Gear Reviews

This inexpensive 25-key MIDI keyboard was a perfect solution to a small problem in my studio. Virtual instrument plug-ins are getting better and better these days, particularly some of the ones we've reviewed that I've used from Arturia, Native Instruments, SampleTank, and MOTU. But the...

The B4 has been one of my most regularly used and cherished VST plug-ins, so just for the sake of nostalgia, I took a look back in the archive of Tape Op reviews and saw that my original review of the B4 was published nearly four years ago. For some reason, I never quite associated VST's or...

As most people know, Mackie has become a leading manufacturer of affordable audio products. The company is perhaps best known for its great line of simple but clean- sounding mixers. The company has gone back to the drawing board with the introduction of the Onyx series. Onyx is the name they have...

David Bock is very serious about microphone making. In ten short years, he's built up a reputation as a builder of some of the best sounding mics you can buy. His primary focus has been on large-diaphragm condenser mics based on vintage classics. Recently, he introduced two new members to his...

I have to admit to a certain amount of amazement when I first plugged in the ISA 430 MkII and heard what was coming through my speakers. There was that clarity and professional sound that I had been trying so hard to get by tweaking my budget gear. Clear shimmering acoustic guitar, warm clear...

The name Geoff Daking has become synonymous with quality-built, great-sounding studio recording gear. He is well respected for his FET Compressor II, Mic-Pre/EQ, and custom consoles. He recently entered the multi-channel mic preamp arena with the Mic- Pre IV. The Mic-Pre IV is attractively priced...

What is this box? I've had it for almost a year, and I'm still not sure how to answer that. For one, it's basically two channels of tube circuitry that can be run in normal or overdrive modes. The circuits can be switched as far as the distortion types (I never remember which is what...

One of the coolest things I saw at the AES show this past October is this little inline XLR barrel that's both a pad and EQ designed for kick drum mic'ing. For rock drums my go-to scenario is an AKG D 112 into a Millenia Media Origin STT-1. It always sounds great, but the mic usually...

First off, a story: I was tracking some songs in New Orleans this summer, and Dan Kennedy of Great River was cool enough to send me this new EQ to the studio I was at; plus, he sent one of his MP-2NV preamps (which I'm familiar with as I already own and love one). So the gear shows up, I plug...

Finally, someone has introduced an affordable DAW controller that has enough faders and virtual input strips that it can handle a typical record/mixdown session and feel like a real mixing console-without lots of bank switching.

The TASCAM US-2400 controller is a USB device that sports 24...

When Larry Crane emailed me about reviewing the Groove Tubes VIPRE, I was very excited. I had used this unit when it was first introduced several years ago but never had an ample amount of time to fully evaluate it. This 3RU, single-channel tube preamp is Groove Tubes' intro into the preamp...

You may have noticed from reading the last few issues of Tape Op that we have a soft spot in our hearts for vintage synths, with interviews of Malcolm Cecil (keeper of TONTO), Bob Moog, and Larry Fast. I personally credit my days as a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, working...

I was spoiled rotten a few months ago. I did a session with a wonderful jazz vocalist with a smoky, classic voice. In past sessions with her I had used ribbons like the RCA 77-DX and AEA 44C, which worked out great. Then I tried something different, a Telefunken USA ELa M 251. I loved it. No way...

Telefunken NA has been reissuing the classic line of Telefunken mics, like the Ela M 251 and U 47M, for the last few years (see our review of the 251 in issue #34). This mic, the Ela M 14, is the first "new" mic to come out of their factory. It's a cardioid-only tube-powered (new old...

Ask any acoustic guitarist, and they'll tell you their biggest challenge: amplifying the dang thing in a live situation. The three perennial solutions all have serious drawbacks: soundhole pickups can have a nice warm and fuzzy tone, but they don't sound very much like an acoustic guitar;...

If you're a recording studio, mastering facility, record label, professional photographer, or production facility that sells or otherwise distributes CD's and DVD's that you author yourself, you need to check out the Bravo II duplicator. It not only burns CD's and DVD's,...

Frequent travelers know the challenges of taking music on the road. Headphones can be fatiguing. And with luggage space at a premium, hauling a decent set of speakers is out of the question. Up to this point, portable speakers have been horrible sounding. However, the Altec Lansing inMotion travel...

Almost everyone knows that the last few years have ushered in a slew of new tube microphones. Low-cost ones, pricey ones, colorful ones, plain ones, transformer- balanced, and transformerless ones. There's even a phantom-powered tube mic out there. Seems if there was a way to put a tube in a...

The Drawmer 1968 Mercenary Edition is a 1RU version of Drawmer's popular 1969 compressor, without the mic pres. For me, the unit defines punch. It can also provide smooth leveling for the stereo buss, but I'd much rather use it for its aggressive qualities.

In general, there are two...