Gear Reviews

A microphone for anyone who likes outstanding build-quality, interesting sounds, and a DIY ethic, the Copperphone is handmade by Mark Pirro (The Polyphonic Spree, Tripping Daisy). It's really cool looking; it looks like a cross between a pipe bomb and the water cannon on the front of an old...

The Signal Arts MIDI Analog Performance Sequencer was specifically designed for experimental composition in the sense that it requires the user to focus on the sequencing process instead of the end product. Unlike modern matrix sequencers designed to chain preconceived sequences together to create...

If I had put the same effort into my homework as into manually copying BASIC programs from Compute! magazine into my Commodore 64 in the early 80s, I would now be writing legal pleadings or prescriptions instead of reviews of video game synthesizers. Since then, I have been keeping one of my old...

ATR Services is known around the globe as a leading authority on analog reel-to-reel machines, especially the Ampex ATR-102 series. Given this profile, ATR receives numerous questions about caring for analog decks. To help machine owners with these topics, ATR started offering one-day seminars that...

Twenty years ago, few companies were still producing modular synthesizers. The mighty Moog Modulars, ARP 2500s, and Buchla Electric Music Boxes were reduced to studio camp or tucked away in university storage rooms. Boomer-era sonic pioneers focused their interests elsewhere, often finding fertile...

This hard drive is kinda' like a Hummer: Totally overbuilt and over engineered. Like a Hummer, it's like killing flies with a sawed off 12-gauge. But unlike driving a silly, gas guzzling Hummer, the GT-103 is a fantastic storage medium for your digital audio files. It doesn't cost as...

Although the Frostwave Fat Controller is one of the simplest among a small scene of traditionally-styled analog sequencers, it offers essential analog sequencing functionality along with some modern extras at a reasonable price. The Fat Controller consists of two rows of eight faders that can be...

The perennial problem with overdrive stompboxes is that many of them excel at only one sound. And sometimes it's a bad sound. The Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS-808 and original TS-9 models) has, over the years, set a standard of sorts with its natural-sounding simulation of tube amp overdrive. For...

With all the ads, articles, and newsgroups hammering us with buzzwords, it's easy to think that the only "real" equipment must be either Class-A, discreet, or tube. But don't forget that there have been many pieces of great sounding gear that have used the "black...

I've always wanted one of those hi-tech, heavy duty mic stands with the hella' long booms that you see at the AES shows in the boutique audio type booths. But, when I see the price tag of several thousand dollars I quickly give up on the idea. However, at the last NAMM show, I saw the SE...

This little bad boy is a total life-saver. Ever had a problem putting your Audio-Technica 40-series mics close to drums because of the shockmount? Or perhaps close to another mic in a coincident arrangement? Enter the AT8741. Available as a special-order item from A-T retailers, this is a hefty...

Wow. This seems to be the operative word for this compressor. We are trying one out at Studio G Brooklyn right now. Wow. This compressor is the ultimate expression of "tube comp" in my opinion. This "instrument" was built with the utmost care and standards that are...

One of the first things I learned when I started recording live concerts is the importance of a compressor/limiter right before going to tape/hard drive. All it takes is one little nasty "snap" of a digital overload to ruin everything. When there's no chance for a second take-and...

Some engineers know the old-time trick of placing a speaker (oftentimes the woofer from a Yamaha NS-10M, ironically enough) in front of a kick drum or bass amp, then running the speaker cables into a DI and sending that to a preamp. The speaker, being a moving-coil transducer much like a dynamic...

Considering the number of channels (24 in/out up to 48 kHz, twelve up to 96 kHz), the EC-2 is by far the least expensive set of 96 kHz-capable converters on the market. The inputs and outputs are fully differential, which reduces noise compared to other cheaper balancing methods (like on the stock...

The Helios Type 69 input module is a reissue of the input section found on the rare, silver Olympic mixing desks which were designed in the 1960s by Dick Swettenham. Mr. Swettenham was the in-house genius of Olympic studios who, like many studio technicians of those days, had the challenging task...

The HD24 FirePort 1394 Interface is a no brainer. If you track to HD24 and then transfer to a DAW to mix, go get one. Even if you don't own an HD24, it may be worth it for your studio to have compatibility. The included FST/Connect software runs on MacOS X and Windows 2000/XP only. The Mac and...

Gary Garritan, owner of Garritan Orchestral Libraries, has just released Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO), a full orchestral software-sampler program for $249 plus $15 shipping.

Now that's news, especially when you consider Garritan Orchestral Strings sells for $694, Vienna Symphonic...

Not too long ago, Samson Audio decided to enter the realm of low cost/good performance audio equipment with the introduction of their line of C Class processors. Amongst these stackable, half rack sized units are the C-Valve mic pre and C-Com-opti compressor.

The C-Valve is a tube mic pre that...