Issue No. 80

Consoles/Summing

StudioLive 16.4.2 digital mixer

by PreSonus  |  reviewed by Eric Tischler

I was an analog snob. Having fallen foul of a few ADATs back in the day, I badmouthed the sonics of digital: the crispiness, the sterility, the lack of depth, etc. In the last couple of years,...

Microphones

R-101 ribbon mic

by Royer  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

When the Royer R-121 ribbon mic (Tape Op #19) came out in 1998, word on the street from working engineers was overwhelmingly positive. I borrowed one from Jeff Stuart Saltzman and soon bought my own....

Acoustics

Isotools

by Primacoustic  |  reviewed by Dana Gumbiner

ck when they were first introduced, I was skeptical of the Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizers monitor pads (Tape Op #62) that have since become something of an industry standard. Having little or no...

Dynamics, Signal Processors

Dual Vandergraph

by Shadow Hills  |  reviewed by Eli Crews

Next on the 500-series hit parade is Shadow Hills Industries' gorgeous Dual Vandergraph! It's a stereo compressor with roots in Shadow Hills' own Mastering Compressor, a behemoth that has found its...

Software

Sibelius 6

by Avid  |  reviewed by David Hidek

When contemporary music intersects with the world of classical music, certain things can be lost in translation. How many times have you heard a guitar player mention that he doesn't really know...

Mic Preamps

DIY500 mkII Minimal Kit

by Eisen Audio  |  reviewed by Garrett Haines

If you've mastered the skills necessary to build something like a Seventh Circle Audio preamp (Tape Op #35, #54), you might want to move to something a little more challenging. Eisen Audio has just...

Interfaces, Signal Processors

CLASP tape-machine interface

by Endless Analog  |  reviewed by Steven Todd Hudson

This past March, I had my first experience recording to tape with CLASP (Closed Loop Analog Signal Processor). CLASP inventor Chris Estes was at Yellow Dog Studios in Austin to help us get started...

Microphones

Regensburg Dom microphone

by Cathedral Pipes  |  reviewed by Adam Kagan

How many good vocal mics are there out there today? Probably way too many, but how many are truly great vocal mics? Now we can narrow the field, with the choice mics being mostly of the vintage or...

Acoustics

Chameleon Bass Trap

by Ready Acoustics  |  reviewed by Garrett Haines

I can't think of a recording studio that doesn't require acoustic treatment. Like many Tape Op readers, we've done our fair share of DIY blended with commercial off-the-shelf solutions. If you run a...

Interfaces

Saffire PRO 24 DSP

by Focusrite  |  reviewed by Joseph Lemmer

Focusrite's compact, 16 in, 8 out, 24-bit, 96 kHz FireWire audio interface includes 4 analog inputs (2 mic/line/instrument, 2 line/instrument), 6 analog outputs, S/PDIF I/O, and ADAT in. Under the...

Plug-Ins

DrMS v3 mid/side processor plug-in

by Mathewlane.com  |  reviewed by Allen Farmelo, Jessica Thompson

The DrMS plug-in is based on Mid/Side processing, a powerful way of manipulating stereo signals that grew out of a recording technique patented by Alan Blumlein in the 1930s. There's really no way to...

Signal Processors

Dragon Dynamics Processor

by Slate Pro Audio  |  reviewed by Thom Monahan

If you've heard of Steven Slate and his sample libraries, you're aware of one thing; Steven Slate loves drums. All kinds of drums - big ones, small ones, drums up close, drums far away...... drums,...

Software

DDP Player OEM

by Sonoris Audio Engineering  |  reviewed by Garrett Haines

This standalone, cross-platform application allows mastering engineers to provide complete evaluation masters to artists. If you're wondering why this matters, it means that artists can review masters...

Control Surfaces

Launchpad Performance Controller

by Novation  |  reviewed by Dana Gumbiner

The Launchpad has, well, landed and seems certain to become a ubiquitous tool for users of Ableton Live (Tape Op #72). It's a compact and lightweight USB MIDI interface organized around an 8x8 grid of...

Software, Virtual Instruments

Alchemy soft synth

by Camel Audio  |  reviewed by Alan Tubbs

There are many jobs for which hardware still rules the music roost. But there are some that software does better - synths, for example. Though no software will replace my analog Minimoog, many...