Gear Reviews

I know that this little synthesizer is already very popular and quite a few units have sold, but just in case you somehow haven't heard or seen one, let me clue you in. This is one bestseller that lives up to the hype! I kept seeing these around and then heard Jon Brion use one live, while...

Finally! An EQ plug-in from Digi that rivals most third- party EQ plug-ins-and even better, it's free!! Prior to the release of EQ III, if you didn't own a good third-party EQ plug-in, mixing in Pro Tools was a bit crippling if you were submixing in Pro Tools and bussing through a...

The Vintech Audio X73i is a single-channel, 1RU preamp and equalizer, designed to emulate the Neve 1073 at an affordable price ($1350 street). The X73i uses Class A, all discrete, transformer-balanced circuitry throughout, and it requires an external power supply ($225 street, powers four units)....

I was prompted to write this review for two reasons: allergy season has kicked into full swing as I type this; and Consumer Reports magazine's May issue states that a previous air cleaner I reviewed can be harmful to your health. In Tape Op #25, I wrote about the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze air...

As a long time Altiverb fan (largely because of the excellent EMT plate impulse response), I have to admit I was just a bit skeptical about whether the UAD-1's modeling-or algorithmic-reverb would stack up against a convolution reverb from a real EMT plate. Well, consider me won over. While I...

I've been using Ableton Live since version 1, and it has become the primary workspace for my bedroom, IDM- ish electronic music. So I was excited to test drive Operator, which is the first new software from Ableton since Live's inception. Operator is a polyphonic synth instrument plug-in...

This unit is comprised of four identical direct boxes in a 1RU enclosure. On the front, each DI channel has buttons for +20 dB boost, phase (polarity) reverse, 8 kHz high-cut, and ground lift. The buttons are LED-backlit when engaged. Phase reverse is always dimly lit to give you frame of reference...

CharterOak have been quietly making quality tube mics for the past three years. Their first model is the SA538, a squat-looking condenser reminiscent of a short- bodied U 47. The outer shell is finished in a satin black and appointed with a silver silhouette of an oak tree. The mic is striking in...

The Nady RSM-2 is the latest entry into the field of inexpensive Chinese mics. Asian-made condensers have been on the market now for several years, so it was inevitable, given the retro craze in today's recording studios, that we would see Chinese ribbon mics hit our shores. At a street price...

The XLogic G Series Compressor is another addition to the Solid State Logic family and is part of their SuperAnalogue series. This 1RU stereo compressor is modeled after its patriarch, the compressor in the SL4000 G Series console. There are three switchable ratios (2:1, 4:1, and 10:1), six...

Where have I been all these years that I've never tried out an EV 635A? These things have been seen everywhere in the broadcast world for the past, like, forty years. You'd know the mic if you saw it; looks almost like a cartoon of a hand-held mic, sort of flashlight-like with a...

So I get home one day to find both an Allen & Heath MixWizard3 16:2 DX and a PA28 waiting for me. Combined with my Mackie 24•8 and the other mixers around the house, this gave me about 90-something channels to work with. Unfortunately, I didn't have a blockbuster pop hit to mix, so I...

This new book cleared up many mysteries for me. It's a great resource even if you don't intend to build speakers. It's very detailed and goes into deep math for building enclosures and designing crossovers-and even covers popular CAD programs-while still being an easy read. The...

At last year's TapeOpCon, I found myself loitering at the Audio-Technica table, chewing the fat with affable A-T Marketing Director Gary Boss. I was completely bewildered by the huge number of different microphones the company makes, and Gary was doing a fine job guiding me patiently through...

Universal Audio is well known for recreating the classic studio preamps and compressors that were built by the company's original founder, Bill Putnam Sr. The reissues of the 1176 and the LA-2A from the re-launched Universal Audio sound every bit as good as the originals designed by Bill...