Gear Reviews

I do a fair amount of video scoring on tight deadlines, which often makes tracking drums impossible. As a result, I find myself employing drum plug-ins pretty regularly. I've been using a few other virtual drummer products to get things done quickly, but never had the opportunity to try out...

Manley makes audio gear in Chino, CA, for audio enthusiasts and audiophiles. In the same manner that drivers who love to drive (and have lots of money) drive Aston Martins, audio professionals who love audio use Manley gear. Manley graces the racks of top mastering engineers, recording engineers,...

I must admit that I have never been a huge fan of the 500-series format. I have spent too much time repairing my friends' racking frames, usually due to the voltage regulators frying, and I always found the mechanical aspects very fiddly. For example, unlike the 800, 900, and 9000–series...

I'll admit that when I first tried Limitless, I found myself totally frustrated with its countless features and information-heavy graphics, when all I was trying to do was use it as a basic limiter. Although the plug-in starts up by default in a somewhat easier-to-digest (and modern-looking)...

The Brainworx bx_console N, E, and G plug-ins are predicated on accurate digital models of the channel strips from Neve VXS, and "British" E and G Series consoles. Clearly Brainworx are avoiding use of someone's brandname here, for reasons that didn't take much internet...

Part of publishing Tape Op involves going to the NAMM show every January. It's nice to see our friends there, and there's always a lot of gear to look at, but honestly a lot of it is pretty much the same items from previous years, without much innovation (beyond some new digital I/O port...

With most pro audio gear, there's never enough control right where the gain-staging starts to get interesting. The upper range of the operating levels of a circuit is often where full-bodied lusciousness lives. As harmonics get more complex, sounds start to reveal their internal architecture...

SONAR [Tape Op #116] is dead, long live… which DAW? The shutdown of Gibson-owned Cakewalk sent thousands of users looking for a new DAW. It may be that SONAR's demise has been grossly exaggerated, because the software still works as well as ever — and BandLab has recently purchased all of the...

In all honesty, the original SPL Transient Designer [Tape Op #21] was one of the first pieces of analog hardware that really blew my mind. The first time I played around with one, perhaps fifteen years ago, I was shocked at how different it was from "normal" dynamics processors. With only...

Yes, I'm a bit biased. I'm a fan of CruzTOOLS' solid line of problem-solving musical instrument tools. I own and use one of their Guitar Player Tech Kits [Tape Op #69] (awesome for general guitar tech tasks), as well as a Jack and Pot Wrench [#83] (handy for tightening/loosening the...

I've been using Line 6 gear since the company's inception, from the original POD, to the rackmount POD Pro [Tape Op #22], to the later-generation POD XT Live pedalboard, which I continue to use to this day. I even had a few of their pedals in various live rigs over the years, most notably...

As we all know, it's a new "personal listening" world out there. The majority of consumers, especially younger ones, listen to most of their music on earbuds or headphones, instead of full-range speakers. What speakers they do listen on are often pitiful little things hooked up to a...

After focusing on making microphones for 50 years, our Australian friends at RØDE have just released the AI?1 single-channel, high-resolution (24?bit, 96 kHz), portable interface. The Complete Studio Kit includes the AI?1, along with RØDE's new NT1 large-diaphragm condenser mic (with...

Twenty years ago, Royer Labs unleashed the "now classic" Royer R–121 mic [Tape Op #19], and (along with AEA) helped point digital-weary engineers back towards the welcome old-school sound of ribbon microphones. In 2010, I reviewed the (now discontinued) R–101 [#80], which I found a tad...

One cannot mention Suzanne Ciani's name without following it up with the word "trailblazer." This documentary film follows Ciani as she creates a world that basically didn't exist before she came along, by taking her passion for synthesizers and transforming it into a...

As engineers and music producers, we have a special relationship with our microphones, as they are the lenses through which we hear the world. We desire a certain accurate sonic reproduction, but also just the right amount of flattery for a given purpose. Through experience, we learn just how much...

It seems like most of us own or have owned a piece of ART gear at one time or another, and Tape Op has reviewed many of the company's recording products. The Tube Mix falls right in line with ART's ethos of purveying practical gear at attainable, realistic prices, while it offers a fun...

When I reviewed the LaChapell Audio 583S mk2 tube preamp [Tape Op #104], I learned that it is a fantastic mic preamp with lots of tone and personality, and it is the only 500-series preamp that I know of that provides a full 250 V to its 12AX7 tube. The 500TDI is a 500-series tube DI inspired by...

"Compressor Tone-Shaper Mix-Inflator Mojo-Maker" — I guess that was too much to put on the front panel, so Overstayer called it Stereo Voltage Control instead. Contrary to the company's name, the Overstayer SVC couldn't arrive too early, and it's welcome to stay...