Recording - April 2012 - 12

British Audio Engineering (baeaudio.com) showed the Matt Sorum 312B mic preamplifier ($820). This modification to the 312A 500-Series preamp has a Jensen input transformer to handle louder input sources before needing its pad, with 7 dB lower gain in the circuit. It still offers a pull-on high-frequency boost switch, instrument DI, phase reverse, phantom power, and pad. to simultaneously record all input channels to a USB flash drive or computer. Other features include one or two 24-bit effects processors, one-knob compression and British eq on mono channels, and more. The Control1USB (price TBA) is a desktop monitor controller with four inputs, three separate monitor outputs, dual headphone outs, USB, and talkback mic. And the FIREPOWER FCA610 and FCA1616 (prices TBA) are rackmount USB/FireWire 24/96 audio interfaces with XENYX premps, 6-in/10-out and 16-in/16-out. Benchmark Media Systems (benchmarkmedia.com) showed the DAC16 ($3995), a single-space rackmount 16channel D/A converter with a built-in 16-to-2 analog summing bus, allowing 8 stereo stems to be brought out of the DAW, converted to analog, and then summed in the analog domain, all in the same unit. The unit features 8 coaxial inputs, 8 optical inputs, and two DB25 balanced digital inputs, all supporting AES and S/PDIF, with the optical inputs supporting ADAT and SMUX up to 192 kHz, all with flexible I/O routing. Blue Microphones (bluemic.com) showed two new digital-interface microphones. The Mikey Digital ($99) is a dual-capsule stereo mic for iOS devices, with automatic gain control, 3.5mm aux input jack, and rotating head for optimal positioning. The Spark Digital ($199) is a new version of the Spark mic (reviewed April 2011) with a built-in interface for USB or iPad use and zero-latency CAD Audio (cadmics.com) debuted an updated version of the E300S multipattern large-diaphragm condenser mic ($349.99) to match the current CAD Equitek S Series design specs. CAD also showed the MH110 ($39.99), an affordable circumaural headphone with 18 Hz–18 kHz frequency response, as well as the HA4 compact 4-channel headphone amp ($49.99); the HP110 bundle ($149.99) combines four MH110 headphones with one HA4.

Cakewalk (cakewalk.com) announced the SONAR X1d update (free to registered users), which adds an updated QuadCurve EQ (for SONAR X1 Producer Expanded users), 64-bit ReWire support, an improved Mod Matrix feature for FX Chains, and more. Also new: the ProChannel Concrete Limiter plug-in ($79). Crane Song’s (cranesong.com) Phoenix II (upgrade free or $65 depending on when Phoenix was purchased) is an AAX tape-emulation plug-in with a variety of user-selectable characteristics, including tape type, brightness, and input and output level trim. Dave Hill Designs’ (davehilldesigns.com) new Titan (price TBA) is a singlerackspace analog compressor/limiter with an all-analog signal path, digitally controlled with values shown on a color LCD. In addition to traditional controls, the Titan offers control over VCA Color, Dynamic Color, parallel compression, and a Fat/Air switch. Dangerous Music (dangerousmusic.com) showed the Dangerous Source (price TBA), a portable monitor controller designed to sit on a desktop under a 13" laptop computer. It offers separate speaker and headphone level controls, dual 1/4" headphone outputs, two speaker output sets (available singly or together), balanced XLR and unbalanced 1/8" TRS inputs, AES/S/PDIF digital input (24-bit/192 kHz), USB, and more.

headphone monitoring, that comes bundled with cabling for both interfaces, a shockmount desk stand, and six-month subscriptions to the SoundCloud and Gobbler cloud-based music publishing/ sharing services.
12
RECORDING APRIL 2012

From top: Behringer UFX1204 and FCA1616; Blue Spark Digital; Dangerous Source

http://www.baeaudio.com http://www.cadmics.com http://www.benchmarkmedia.com http://www.cakewalk.com http://www.cranesong.com http://www.davehilldesigns.com http://www.bluemic.com http://www.dangerousmusic.com

Recording - April 2012

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