STUDIO
Feb 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By Doug Eisengrein
LEXICON OMEGA
USB DESKTOP-RECORDING SYSTEM
Lexicon, a company well-versed in high-quality audio products with its line of professional effects, steps up to the USB-recording plate with Omega ($529). The complete package, called Omega Studio, is an integrated recording system for Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS X (10.2.8 or later). Omega Studio includes the 8×4×2 USB I/O mixer, ProTracks Plus 32-track software for PC and BIAS Deck 3.5 SE for recording on the Mac. For those who crave that classic Lexicon reverb sound, the package also includes Lexi's own Pantheon plug-in. The 35 factory presets that Pantheon provides include six reverb types (hall, chamber, plate, room, ambience and custom), each with 16 editable parameters. The USB hardware provides eight inputs total. Two low-noise dbx mic preamps are available with phantom power and inserts. Four line inputs are present on TRS jacks. Digital S/PDIF input is onboard, as is MIDI I/O. The Omega wraps up the deal with zero-latency direct monitoring.
Lexicon; Web
www.lexiconpro.com
MOTU 896HD
FIREWIRE AUDIO/MIDI INTERFACE
Anyone who knows audio interfaces knows MOTU. The company's latest release is the 896HD ($1,295). This professional-level interface features eight mic preamps with front-panel trims and switchable 48V phantom power. A whopping 18 inputs and 22 outputs are available, with virtually no channel sharing between the analog inputs, optical inputs, AES/EBU I/O, headphone and main outs. MOTU's trademark CueMix DSP makes for a latency-free monitoring system. Sample rates as high as 192 kHz are supported. Eight channels of 24-bit ADAT Optical input/output are standard, and sample-accurate digital transfers are possible via the ADAT sync port. The 896HD is expandable: You can add additional 828, 828mkII, 896 or 896HD interfaces via FireWire. Mac and PC drivers include ASIO, WDM, WAV, GSIF and Core Audio.
MOTU; e-mail
sales@motu.com; Web www.motu.com
MUSE RESEARCH RECEPTOR
RACKMOUNT VST EFFECTS/INSTRUMENT HARDWARE
A new company has arrived with a unique new product: Muse Research brings you the Receptor ($TBA), a 2-rackspace multitimbral sound and effects module that runs standard VST instruments and effects. Several similar computer/outboard-DSP units are out there, but Receptor is different — it can combine a maximum of 16 different audio sources, which can be either external analog or digital inputs, or internal VSTi instruments. Each source is routed through its own in-line effect matrix that allows as many as three VST plug-ins to be configured in every possible parallel or series arrangement. The signal is then sent to a dedicated mixer channel, where it can be further processed through two dedicated effects buses, each with another VST effects matrix, and finally through yet another VST effects matrix on the master output. Receptor provides the ability to use a whopping 16 simultaneous VSTi instruments and 57 VST effects total, as well as the ability to process external audio sources through its front-panel high-Z input, its rear-panel balanced analog inputs or its S/PDIF digital input.
Muse Research; e-mail
info@museresearch.com; Web
www.museresearch.com
BIAS PEAK 4
AUDIO EDITING/MASTERING SOFTWARE
An excellent digital audio editor just got better with BIAS' release of Peak 4 ($499). With support for bit depths as great as 32 bits, the sound-quality possibilities look good. Peak 4 is also forward-thinking, with support for Mac OS X, Audio Units plug-ins and Core Audio — compatible audio hardware. Automated Red Book Disk-at-Once CD burning can be performed direct from the playlist or any audio document window. Version 4 includes more than 25 VST effects plug-ins, including the new Sqweez compressor/limiter; Freq 4-band paragraphic EQ; and ImpulseVerb, which instantly applies recorded room ambience to any audio document. Peak 4 supports all SMDI hardware samplers for file transfer, as well as reads and writes MP3 and AAC (MP4) formats. If you've never used Peak, perhaps best of all is its excellent selection of DSP tools, including Fade In/Out, Normalize, Gain Envelope, Reverse, Invert, Harmonic Rotate, Rappify, Convolve, Reverse Boomerang, Convert Sample Rate, Change Pitch, Panner, Amplitude Fit, Find Peak and many more.
BIAS; e-mail
sales@bias-inc.com; Web
www.bias-inc.com
GROOVE TUBES GT66
TUBE CONDENSER MIC
Great tube mics naturally start with great tubes. And what better company to bring forward a great tube mic than one that specializes in making tubes? The hand-selected miniature pentode tubes used in Groove Tubes' GT66 ($899) condenser microphone are of military specs. The GT66 is an enhanced reissue of Groove Tubes' side-address true condensers and features a hand-assembled, hand-tested 1.10-inch-diameter capsule. The evaporated-gold diaphragm is 3 microns thick. Groove Tubes' Disk Resonator technology, together with the superthin diaphragm, provides excellent sensitivity along with complete transparency across the full frequency spectrum. Disk Resonator interacts at high frequencies to extend the range of the capsule through 20 kHz. The GT66 has a cardioid polar pattern and includes a switchable — 10 and — 15dB pad, as well as a low-frequency rolloff filter at 75 Hz. The mic is built with an all-brass capsule. The GT66 is designed for just about any source: voice, acoustic guitar, piano, drums and percussion.
Groove Tubes; e-mail
techsupport@groovetubes.com; Web
www.groovetubes.com
TC WORKS DYNAMIC EQ, FILTROID, TUBIFEX
PLUG-INS FOR TC POWERCORE 1.8
TC Works' TC PowerCore is an open DSP platform for rackmount-quality processing inside any VST- or Audio Units — compatible audio application. Aside from relieving your CPU of the duties of running workhorse processors, such as reverb, the real value of the PowerCore is its truly open architecture. New plug-ins available with the PowerCore version 1.8 update include Dynamic EQ ($499), Filtroid ($249) and Tubifex (free download), bringing the total number of virtual processors included with the PowerCore to 10. Tubifex is a guitar-amp-simulator plug-in that includes three individually adjustable stages of 12AX7-style tube emulation; it also packages a speaker simulator that is modeled on a 2×12 cabinet design. Dynamic EQ is a new mixing and mastering plug-in that offers as many as four definable bands that can work in static or dynamic mode or a combination of both. Each band can be configured in a parametric or high-/low-shelving filter mode. Filtroid brings the sound of analog filter banks to the PowerCore. The plug-in comprises two filters that include lowpass, highpass and bandpass shapes with 12, 18 or 24dB slope characteristics. Filtroid consists of serial or parallel filter routing, massive modulation options, sidechain input, resonance with self-oscillation and much more.
TC Works; e-mail
infous@tcelectronic.com; Web
www.tcelectronic.com
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