Powerful, easy to use, cost-effective - what more do you want?
This product is increasingly hard to find, but offers exceptional audio processing power for both broadcast and music applications and at a good price.
We've bought these units primarily for broadcast voice applications and so cannot comment on their use in music recording or via the line input. However the unit provides what is essentially a complete channel strip consisting (L to R) of the following:
A Mic Pre with gain control, a basic 4-LED level indicator, phantom power and 80Hz HPF, plus a button to use the mic pre on its own;
A VERY powerful but very easy to use compressor with input level and release controls;
A de-esser (which I've never used);
An LF/HF enhancer which boosts bass and/or treble without muddying the sound;
An expander/gate that lets you remove room background noise below a certain threshold and by a chosen amount; and
An output gain control that enables you to maintain a good gain structure for the signal path into your mixer.
There are tutorials on the web for how to set this unit up as a starting point for broadcast applications - BSW has a video and cheat sheet that springs to mind - but in fact once you get the hang of what the controls actually do, it's very easy to set up.
"Gotchas" include: Don't apply too much Drive to the compressor or it will remove all the dynamics in a voice and can be noticeable. Follow the maxim that if you can hear what it's doing you've turned it up too much; Be careful with the Expander/Gate ratio. Too much noice reduction here can sound a little "papery" on speech as the gate flutters in and out on breaths and other sounds when you are using a lot of compression. Try to set the Threshold so that it gates out room noise but only just, so the minute you speak or breath it opens up.
My one complaint with this unit: they should have included a main power switch, even if it was round the back attached to the power socket. While a larger studio may well have a big power switch that brings everything up at start of day, and while there are arguments for leaving gear on all the time, if you are NOT using it all the time it would be nice to be able to switch it off. I bought an IEC in-line switch to do the job, but a built-in switch associated with the power socket would have added almost nothing to the cost - and you could still leave it on if you wish.
Bestätigter Kauf: JaArtikelzustand: Gebraucht