Multi-band compression has been around for quite some time and even in the digital realm is accepted as common. But to this regard one could have predicted innovations in that field. Fabfilter implemented these innovations and present to us a new concept of a multiband compressor, Pro-MB.
Pretty soon after AKG released the K712 Pro they introduced to us the K612 Pro headphones. We had already a (very) short encounter with them at the MusikMesse, so having them for a longer period was nice. Personally I was curious how they would perform because one of my first headphones were the good old trusty K240’s … many years ago.
This time on the testbench, Volfram, a multi effects plugin by a relatively young company called Subsonic Labs. Volfram is capable of a wide range of different fx like: Chorus, Delay, Distortion, Filter, Flanger, Phaser and more. With a clearly laid out GUI it doesn’t take a lot of time to get on a roll with this beauty.
Even though JBL are not that well know in Europe for their product line of reference monitors, unlike in the US, their new 3 series may help with this. The new 3 series are JBL entry level reference monitors that come in 2 models. The LSR305 with a 5″woofer and the LSR308 with a 8″woofer. We will test the LSR308 and compare them with the competitors in the same price range. To that extent the price range isn’t entry level for your average producer. But of course there is a difference in sound quality. So these monitors are more like the 2nd pair you’d buy if you learned your first monitors don’t cut it anymore.
One of the major issues of getting a mix right is to know how well the mix translates on any given speaker system. How more worse it sounds the better in that case. That’s why I use the stock audio system in my car because it sounds abysmal which is perfect to check mixes. Also when your monitors aren’t that pristine, when you are listening to a mix, you’ll often miss out on details. The other way around applies as well. Even when you have a mastering grade sound system you may wonder how it will sound on a consumer grade sound system. Of course you can create your own impulse responses of various environments and use them with a impulse response plug-in to create this effect but that takes effort and time.
Hardware, and with that in mind, modules like the 500 series rack modules used to be the territory of the ‘high-end’ audio gear manufacturers. However, lately we saw a rising availability of these 500 series modules across the board (so to speak). We thought it would be a good plan to look into these 500 series modules and try out some of these modules and see what we would think of these.
For more then 25 years the KRK Rokit series of monitors can be considered as one if the most popular and best selling monitors on the market, till this day. You will find the monitors not only in studio environments but they are finding their way more and more to the DJ booth as well.
The Tone Beast is the flagship tone shaping discrete pre-amp model of Warm Audio. To me its orange color implies that it would be a guitar effect unit but it’s actually a pre-amp with benefits. The front does have a pre-amp section with a mic and a 1/4″ input. Including phantom power, hi-z, pad, phase and hpf (@80Hz) options. The Tone control section has a discrete amp selector, impedance switch, transistor bypass switch and a transistor selector. The output section has pots for gain and saturation. The backside has balanced TRS and 1/4″ ins/outs as well as receive/send 1/4″ ins/out to use it as an insert effect.
In the world of abundance of USB2 sound interfaces it can be rather challenging to find the unit that fits your needs. With that in mind we took a look at the newly introduced Scarlett 18i8 up close. The interface is another addition to the rather successful Scarlett series. The previous Scarlett series were more like the starter series of USB interfaces. Focusrite now is extending this with new models that have more ins and outs. The 18i8 in that regard seems to be aimed at the mid-range.
Only about a month ago, ‘out of the blue’, Pioneer came with a sibbling to their XDJ-Aero controller. They introduced us to the new XDJ-R1. One of the very first interesting features we noticed were the physical CD drives! Another feature that caught our eye is the combination of ‘controller and iPad‘, as the controller has a built-on stand for it. Together with the iPad running the remotebox app. This gave us the first idea that Pioneer didn’t just released yet another controller.
To us V-Moda is a brand that is gaining some strong ‘momentum’ within the (pro) DJ market. Originally we knew V-Moda for their consumer products. However, more and more DJ’s are turning towards the Crossfade M-100. Before we got to grips with our own pairs we did hear good things about them. We were curious if those good stories were true, so we gave them a decent work-out.
Just like installing Komplete 9 Ultimate takes a long time even running it from a 2.5″ USB drive, going through and investigating all installed products will take a decent amount of time as well. So here is a pick out of the ton of effects that are included in Komplete Ultimate 9 suite. Just to be clear, there is not a seperate ‘effects’ bundle. This is a review of the effects that come with the Komplete suite!
With an invite by Focusrite, two Gearjunkies team members went on a roadtrip to the Belgian city of MOL, where one the best studios of Europe is located. At the Galaxy Studio they got a hands-on demonstration of the Focusrite Rednet audio system.
Last year Arturia surprised us with the announcement and release of the MiniBrute, an analogue hardware synth. Arturia is mainly known for their software products, however they are not complete strangers to hardware gear as they released the Origin synth in 2009. Recently we got a MiniBrute to play with and one of the first things you’ll notice is that this synth isn’t light weighted, even though it looks mini, with just a 25-keys keyboard.
The Mackie MR5 MKII has been available for a while now. So we took a closer look at these active studio monitors in our tech lab. These monitors are affordable studio (and DJ) two-way reference monitors. The MR5 has a 1 inch tweeter, 5.25 inch woofer and 55 watts in the low end and 30 watts in the high end, with a bass port at the back. When unpacking these babies I immediately realised, these compact monitors are quite heavy, weighing about six kilos (per monitor).