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Gear Reviews
Absynth 4 & FM8 soft synths
There are quite a few soft synths out there which aim to emulate (or improve upon) classic keyboard sounds of the past. But what about new sounds? What about a soft synth that is built from the ground up to be its own instrument, with its own unique sounds and features? Two of Native Instruments'...
Gear Reviews
H1 handheld condenser mic
SE Electronics is a China-based company started by conductor/composer Siwei Zou. Rather than manufacturing low-cost mics for other brands or assembling products made in other Chinese factories, SE Electronics focuses on developing products from their own designs using raw stock-all in house....
Gear Reviews
LinearPhase PEQ Red
German-based Algorithmix has released three killer EQ plug-ins, LinearPhase PEQ Red, LinearPhase PEQ Orange, and the classic PEQ Blue. Each title deserves separate consideration, so I will limit this review to LinearPhase PEQ Red and cover the others in the future. LinearPhase PEQ Red is a...
Gear Reviews
Mbox 2 Pro
Unlike the other Mbox 2 interfaces for Pro Tools LE (see Tape Op #51 and #57 for reviews of the Mbox 2 and Mbox 2 Mini), the Pro connects to the host via FireWire instead of USB, it supports 88.2 and 96 kHz sample rates, and it features expanded I/O. There are four analog inputs. Inputs 1 and 2 can...
Gear Reviews
MF-102 Ring Modulator MF-105 MuRF
When he heard that The Weisstronauts were undertaking a mini-tour last fall, Andy "Gear Geek" Hong was cool enough to loan me a couple of his Moogerfooger pedals-by Moog Music-to try out on the road. The MuRF pedal, which sends a guitar signal through a sequenced filter matrix, immediately grabbed...
Gear Reviews
MicroMain27 active monitor
Thomas Barefoot designed the MicroMain27 to be the only speakers one would need in a studio, functioning as detailed nearfields; as loud, impressive mains with integrated subwoofers; and (brace yourself) as mastering monitors. Barefoot developed his first-generation monitor (MiniMain12) in the...
Gear Reviews
pArtScience AudioTile
Josh Peck, one of the composers at my NYC studio, has his rig in the corner of a soundproofed room designed, manufactured, and assembled by IAC. The wall panels are surfaced with metal membranes -floating and some perforated for bass trapping and lower-mid absorption, and set at odd angles for...
Gear Reviews
pArtScience SpaceCoupler
In Tape Op #53, Jeff Elbel reviewed Auralex's SpaceArray diffusor. The SpaceCoupler, also within the pArtScience family of Russ Berger-designed, affordable acoustic treatment, looks very much like the SpaceArray, except where the panels of varying depth would be, you have open space. The short tale...
Gear Reviews
PL-2 peak limiter
In an era when excessive digital peak-limiting has become a standard, it's a surprise that the Pendulum Audio PL-2 peak limiter is the only standalone, brickwall analog peak limiter in existence. While there may be plenty of compressor/limiters, they're really not the same thing as the PL-2. The...
Gear Reviews
Portico 5032 mic preamp / EQ
Like the rest of the Portico series, this single-channel mic preamp and EQ is a half-width, 1RU-height unit that can be racked horizontally or vertically. The preamp section, with its 72 dB of gain, sweepable high-pass filter, and Silk switch, is identical to the 5012 (reviewed in Tape Op #49), so...
Gear Reviews
Sessions with Sinatra: Frank Sinatra and the Art of Recording
Sessions with Sinatra is a fascinating account of Frank Sinatra in the studio, presented chronologically as his recording career progressed. It is an evaluation and appreciation of his recordings with details on how those records were made and who they were made with. All of Sinatra's periods are...
Gear Reviews
Soda Meiser & Hymm Strangle/ Synth Mangler pedals
Being an ardent fan of Effector 13 pedals, as well as someone who has the potential to lose days at a time while coaxing weirdness out of effects, I was psyched to have the chance to check out the Soda Meiser and its complex offspring, the Hymn Strangle/Synth Mangler. (Where the hell do these names...
Gear Reviews
VT-7 tube compressor
Ostensibly all compressors are designed to perform the same function: make the loud parts quieter. (And with makeup gain after compression, the quiet parts become louder.) In its conceptual origin, the idea was simple and practical. The objective was to impart a dynamic consistency to the signal,...
Gear Reviews
XLogic Delta-Link MADI HD for Pro Tools HD
I've mentioned a number of times that I find the sound of the 192 I/O for Pro Tools HD disappointing. For what it costs, the fact that it comes with eight mediocre channels of analog I/O is kinda ridiculous. Sure it comes with eight additional channels of digital I/O, with a maximum of sixteen...
Gear Reviews
XLogic SuperAnalogue Channel Duende plug-in processor
I don't think there's a single working engineer that hasn't heard of SSL. However, many engineers fail to realize that SSL is also a manufacturer of outboard gear, not just large-format consoles. SSL has quite a range of outboard processors, including mic preamps, numerous recording channels, a...
Gear Reviews
Zoundz looping toy
Last Christmas, in addition to the Recording the Beatles book (coolest gift ever?), my wife gave me a nifty little device called Zoundz from the toy company Zizzle. It's intended for children aged five and up, but my ancient self has been having a lot of fun with it. It's very hypnotic; you can...