Gear Reviews

REAL-WORLD ASSESSMENTS OF RECORDING EQUIPMENT BY WORKING PROFESSIONALS.

NO. 130 Gear Review

Arturia: Pigments

REVIEWED BY John Baccigaluppi
March 15, 2019

This latest soft synth moves in a totally new direction for Arturia as it’s not an emulation based on a vintage hardware synth (that’s been their stock in trade for over a decade) – it’s completely original. But concurrently to their soft synths they’ve also been making their own unique analog...

NO. 130 Gear Review

Novation: 61SL MkIII Keyboard Controller

REVIEWED BY Dana Gumbiner
March 15, 2019

This is a future-proof controller that’s really more of a studio “director” or “headmaster-in-charge of all things bleepy-bloopy” – not your grandad’s MIDI controller, no sir. The SL MkIII is easily the most utility-driven, feature-full MIDI controller/sequencer I’ve yet to test drive. And although...

NO. 130 Gear Review

Kendall Howard: 10-32 Rack Screws

REVIEWED BY Scott Evans
March 15, 2019

Oh lord, he's reviewing rack screws. I'll make it quick: these are some nice rack screws! The pilot point makes them much easier to start than the hardware store screws I've used forever, and they're smoother to screw in and out too. Better tolerances? I don't know, but I...

NO. 130 Gear Review

Mag Instrument: Mini Maglite Pro LED Flashlight

REVIEWED BY Tom Fine
March 15, 2019

I've been a Maglite man since I was in college. They are built to be dropped, don't die under most rain conditions and the beam-focus feature has always been useful, especially for tasks like finding a black screw dropped on a dark-colored floor under an equipment rack. I just did a big...

NO. 130 Gear Review

Synclavier Digital: Synclavier Go! iPad App

REVIEWED BY John Baccigaluppi
March 15, 2019

If you’ve been following my reviews in Tape Op, then you may have already read my reviews of several virtual software instruments based on the original Synclavier hardware synthesizer [Tape Op #118]. If not, you can read those to get more background on the Synclavier and it’s unique approach to...

NO. 130 Gear Review

Arturia: MiniBrute2, MiniBrute2S, Rackbrute

REVIEWED BY John Baccigaluppi
March 15, 2019

When Arturia introduced a new series of Brute synths and a Eurorack/power supply system at NAMM last year, we had several reviewers asking about them. Thom Monahan is an experienced analog synthesizer user and wanted to review the MiniBrute 2S, which has an onboard step sequencer but no keyboard....

NO. 130 Gear Review

Native Instruments: Crush & Mod Pack Plug-In Bundles

REVIEWED BY Dana Gumbiner
March 15, 2019

I’m really digging these lightweight and discovery-laden plug-in bundles from Native Instruments; the fun-to-cost ratio is highly disproportionate! Each of these packs features three 64-bit plug-ins (VST, AU, or AAX) that offer a surprising amount of creative potential for such a low cost. I was a...

NO. 130 Gear Review

Sioux Guitars: Dakota County Analog Delay Pedal

REVIEWED BY Pete Weiss
March 15, 2019

Iowa-based Sioux Guitars has been making very cool, very colorful, and very rock ‘n’ roll guitars, amps, and pedals since 2007. I have long admired their stuff from a distance – always hearing positive things but for some reason never finding a chance to try any of it myself, so I was psyched when...

NO. 130 Gear Review

Avid: Pro Tools S3 & Dock Control Surfaces

REVIEWED BY Eli Crews
March 15, 2019

I will start with the bold statement that I feel solidly qualified to weigh in on Avid’s latest control surface offerings, the Pro Tools | S3 and the Pro Tools | Dock, having purchased the very first control surface available for Pro Tools – the Mackie HUI (Human User Interface) – way back in 1999....

NO. 130 Gear Review

Hendyamps: Michelangelo Stereo Equalizer

REVIEWED BY Garrett Haines
March 15, 2019

The Michelangelo is a discrete, Class A, all tube, full-stereo equalizer with Jensen input and output transformers. Each unit is hand-made in Texas on a first-come-first-served basis. Go ahead and order one now, then come back to read the rest of this review. I’ll wait.

Michelangelo is the original...

NO. 130 Gear Review

Roland: SE-02 Analog Synthesizer

REVIEWED BY Dana Gumbiner
March 15, 2019

Here’s a surprisingly powerful new analog synth developed in collaboration with Roland and US-based synth designers Studio Electronics. This little box is the first of what Roland calls its “Boutique Designer Series” synthesizers and is in the compact and now-familiar Roland Boutique form...

NO. 130 Gear Review

DIY Recording Equipment: OLA5 500 Series Compressor

REVIEWED BY Scott Evans
March 15, 2019

I've followed DIYRE since reviewing their Colour 500 Series analog saturation platform kit [Tape Op#107], and they've been busy. They've released three or four new kits since 2015: a Colour mkII with a lot of solid improvements (I bought and built a pair); a Pultec-inspired passive...

NO. 130 Gear Review

RME: Fireface UFX+ Interface & ARC-USB Remote

REVIEWED BY John Bologni
March 15, 2019

The original Fireface UFX has been the centerpiece of my mixing studio and mobile recording rig for nearly eight years. The unique feature that sold me on the original UFX was its built-in DURec recorder, which allowed me to record all 60 channels of I/O onto a USB flash drive as a multitrack WAV...

NO. 130 Gear Review

Eventide: EuroDDL Eurorack Delay

REVIEWED BY Chris Koltay
March 15, 2019

As an engineer in my mid-40s, Eventide is one of those iconic companies I grew up with. First seeing gear ads in magazines and studio shots, and then hearing stories about Brian Eno [Tape Op#85] or Tony Visconti [#29] and his famous "fucks with the fabric of time" quote. I was in high...

NO. 130 Gear Review

PreSonus: Studio 1824 USB Interface

REVIEWED BY Dana Gumbiner
March 15, 2019

Here's a 24-bit, 192 kHz audio interface that's a ridiculous bargain at this price point. The Studio 1824 has plenty of analog and digital I/O, plus an 18x8 DSP mixer with low-latency monitor mixing. That's all well and good, and to be honest we've tested many comparable...

NO. 130 Gear Review

FLEA Microphones: SUPERFET 47 & 48 Microphones

REVIEWED BY Eli Crews
March 15, 2019

Yes, I'm with you. Do we really need more Neumann U 47 and U 48 clones in the market? Apparently the Slovakian company FLEA Microphones thinks so, and has produced a pair of solid-state mics that they claim sound like the tube stalwarts among the holiest of grails in the vintage mic collection...

NO. 130 Gear Review

Triad-Orbit: Starbird SB-1 Mic Stand

REVIEWED BY John Baccigaluppi
March 15, 2019

We unfortunately live in an age where many of the tools we use are poorly made, disposable, and destined or even designed to end up in a landfill. As a studio owner and working engineer, I enjoy the tools I own that have stood the test of time, are decades old, but still work as well as they did...