Recording - December 2015 - 20

Part 1: Hands-on With Hardware
laptop bag without having to worry about
coddling it. Keys that don't move when you
touch them take a bit of getting used to, but
once you do, the K-Board is surprisingly
expressive and fun.-MM

a dedicated network and a simple client app for Mac OS X 10.10+ or iOS 8.2+,
the PUC allows a DAW to receive data wirelessly from a MIDI device, freeing up
physical connections for other uses. Pretty cool, huh?
Yeah, well, it was at the time... but technology marches on, and the folks at Zivix have
taken the PUC to the next level. Using the new Bluetooth LE protocol, a fast and reliable
way to transmit MIDI data 30 feet or more (depending on conditions), the new PUC+
eliminates the need for a dedicated wireless array (leaving your Wi-Fi available for other
devices that might need it)... and it can transmit MIDI data in both directions, not just
from the PUC to the DAW.
The unit is still shaped like, well, a hockey puck, and it still has the rubberized outer
ring, removable baseplate for two AA batteries, and power button with multicolor
status LED array... but in addition to its single MIDI port on 5-pin DIN, there's also a
micro-B USB connector that attaches to an included USB Y-cable. That lets you connect the many USB-MIDI devices out there to the PUC+ and use bidirectional MIDI
over Bluetooth, and even battery-power the ones that take 300 mA or less of current.
(The Y-cable lets you simultaneously power a controller that needs more juice.)
There's a new PUC+ app that works with Bluetooth rather than Wi-Fi, and as easy as it
was to use the old app with the original PUC, this is even faster and cleaner. I hooked up
my KMI K-Board (see the review elsewhere in this Buyer's Guide) and within seconds I was
controlling my iOS software, with the K-Board powered very nicely from the batteries in the
PUC+. Bidirectional control worked brilliantly as well, with very low latency.
The physical MIDI port can be an Input or Output, switchable in the app, and the app
even has a built-in virtual sample player with its own keyboard, so you can test your controller connections in both directions. Multiple PUC+ units can be connected to multiple
controllers, and all of them can simultaneously talk to one app on your Mac or iGizmo.
If you're interested in cutting the cables that connect your controller to your Mac
or iOS device, the PUC+ lets you go wireless and avoid both clutter and cable obsolescence.-MM

RHA Audio S500i In-Ear Headphones
$49.95; www.rha.co.uk

We've talked about RHA Audio a lot in our pages; this Scottish firm has created a
wide variety of in-ear monitoring designs of all shapes and sizes, at all price points. Very
recently, we received two new RHA phones. One, the brand-new T20i, is RHA's first dualdriver headphone, and will be featured in a full review in an upcoming issue; the other
was a last-minute addition, the very affordable S500i that I'll be reviewing here.
The S500i lacks a few of the frills found on its more costly cousins; you won't find
interchangeable EQ-curve filter inserts on this model, and it comes with a tiny mesh
drawstring bag rather than a zippered case. But you still get small, medium, large, and
dual-flange silicone eartips on a display card, and a clothing clip for use with a phone.

Zivix PUC+
$99.99; www.mipuc.com

In our January 2015 issue, we introduced readers to the PUC, a small device
that converts the MIDI output of any keyboard or controller into Wi-Fi data. Using





http://www.rha.co.uk http://www.mipuc.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - December 2015