Recording - April 2020 - 40

REVIEW
EVO By Audient EVO 4 USB Audio Interface
A sleek and modern new USB interface that's compact, portable, and downright smart
REVIEW BY ALEX HAWLEY

VO by Audient is a new sub
brand of British audio company Audient. EVO by Audient launched with two interfaces
at NAMM 2020: the EVO 4 and
EVO 8. Their design focus is centered on professional sound in a
fluid user experience. It comes
loaded with useful smart features,
such as Smartgain, which automatically sets an optimal recording level for musicians, podcasting, gaming, and streamers.

Overview

EVO 4 is a 2x2 recording interface
that supports up to 24/96 sound. Inputs
include two combo jacks on the back
panel and a JFET 1/4" instrument input on
the front. The EVO 4 mic preamps are designed to sound clean and transparent,
and offer up to 50dB of gain (or -8dB of
attenuation, totaling 58dB of gain range)
with an EIN of -127dB. EVO is also loaded with class-leading conversion; AKM
chips handle AD/DA with 113dB of dynamic range. There are 1/4" balanced
monitor outputs on the back panel, and a
1
/4" headphone output on the front. EVO
4 connects to the computer via USB 2.0
and is completely bus powered.
Controls are intuitively laid out around
a large multifunction volume knob; metering is displayed on a ring of white
LEDs that surrounds it. On the left side
there are buttons for 48v, inputs 1 and
2, and a green button that enables
Smartgain Mode. On the right, there are
two buttons for monitor mix and output
volume. Pressing a button assigns said
parameter the volume knob.
The monitor mix button allows you to
mix between monitoring the computer
outputs or the direct inputs for low-latency
monitoring. Pressing and holding the
40 RECORDING April 2020

monitor mix button will allow you to pan
the inputs when in direct input monitoring mode, and holding the main output
button will mute the main outputs; holding down either input button will mute
them as well.

Smartgain

Smartgain automatically sets the input level of the microphone for you. After pressing the green Smartgain button,
each input will flash; this prompts you to
select one or both inputs at the same time.
Once an input source is selected, pressing
the button again causes it to start flashing
red-EVO 4 is now listening to the selected inputs to determine where to set the
gain. It will listen to the source for 6-10
seconds, and then set the gain for you.
I tried Smartgain on several sources,
and it did a great job of setting proper
levels. In general, when setting levels we
should try to speak, sing, or play with the
highest volume that we plan on actually
using, so as to not overload the preamp
inputs. If you feed EVO 4 a quiet source
when calibrating with Smartgain, but
then step on a cranked distortion pedal,
or suddenly start singing louder when you
hit record (as often happens), you won't
get good results. Proper Smartgain setup

minimizes guesswork, which is great for
those of us who are new to the process
of recording, or for times when you need
to get your levels dialed in very quickly.

Loopback Recording

EVO 4 features loopback recording,
which allows you to record computer
audio simultaneously with your microphone inputs. This feature sets the interface apart for anyone who will be recording podcasts or streaming anything
such as games on Twitch. For example,
if you are recording a podcast with a
guest interview over Skype, you can
record both your microphone input and
the Skype feed at the same time. Or, you
can record the high-quality stereo audio
from your game while also capturing
your microphone feed while streaming. The loopback feature requires a
few things to be set up correctly in your
system preferences (which is explained
in the User Guide), but once it's configured, it works very smoothly.
This feature may also be useful for voiceover talents who wish to record from
home. With programs like Source-Connect, EVO 4 makes it easy to record
both the send and receive audio feeds
for a more fluid workflow.

Recording - April 2020

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