Good Things Come in Small Packages
--by Anne Smith (with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)
’Twas the holiday season and all through the house
Not a sound could be heard but the click of a mouse.
Crammed in, I elbowed by my synth and my board
All in an effort to get my songs heard...
Long after the neighbors had all gone to bed
Dreams of an Ozone glowed warm in my head.
My studio had started to feel rather crowded,
and I couldn’t quite see how to get it all routed–
When out in the night there arose such a clatter
I leapt from my chair to see what was the matter.
Away from my desktop I flew like a flash
Afraid that behind me I’d hear something crash.
And I looked to the front yard where snowflakes still fell
Anxious that soundwise things weren’t going well,
When, what on my icy cold street should emerge,
But a red Astrovan that appeared on the verge
Of stopping in front of my house in the snow–
I knew in a moment it must be Steve O.
More rapid than FedEx with products he came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Reason! Now, Pluggo! Now, Waves Native Platinum!
On, Roland! On Mackie! On Yamaha! Let us come!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
We’ll deliver great gifts, every one of them small!"
As emergency vehicles with all haste will speed
To the place where they know that they might meet a need,
So up to my mailbox the traveler flew
A van full of gadgets, and an editor, too.
And then, in a twinkling, he was there at my door
Though I hadn’t begun to guess what was in store
I drew back the deadbolt and welcomed him in
Lucky for me he knew where to begin
He showed me the stereo mic NT4
The versatile condenser with uses galore
And so many options for how to record
I knew that I never again would feel bored
A Korg MicroKorg with vocoder came after
And captured the formants contained in my laughter
Then a Behringer UB802 mixer so tiny
With eight total ins and a faceplate so shiny
A new Baby HUI for hardware control
A UA700 from good old Edirol
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his van, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him call out, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy holidays to all, and to all a good night."
It's that time of year again. Shopping for gifts — and the anxiety associated with it — can bring out the humbug in anyone. With that in mind, EM comes to the rescue with a list of gear that is sure to please.
This year we decided to look at products that carry an enormous amount of usefulness and versatility in a deceptively small container: Swiss army — style synthesizers, processors, converters, and gizmos, if you will. In true seasonal spirit, EM editors gathered to argue, debate, cajole, wheedle, nitpick, and then argue some more in order to choose the products that offered the most versatility and bang for the buck. Happy shopping!
No studio is complete without a good set of monitors. JBL's compact, biamped LSR25P monitors ($399 each) share design features with the company's larger LSR monitors. These shielded speakers are housed in aluminum cases and are perfect for use next to a computer monitor. The Boundary Compensation control lets you compensate for the effects of your work surface on the speaker's response. The LSR25Ps include front-panel volume and power controls and are designed for horizontal or vertical orientation. JBL Professional; tel. (818) 894-8850; e-mail info@jblpro.com; Web www.jblpro.com.
Røde's NT4 ($899) is a high-quality stereo condenser mic that is equally at home in the studio or in the field: it can run on 48V phantom power or on a 9V battery. The NT4 is preconfigured in an XY pattern and has a frequency response of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The mic comes with an XLR adapter cable and a stereo miniplug cable, so you can use the NT4 with a portable DAT or minidisk recorder. Røde Microphones; tel. (310) 328-7456; Web www.rodemicrophones.com.
Yamaha's AW16G ($1,299) is a textbook example of something good in a small package. The AW16G gives you 16 tracks of 44.1 kHz, 16-bit recording and mixing; a built-in CD burner, which can rip tracks from audio or WAV-file CDs; drum-machine-like pads for triggering samples; a separate memory area for loop recording; and faders and knobs that transmit MIDI Control Change messages. All of this, in a device the size of a laptop computer, helps the AW16G stand well ahead of its class. Yamaha Corporation of America; tel. (714) 522-9011; e-mail info@yamaha.com; Web www.yamaha.com/proaudio or www.aw4416.com/e/16g.
Roland's XV-2020 ($695) is a half-rack synth that is ideal for the sequencing musician on the go. Its four oscillators are arranged in an assortment of signal-flow paths that add sonic versatility through its ring- and cross-modulation capabilities. The XV-2020 has 64 MB of waveform ROM (expandable to 192 MB with Roland's SRX cards), 64-note polyphony, 16-channel multitimbral capabilities, and multi-effects galore. Roland even throws in editor-librarian software (Mac/Win), so you can get into the heart of the instrument and build your own sounds. Roland Corporation U.S.; tel. (323) 890-3700; Web www.rolandus.com.
Dave Smith Instruments packed two analog and two digital oscillators into Evolver ($475), a pint-size, monophonic tabletop synthesizer. Evolver produces fat, evocative, and yes, evolving timbres. The analog oscillators have sawtooth, triangle, and pulse waveforms, while the digital oscillators re-create all of the tangy wavetables from the venerated Sequential Circuits Prophet VS synthesizer. You also get a built-in sequencer and a pair of inputs for processing external audio. Dave Smith Instruments; e-mail dave@davesmithinstruments.com; Web www.davesmithinstruments.com.
You can tote and play Korg's microKorg ($500) anywhere: this battery-powered synth and vocoder fits easily into a knapsack. The synth engine is virtually the same one as in Korg's MS2000, offering beefy analog-modeled textures, digital wavetable sounds, external-audio processing, an arpeggiator, and plenty of real-time control. The vocoder can freeze vocal formants, which can add wacky and wonderful characteristics to incoming sounds. Five knobs transmit MIDI Control Change messages, and you can program the pitch and modulation wheels to send the controllers of your choice. Korg USA, Inc.; tel. (516) 333-9100; Web www.korg.com.
Behringer's Eurorack UB802 ($89.99) mixer occupies slightly more surface area than this magazine does but offers two mono channels with mic preamps and phantom power, two stereo channels, and a pair of tape inputs — for a total of eight inputs. In addition, the UB802 has a postfader aux send and a stereo aux return. Each channel has 3-band EQ, with low-cut filters added to the mono channels. Behringer U.S.A.; tel. (425) 672-0816; e-mail support@behringer.com; Web www.behringer.com.
The DI/O ($199) from Applied Research and Technology (A.R.T.) packs two mic preamps and 24-bit, 96 kHz A/D converters into a diminutive package. A front-panel knob lets you add a touch of 12AX7A-tube character to your signals, and the input control provides up to 20 dB of gain. The DI/O includes ¼-inch unbalanced analog outputs and a S/PDIF coaxial output for desktop versatility. A.R.T.; tel. (585) 436-2720; e-mail art@artroch.com; Web www.artproaudio.com.
If your digital recording system isn't dishing up enough warmth, richness, or punch, check out the Joemeek MicroMeek MQ3 ($299). This tabletop channel strip has a phantom-powered mic preamp, an optical compressor, and 3-band EQ. You can use the optical compressor at light settings to add warmth, increase the compression for more punch, or squeeze the living daylights out of your sounds. Three preset bands of EQ, tailored for instruments and vocals, make the MQ3's Meequalizer section easy to use. Joemeek/Peninsula Marketing, Inc. (PMI; distributor); e-mail themeekman@joemeek.com; Web www.joemeek.com.
Edirol's UA-700 (Mac/Win; $595) digital audio and MIDI interface gives you 24-bit, 96 kHz converters and a built-in COSM-based effects processor with guitar amp and mic-modeling capabilities. The unit's effects include EQ, chorus, reverb, and dynamics processors. There's even a phono input with a preamp so you can use your turntable as an input. The UA-700 uses a USB connector to interface with computers and comes with WDM and ASIO 2.0 drivers. Roland Corporation U.S. (distributor); tel. (323) 890-3700; e-mail edirol@edirol.com; Web www.edirol.com.
Mackie's Baby HUI ($799), a compact version of its popular Human User Interface (HUI), offers eight channel strips, motorized faders, rotary encoders, mute and solo buttons, and an LED display. You can use the rotary encoders to change pan and send levels, arm channels for recording, or enable automation. In conjunction with the shift button, the encoders can perform additional tasks. Baby HUI is compatible with Digidesign's Pro Tools 5.1 and Digi 001, MOTU Digital Performer, Steinberg Nuendo, and Mackie's Soundscape 32 and Mixtreme. Mackie Designs; tel. (800) 898-3211 or (425) 487-4333; e-mail sales@mackie.com; Web www.mackie.com.
Apple's 20 GB iPod ($499) Is a pocket-size device that can hold and play back uncompressed AIFF and WAV files, as well as MP3s. You can also use the iPod as a FireWire hard drive or even as a PDA, with the help of third-party software — the freeware Musician's iPod Tools can be found at the Sweetwater Sound Web site (www.sweetwater.com). Windows users shouldn't feel left out; Apple offers Windows-compatible iPods with MusicMatch software. Apple Computer; tel. (800) 538-9696 or (408) 996-1010; Web www.apple.com.
The Native Platinum Bundle 3.5 (Mac/Win; $2,100) contains 25 of Waves' most prized plug-ins — enough to cover chores from tracking to mastering. The newest plug-ins include the Linear Phase EQ, which offers EQ without phase distortion; the Linear Phase Multiband, featuring independent EQ, compression, and limiting on five discrete frequency bands; the L2 Ultramaximizer, for controlling gain; the Renaissance Bass, a revamped version of the MaxxBass low-frequency extension algorithm; and the Renaissance DeEsser, which offers smooth and natural de-essing. Waves; tel. (865) 546-6115; e-mail info@waves.com; Web www.waves.com.
Propellerhead Reason 2.0 (Mac/Win; $399) is a veritable workstation on a disk, replete with synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, and much more. Reason has an intuitive user interface: the virtual rack flips around revealing a patch bay and rear-panel inputs for everything in the rack. Reason includes a polyphonic analog modeling synth, two samplers, a drum machine, a granular synthesizer, a loop sequencer, and a slew of effects processors. You can even use Reason inside any sequencer supporting ReWire. Propellerhead Software/M-Audio (distributor); e-mail info@propellerheads.se; Web www.propellerheads.se.
Cycling '74's Pluggo (Mac; $199) comes with over 100 different plug-ins, with even more available on the Web. Pluggo opens up non-VST software to a plethora of VST plug-ins, and with version 3, it is compatible with VST, VST2, MAS, and RTAS hosts. Pluggo includes a wide variety of delays, filters, granulators, reverbs, dynamics processors, soft synths, audio- and modulation-routing tools — from meat-and-potatoes effects to the esoteric and the bizarre. Cycling '74; tel. (415) 974-1818; e-mail info@cycling74.com; Web www.cycling74.com.
