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Universal Audio's UAD-2 Quad is a powerful PCI-E card that handles plug in processing with unmatched speed while allowing a wide range of UA plug in use.
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Beginning January 2009, we’re going to beef up the content of Fast Forward by combining it with Pro Studio Edition. Fast Forward will now include one “ProStudio” feature every month, focusing on new recording trends, new equipment, interviews with industry trendsetters, and “live-in-the-studio” product tests. To get you started here’s this month’s PSE feature: Studio Wish List, where PSE checks in with retailers to find out what‘s popular with recording musicians and studio owners this holiday season.
As the year comes to a close, Pro Studio Edition is making its annaul stop to find out what new and innovative products are popular among recording musicians and studio owners. We’ll find out about some affordable mics, a plug in system that is setting a new standard for performance, a two-channel high resolution recorder, and a few other items small enough to be your favorite stocking stuffers.
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UA's RealVerb is one of the plug ins that benefit from the UAD system.
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Our first stop is at Philadelphia’s 8th Street Music, where recording and pro audio specialist Tom Tague identified Universal Audio’s new UAD-2 Quad as one of the best sounding plug in systems available anywhere.
“One of the main drawbacks with using plug ins is that they bog down your computer’s main processor, resulting in slower and slower performance as you use more plug in processing, explains Tom. “But because it uses the PCI Express card (that will run on current PC or Mac computers), the UAD-2 Quad can handle pretty much anything you throw at it. This leaves your computer’s host processor to handle automation, more tracks, virtual instruments, and other processing duties. The UAD-2 also offers its own suite of plug in tools, which not only include the UA family of products such as the 1176, LA-2, and Fairchild limiters, but a host of partner plug ins are available including Neve, Pultec, Roland, Moog, and many more.
“What’s more, you can start small with a UAD-2 Solo, which offers a big boost in processing power and speed, and can be purchased as low as $400, including a basic bundle of plug ins. The next step up, the Duo, gives you double the processing power of the Solo (at about $899), while the Quad is the top of the line, with Universal Audio touting its being 10 times faster than their earlier UAD-1 product.
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The Mopho offers classic analog synth sounds and filter effects in a portable, powerful package.
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“If you start with the Solo, you can add more cards later, running as many as four of them simultaneously. Universal also wisely allows you to upgrade from the UAD-1 to the new model and “crossgrade” your existing plug ins to the latest versions for the UAD-2 at no charge, so that your earlier investment will not be obsolete.”
Another option is to choose the Flexi bundle, which allows you to mix and match exactly which plug ins you want to buy with your UAD card after first testing them out during UA’s free 14-day trial usage period. To aid you in your evaluation, all features of the software are fully functional during the demo period.
When asked for a favorite stocking stuffer, Tom suggests the new Mopho from Dave Smith Instruments. “This monophonic keyboard is a tiny little box with amazing sound. It’s perfect for live gigs, DJs, or in the studio as a stand-alone effects processor that allows for some great filtering effects.” The street price is around $400 for this analog synth that includes two sub-harmonic filters for earth-shattering bass effects.
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The PPG Wave soft synth included in the Waldorf Edition delivers an unmistakable classic 80s synth pop sound. |
Tom’s last pick is the Waldorf Edition Plug-In Suite, which bundles three of the German software company’s most popular products: the storied PPG Wave analog synth, their Attack real-time drum (a percussion synth featuring 24 sounds per percussion set), and the D-Pole filter plug-in program. The PPG Wave was a groundbreaking 80’s analog synth that pioneered Wavetable technology, providing a deeper, richer timbre than comparable 80’s synths. Check out Thomas Dolby’s classic “She Blinded Me with Science” for a taste of the PPG’s amazing tones. “For under $100, it’s an unbeatable value,” concludes Tom. “All three of these programs come in handy for any number of projects in the studio.”
Heading south a few hours, PSE checks in with regular contributor Ray Arsenault at Nashville’s popular Corner Music. When asked for a recommendation to upgrade a home studio, Ray was quick to sing the praises of a new line of analog mixing consoles that Corner Music recently added to its inventory.
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APB Dynasonics M 1016 portable analog mixer provides excellent audio quality in a package that is at home in the studio or on the road. |
“APB Dynasonics is making some of the top analog consoles today starting from a rack mount 16-channel model all the way up to 48 input desks,” says Ray. “They’re made in the USA and feature Class-A design and circuits throughout, so the resulting sound quality is outstanding.”
The movement to include an analog console or summing mixer in the digital recording process continues to grow. “One of my regular customers has the small APB 16-channel monitor mixer (the M 1016) with them on the road and they use it to make master quality recordings no matter where they are. The M 1016 can be used in a rack mount or as a table top mixer since the back panel of connectors and insert points can be rotated between 90 and 180 degrees by simply removing two screws. So you can use it on the road as a rackable instrument or monitor mixer just as easily as a desktop mixer in any studio.”
The real sizzle with the APB mixers, according to Ray, is the sound quality. “APB spent a great deal of time in the design and collaborated with Burr-Brown on the front-end designs for their mixers, and it shows. I have one set up in the store to demo my studio monitors and when I first powered it up, the total lack of any system noise was a little freaky – I had to double check that it was on. Once I started listening again to the various monitors we have in our demo room, it was like a veil had been lifted and a whole new level of clarity was there.”
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Korg's MR-2000 provides a wide range of audio file format capabilities.
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The APB rack-mount mixers start at about $3,500, but the jump in sonic quality would certainly seem to make that investment a worthwhile one to consider. APB also recently announced that a more full-featured console, dubbed the Pro Desk 4, is in the works with an anticipated early 2009 ship date. Preliminary information is already posted on their web site. If its performance is anything like the mighty M 1016, then the larger APB consoles will certainly be worth investigating.
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Cascade's Fat Head II microphone delivers precision ribbon performance at an unbeatable price.
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Another product Ray praised was the new Korg MR-2000, one-rack space digital recorder. “It’s perfect for mixdowns and as a high-resolution archiving system for all your old projects.” Due to its small size, you can also use it for remote two-channel recordings. The MR-2000 uses the high resolution one-bit DSD recording system that was at the heart of the Super Audio CD format. With its internal 80 GB hard drive, you can store up to 120 hours of CD-quality mixes on board. One useful feature is that you can record at the highest possible resolution, then use the included Audio Gate software package to easily output various audio file formats – including AAC, WMA, MP3 and many others. The street prices range between $1,850-2,000 for this powerful, portable recorder.
For a stocking stuffer, Ray mentioned the ever popular Zoom H-1 pocket recorder, which “keep flying out the door as fast as we can get them in.” This powerful “studio in a pocket” retails for under $200, making it a useful and affordable device for any musician. Another affordable choice, Ray added, is the “Cascade line of ribbon mics, which at an entry level price point, deliver performance that rivals that of ribbon mics costing many times more. I especially like the Fat Head II, which has a street price of around $219. It sounds great on just about any sound source.”
I can second Ray’s opinion on the Fat Heads as I purchased a pair of them after last year’s NAMM show on the advice of a good friend who has been praising them for quite awhile. Since adding them to our school’s mic locker, we’ve found them an excellent match for a wide range of sessions providing full, rich tone on stand up bass, brass, double reeds, percussion tracks and even female vocals, providing a luscious, more nuanced sound than many more expensive condenser mics. |
