walden Big Band at Capitol Studios' Studio A. Al Schmitt has worked with some of music's most...
Gear Reviews
Type 30 Active Monitors
Spoiler alert! This active, three-way, midfield monitor from HEDD is so incredible, I purchased a pair for my personal studio. I'll spare you the effort of jumping to the end of the review to see how much it costs — $3,999 each. Understandably, my decision was anything but easy. In fact, it wasn't...
Gear Reviews
V Series 4 Active Monitors
The new V Series 4 nearfield studio monitors are the fourth generation of KRK's top-tier V Series, designed to provide high-quality, accurate representation in multiple applications, at a sensible price. The line includes three models, the V8, V6, and V4 Series 4, which are equipped with 8'',...