First things first: This is a keyboard controller intended only for use with a computer. There is a USB port but no MIDI ports - you won’t be using this as a gigging controller for any rack mounted synths or samplers you might have. However, this is a very valuable tool for the home-studio musician.
The 61 key “synth weighted” keyboard comes with a whole lot of functionality, including 9 faders, 9 buttons, 8 rotary knobs, and basic transport and function controls. The big sell with this controller is how easily it integrates into a number of third-party DAWs, including Live, Reason, Record, GargageBand, Logic, Cubase, and even Pro Tools!
I started there and tried to plug and play my way through a few popular programs. The installer’s interface was a bit confusing, but after that, getting started was as simple as the 2 page quick start guide. Thanks to the installed “Direct Link” drivers for Pro Tools, I could easily choose the Oxygen as a peripheral in Pro Tools (as you would with a pro control, motor mix, etc) and then select the “Direct Link” preset on the Oxygen 61.
Sure enough, the eight sliders were controlling the first 8 tracks of volume, the buttons below the slider activated the mutes, and the eight knobs the pan (read the manual to find out how to solo tracks as well). The transport controls also worked like a charm.
If you can make it to the appendix of the manual, you will find a few more “hidden functions” for the Pro Tools transport, like the invaluable “undo” keystroke. All this allows for a significant amount of recording and tweaking without touching your computer keyboard – which we like a lot.
Next came the promise of adjusting plug in parameters with the Oxygen’s 8 rotary knobs. This functionality had always been reserved for high-end Digidesign or Mackie control surfaces. But M-Audio, being a subsidiary of Digidesign (recently rebranded as Avid), is leveraging the power of the new PT 8 “plug-in mapping” feature. The 8 rotary knobs can serve as the first 8 controls on whatever plug-in is open at the time. Thanks to plug-in mapping, you can decide which 8 virtual knobs deserve your tactile control, and in what order. Amazingly, the software relinquishes control of the pan knobs to plug in controls seamlessly when a plug in window is open. It was very satisfying to adjust all my favorite plug-ins with ease in Pro Tools.
The control surface functions are definitely handy. Just being able to start and stop playback at the keyboard makes recording so much easier. The knobs and sliders are much more valuable when used on synths and plug-ins though.
All in all, for under $200, you’d be hard pressed to find a more valuable multi-purpose studio tool. The 49 key and 25 key models offer similar functionality. For those more interested in the control functions, the 25 key on your desktop would be a space saving way to go. But if Avid’s slow take over of other audio companies leads to even more innovation and co-operation between my gear and my Pro Tools system, I say keep it up!
We had an SE Electronics Gemini II in for testing earlier this year. We checked it out on vocals, nylon and steel-stringed acoustic guitar, drums, and more. Here’s what we think about it.
The Gemini II is remarkable for its topology — it is one of a handful of dual-tube condenser mics on the market. Where most mics use a transformer or transistors on the output circuit, the Gemini II uses a second dual-triode tube. Click here to see the Gemini II profile in the Mic Database, including a fuller description of the features, specifications, photos, and a buyer’s guide pointing out the lowest online prices for the mic. (full review here)
Hardwire has generated quite some buzz recently with their high quality, sturdy lineup of stomp boxes, including a Reverb unit that employs venerated Lexicon algorithms. The manufacturer has recently released a new addition to this set, the TR-7. This is a true stereo tremolo, rotary, and vibrato pedal, offering effects ranging from traditional tremolo to a highly-detailed rotary cabinet simulator. There are 7 different volume modulation effects, each one with different character: Tremolo, Opto-Tremolo, Bias Tremolo, Duo Tremolo, Rotary, Vibrato, and VibroPan. The stomp box also features true stereo I/O, allowing for complex connections and sounds with great flexibility.
Each HardWire pedal also features an assortment of tour-worthy accessories, including green gaffer tape common to pro pedalboards, Stomplock™ knob guards to maintain pedal settings and a hook & loop pad to fasten the pedal to a pedalboard. The TR-7 will be available August 2010 with an MSRP of $189.95.
The now discountinued BBE Freq Boost is an interesting proposition for the vintage crowd: How far will you go to recreate the sound of the 1960s and 1970s? First a little background: The Freq Boost is a treble booster, which is essentially a precursor to the now-ubiquitous overdrive pedal. Guitarists like Eric Clapton, Ritchie Blackmore and Brian May all used treble boosters to make dark-sounding Britrock amps cut through the mix. As the name “treble booster” suggests, these pedals turbo-charge the mid and treble frequencies to push tube amps into overdrive. Make no mistake: The Freq Boost is a good treble booster. The pedal retails for $99, which is a lot of money for a pedal with a super-simple circuit and one knob, but you can feel the quality. However, the sound is an acquired taste to say the least. The Freq Boost seems to love or hate certain amps; there’s no in-between. Run it between a Gibson Las Paul Standard and a Fender Pro Jr. and crank the Freq Boost and you’re solidly in Clapton-era Blues Breakers territory. Do the same with a Fender Bassman and it’s like banshees shooting red-hot darts directly into your ears.
Bear in mind these pedals aren’t necessarily designed with a solo artist in mind. Used as a volume boost for solos using a Gibson Marauder through a Fender Hotrod Deville in a loud, five-piece rock band the Freq Boost certainly chimes—in fact, you can hear every note. Just don’t let the band drop out while you’re in full wail. The bottom line is that this pedal thrives in two very specific settings—through small tube amps with small speakers at low volume and as an occasional volume boost in a distortion-saturated rock band. Trying to find a middle ground is a masochist’s game. – Howard Stock
Though not as popular as compressors, maximizers (sometimes called exciters or enhancers) are many engineers’ “secret weapon” for adding extra pop and sizzle or smoothing out rough-edged tracks. For those familiar with studio compressors, BBE is to maximizers as DBX is to compressors: affordable and dependable. BBE’s D82 Sonic Maximizer plugin, a faithful emulation of their hardware unit, is a flexible addition to any recordist’s arsenal.
Using two simple controls, Lo Contour and Process, the D82 adjusts phase irregularities in low and high frequencies. Overall, I found the plugin most useful at rounding out the boomy bass and low-mid frequencies found in acoustic recordings. As a test, I applied it to an overly muted kick drum recording and it brought clarity and definition back to the track.
The D82’s preset settings are too generalized to rely on, but it doesn’t take long to become comfortable tweaking the controls. I found that the plugin sounds best placed at the front of the signal chain and applied in moderation. High end companies offer similar plugins to tackle multi-band dynamics, such as Sonalksis’ CQ1 Multi-Band Compander. However, no one offers a plugin that functions quite like the D82 at a low price.
BBE currently offers the D82 along with with two other plugins, the H82 Harmonic Maximizer and L82 Loudness Maximizer in its Sonic Suite Bundle. The H82 is a variation on the Sonic Maximizer that adds harmonic content to the original signal while the L82 is a more conventional limiter. While the H82 and L82 aren’t quite as flexible as the Sonic Maximizer, at $99 the Sonic Suite is a bargain worth checking out.
How does this sound to you… a set of totally awesome FREE plug-ins (that is, with an unlimited demo period), and if you want to have settings that are savable, automation and bypass mode you can buy each program for between $69 and $89? Sound amazing? Well, that’s the deal with Massey Plug-ins (www.masseyplugins.com). The idea behind Steven Massey’s company is that you’ll use his plug-ins and love them so much that eventually you’ll want to buy them (dirt cheap, for what you get) to get the full functionality. That’s exactly what happened to me with the L2007 Mastering Limiter.
I’m not a mastering engineer, but I do at times master tracks for people. Even when I’m putting together a mix I always try to throw a compressor/limiter combination on the Master output so that I have a sense of what it will sound like after it’s been mastered. The idea is that once a song or album is mixed you bring it to a mastering engineer to have him or her put the finishing touches on it. They try to get a good EQ balance that stays consistent from song to song, and they compress and/or limit the stereo track to make it competitively loud against other records out there.
The second part of that process, the making-it-louder part, is where a mastering limiter comes into play. I have messed around with many buss compressors/limiters and the L2007 is amazing. It has four different modes (Loud, Mellow, Smooth and Vibrant) that determine which algorithm the L2007 uses and how it goes about compressing the signal. Each one has its own vibe and it’s easy to find one that suits the material you’re working with. Likewise, the release function determines how quickly it recovers from hitting the threshold and each time setting (Normal, Fast, Medium and Slow) affects the overall “glueyness” of the track. Obviously, the Threshold sets the level at which it starts going to work on the track and the Max Output determines the hotness of the final output.
The L2007 is easy to use and it gives you top-notch results. Every engineer I know uses some sort of buss compression and everyone loves the L2007. I’ve had the L2007 for a while and used it for free, but the last track I was mastering I ended up needing to automate the Threshold. The track got a lot louder at the end and one consistent setting made the end part sound over-compressed. So, I dropped the $89 and I felt great about it – I love the program, I use it all the time and it didn’t break the bank.
I’ve tried other Massey Plug-ins and they are great. Check them all out at www.masseyplugins.com.
Cabinet is the latest piece of software from Audio Ease, the company that brought you the highly regarded convolution reverb plug in Altiverb and Speakerphone. Cabinet (which costs only $60) is actually a basic version of Speakerphone and is geared specifically toward guitarists and bassists. This software is a set of five famous speaker cabinets captured using convolution technology for you to run your guitar or bass through.
If you don’t know about convolution and how it works, here are two wiki pages going through the basics: Convolution – Convolution Reverb
We finally managed to put our hands on a TC Polytune – people at the Winter NAMM show back in January were pretty excited about this little white box. What makes this tuner truly revolutionary is the fact that it is poly-chromatic, providing the ability to tune all strings concurrently: Strum all six strings open and the display shows which individual strings are sharp, flat, and on pitch. And yes, it works for bass guitars, too!
Our initial impression was extremely positive — the polytune does a good job of tuning in a manner that has never been accomplished before, provided you stick to standard tunings. It can also tune strings individually the “old fashioned” way, and you need to use this traditional method of tuning when dealing with alternate and/or dropped tunings, or guitars with seven or eight strings.
The polytune is just as easy to use as any other tuner pedal available. It was easy for us to make full use of its capabilities whether tuning in poly-chromatic or chromatic modes. We tested with a variety of six-string electric guitars and a five-string bass. There’s not much we can really say about the polytune other than this: the revolutionary product worked as advertised! Read the full review here.
V-Moda is a Hollywood-based lifestyle brand that mixes fashion, design and music to make some beautiful products. The Crossfade LP headphones are their latest addition to their product lineup.
Four years in the making, the Crossfade LP is the marriage of design and functionality. V-Moda founder Val Kolton collaborated with musicians and DJ’s from around the world to develop headphones with a balanced, warm, functional sound. And Kolton’s passion for Italian design shows in the Crossfade LP, which looks like the Ferrari of headphones. They definitely score high marks in the bling-factor category.
As far as sound goes, these headphones have great isolation from outside noise – the closed-back design and the memory foam ear cushions see to that. The Crossfade has a warm, punchy low end response with a slightly softer high end, which helps combat fatiguing high frequencies in loud and/or long listening sessions. As its name might suggest, the Crossfade LP is a great choice for DJ’s who are exposed to exactly that – long and loud listening sessions where they need punchy (not squishy) bass frequencies and a slightly reigned-in high end. Another great feature (again, especially for long sessions) is the super-comfortable fit. When I put them on I didn’t want to take them off!
The Crossfade LP headphones come with a cool exoskeleton molded case, two fabric cables (one with a 3-button control and microphone for use with phones and external devices) and a ¼” adapter. For more info visit www.v-moda.com.
It is really amazing what audio plug ins manufacturers are doing these days to recreate the original sound of acoustic instruments (for a fun article about this, see “The Invasion of the Sound Snatchers” here). Vir2’s Violence is the latest attempt to emulate the sound of a (real) violin through multi-sampling – with some added extras. Even though my personal belief is that no plug in can get even close to the sound a fantastic performer can deliver, this kind of software is extremely useful when what is needed is a quick and great sounding way to add a part to an arrangement – something that sounds realistic enough to be kept in the final mix. Violence also shows promise as a creative tool for original sound design for musicians that are not necessarily interested in a realistic tone.
The inspiration for Violence came from the influential American composer John Cage, whose extensive experiments with prepared piano yielded new timbres and effects. According to Vir2, what Cage did on the piano, Violence brings to the violin: an unorthodox approach to a traditional instrument, yielding new textures and sound design elements. Violence combines physical alterations with digital manipulations for a sound that straddles acoustic and electronic realms.
All the possible sounds this instrument can create were “deconstructed” by recording them from numerous angles: bowed, scraped, hit, plucked, played with mallets, chopsticks, guitar picks, and wet fingers. These sounds were then programmed and layered to create four categories of sounds: Drum Kits, Melodic, Pads and Sound Effects, and Tempo-Synced.
Violence is powered by the Kontakt engine. It is compatible with VST, AudioUnit, and RTAS (Pro Tools 7 & plug-in formats allowing it to work seamlessly within any major sequencer, in addition to standalone use.
plug-in formats allowing it to work seamlessly within any major sequencer, in addition to standalone use.
