Recording - June 2014 - 59

On the M25, the CC button works differently than it does on the M32;
the Pad and CC buttons, lit or unlit in combination with one another, let
you access four banks of settings for the four Pads-two banks of four MIDI
Notes with aftertouch and two banks of user-assignable MIDI Control
Change messages. Those four banks of Pad settings, plus all the other control settings, combine to form a Preset, which can be saved to your computer and stored in one of four slots on the M25; press the Preset button
and hit one of the four Pads to load a Preset. All in all, this gives the
Graphite M25 a huge set of control possibilities at your fingertips, making
it a comprehensive, portable control solution.
We did run into one bug in the Graphite MiniEditor software that's worth
mentioning if you have an older version-the Sustain button for both these
keyboards will be changed to MIDI CC 0 and toggle behavior whenever you
create a new configuration and download it to the keyboard, and it can't be
changed after that. Samson was able to verify this bug and says that by the
time you read this, a new Editor will be online that fixes this problem.
The other two Graphite M units are smaller and have more specialized
controls. The Graphite MD13 ($59.99) offers 13 velocity/pressure-sensitive pads arranged like an octave of piano keys, plus 6 knobs, Octave

up/down and two transport buttons (Stop and
Record/Play), a crossfader, and an endless encoder.
All of these controls can have their settings customized
as part of a Preset, of which five can be stored in the
MD13 and recalled with the first five pads. The pads
can also be used to call up MIDI Program Changes,
as with the keys on the M25 and M32.
Finally, the Graphite MF8 ($59.99) is a portable
mix control surface, with eight channel strips plus
some global controls. Each channel has a short-throw
fader, a knob, and two buttons, one of which can
have two different functions (one accessible when the
Shift key is pressed). There are also five reassignable
transport buttons, five assignable function buttons
(which also recall five user-programmable Presets), an
encoder and a crossfader. All button controls can be
set to send notes or CC messages in toggle or momentary mode, including two central Left and Right buttons. Of the five Presets, four are user-configurable in
the Editor software; Preset 1 emulates a Mackie
Control for bank-based mix and transport control of
any DAW that understands the Mackie HUI protocol.
Very handy!
I don't have many gripes when considering how
many features these little controllers give you for your
money. On the M32 and M25, I miss a Sustain pedal
jack, or at least a way to set the Sustain button to toggle (or to send a CC other than 64); on the M25 and
MD13, I miss being able to use pad aftertouch to send
continuously variable MIDI CC information rather than
simply have the pads operate as switches. Those small
tweaks aside, I see the Graphite M Series as a very
affordable and portable set of building blocks for the
on-the-go songwriter or producer to create his or her
own custom control rig. Choose the one whose features best match your needs, and give it a try!

Radial Engineering USB-Pro USB Direct Box
Sometimes I think Radial Engineering
(www.radialeng.com) is in the business
of inventing cool new gizmos to solve
problems you didn't know you had... or
that you knew you had but didn't know
there was a fix for. Here's another example: Radial's first-ever digital audio product, the USB-Pro (price $229 street).
Probably the easiest way to describe
the USB-Pro is a cross between a USB
interface and a direct box. It takes audio
signals (up to 24-bit/96 kHz) from your
computer via USB and sends them to a
mixing console or PA system as lowimpedance mic-level signals. If you're
using a laptop in conjunction with pro
audio gear at a venue or in a large studio and you have a need to get impeccable audio output into your analog system, the USB-Pro will do it for you ruggedly and elegantly, over mic cables up to 300 feet long.
Like most other Radial boxes, the USB-Pro is built to withstand everything

up to and including being run over by a semi. It's built
into a wraparound 14-gauge steel chassis that protects
its controls from bumps and drops, with a huge nonslip rubber base pad. The controls and jacks are all
recessed for protection yet easy to reach. On the input
side, you get a USB input port, a headphone minijack
for monitoring, a Level pot, a Mono switch; on the output side there are two XLR jacks and a ground lift
switch; and hidden in the side of the unit are two transformer-isolation switches to help alleviate ground hum.
It's powered from the USB port and has a small green
LED to indicate power-on. A class-compliant USB
device, it works on Windows and Mac OS X computers immediately without any drivers to install.
In use, the USB-Pro delivers the goods with style.
Having two different ways to lift the ground-transformer
isolation and/or a conventional pin-1 disconnect on the
XLRs-gives you great flexibility in providing a clean signal to audio equipment, and the D/A converter sounds
clean and clear. One warning, though: Radial warns
that the built-in headphone amplifier is "very powerful",
and they're not kidding! Even my old 600 ohm AKG
headphones could be driven to screaming levels with no
trouble at all, and very low impedance phones go from
near-silent to ear-busting with a tiny twist of the Level pot.
As with every other Radial product, the USB-Pro is
a device that instantly provides a clean, elegant solution to a specific problem. I can't wait to see what
else Radial comes up with for the digital world!
RECORDING June 2014

http://www.radialeng.com

Recording - June 2014

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