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Apogee One

[ 0 ] 2010/08/19

Apogee's collaborations with Apple are yielding some tasty fruit. Fresh from last month's rendezvous with the GiO interface, this month we find ourselves in the company of One, Apogee's latest (and simplest) audio interface to date.

Featuring a single channel of high-quality audio I/O and with a similarly minimalist design feel, this could be the interface for audio-ists who need to balance only basic recording requirements with high-fidelity results.

Portability

One is a USB bus-powered black box which measures only a little longer and wider than an iPhone. It features a prominent silver dial on its upper surface which doubles as an Input Gain dial for signals being recorded and a volume dial for playback signals.

Due to the compact nature of the design, matching that of its older sibling the Duet, traditional audio input ports are replaced by a breakout cable - which has a bespoke connector - at the interface end and an XLR mic connector and quarter-inch jack input for instrument connections at the other.

Only one of these can be used at any time. Status lights at the top of the interface show which input is active, whether 48V of phantom power are being used or, indeed, whether the external microphone options are being superseded by One's own internal microphone.

This input is mounted towards the bottom of the interface's upper surface and represents the simplest way to get sound from the interface to the computer, requiring you to simply plug in the USB cable and set a gain level.

The provision of this internal mic will widen the potential appeal of One to interviewers and podcasters, among others, who'll be pleased to discover an interface which provides high-quality recording without the need to connect up external microphones.

Up and running

To configure audio connections, One's installer bundles the Maestro software (ostensibly a control panel) which toggles between external and internal inputs, lets you switch phantom power on/off and keeps you in control of all things I/O.

The CD installer requires Mac OS X 10.5.7, so if you're running Snow Leopard you'll need to download a driver from Apogee's site.

Our only gripe with One is that the breakout connector to the mic/line inputs is too short. While the USB cable is of adequate length, there's a serious risk that this interface will come shooting off your desk if you've plugged in a guitar and are rocking out or if you've connected a hand-held microphone for voice-over recordings, for instance.

The portability of the unit is such that you wouldn't want to find a way to pin it down but, equally, you do need to be a touch careful. Otherwise, the unit is simple to use and provides great results.

The headphone port doubles as the main audio output, so you'll need to grab a 3.5mm jack to phono adaptor cable (which isn't provided in the box) if you want to plug it into speakers.

One for you?

So, to whom will this appeal? Well, to the thousands of laptop users who mostly need playback but would love the option to jam a guitar, keyboard or vocal part over a work in progress and, as mentioned, to podcasters and interviewers, too.

As with GiO and Duet, One's ace up its sleeve is the quality of its audio signals, which are absolutely capable of pro results.

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Adam Audio A3X Monitors

[ 0 ] 2010/08/18

Adam speakers have garnered a great reputation among studio bods over the past few years and, never one to rest on its laurels, the company are continually seeking to improve their designs wherever possible.

The A3X is no exception. Straight out of the box, the compact design is a thing of utilitarian beauty. Built from MDF with a high-quality tapered plastic covering, these speakers look great and feel like they are cut from the same cloth as their more expensive Adam brothers.

Still, the most striking thing about Adam speaker designs is the X-ART (eXtended Accelerating Ribbon Technology) tweeter. Working much like the bellows of an accordion, the gold folded-ribbon tweeter is lauded for its fast transient response and wide dispersion, something that's most definitely corroborated by the A3X's excellent top-end performance and transient detailing.

The new 'X' version of the tweeter has a higher frequency response than the old ART tweeter (now up to 50kHz) and also produces higher SPL levels, too.

Grand design

The A3X's active design utilises two 25-Watt RMS class A/B amplifiers (one for the mid driver and one for the tweeter) and there's plenty of power - the A3X is surprisingly loud for its size, but the overall character remains consistent when pushed. Even at low volumes, it's easy to hear right into the music and transient details are accurately conveyed.

Overall, the character is warm, clear and punchy, and there's a good amount of mid-range detail. In particular, the upper-mids and highs come across well, making it a joy to use for work on vocals, guitars and keyboards (that generally occupy this frequency area).

The tweeter is bright and airy (there is a Tweeter Level dial round the back for increasing and decreasing the top-end if required) yet produces a well-rounded sound. The mid/low-range carbon fibre cone does a great job of pushing air yet doesn't sound flappy (something that can be a problem with front-ported designs such as this).

Low-end detail is a strong point of the A3X and, for a speaker that rolls off at 60Hz, the bass extension is deep and controlled. It feels like it goes a lot lower than it says on paper, but do be wary of it if you're making club music that needs clear low-end detail.

Control/connection-wise, the power switches are front-mounted for convenience, plus the volume controls (+/-14dB) can be linked so that either speaker's Volume control can turn down both speakers' volumes together - very handy for speeding up the production process.

Input-wise, there are both phono (unbalanced) and XLR (balanced inputs).

Hard to fault

In action, there is little to fault with these speakers. They are musical, convey transients well, have plenty of top-end and low-end punch and the mids/lows are quite upfront, allowing you to really hear into reverb tails and basses alike.

The A3X becomes even more appealing at the almost insanely low price of £398 for a pair! At this price, the A3X is a real bargain, but do bear in mind it's not magnetically shielded, so you may experience interference problems.

It is suitable for many mix applications including surround (though for serious low-end mixing you would need a sub) and are a great set of second reference monitors.

All in all, Adam has produced a fantastic speaker that we can really see flying off the shelves.



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Pioneer DJM-2000

[ 0 ] 2010/08/18

Taking this mighty mixer out of the box is quite incredible. It's a heavy, wide and very robust feeling unit with a 5.8-inch dual-touch touchscreen interface and central effects section dominating the majority of the space.

It's designed to sit flush alongside the CDJ-2000s, and Pioneer has mirrored the same slanted-front design. When you're in front of four CDJ-2000s and this mixer, it not only looks awesome, but the amount of flexibility in how you choose to DJ is immense with this particular setup.

Although the mixer can work splendidly with any other CDJs, its integration with the 2000 series is incredible.

"Using start/stop and MIDI on/off, you can choose when to send MIDI from the mixer and when not to."

Around the back there are six LAN ports, with four ports to connect CDJ-2000s using the LINK technology and two for connecting two separate laptops running Rekordbox.

This means that laptops can be connected via a single LAN cable and, when using the CDJ-2000s, can act as a means of searching and browsing your music, while all the actual DJing is done on the Pioneer hardware by dragging songs directly onto the Live icons of the CDJs or even directly on to the mixer.

When songs are dragged onto the DJM-2000 mixer icon, they are previewed - you can use the Link Cue function to preview tracks without having to load them to a deck. This makes browsing your laptop-stored music even faster. Of course, as mentioned before, this is only one way to DJ using this mixer.

Inside the DJM-2000 there's also a 24-bit, 96kHz, eight-channel soundcard, so it's easy to hook up a laptop and use the DJM-2000 as a multi-output soundcard and mixer without any extra external boxes or audio interfaces required.

EQs and FX

The EQ is again based on the subtle Pioneer sound, with the option of switching the EQ from either a +6dB to -26dB range to an isolator setting, which will completely kill the high, mid or low frequencies when turned fully to the left.

The central Effects section is based on the EFX-1000 outboard effects units from Pioneer and includes a few extras such as Reverb, Slip Roll, Gate and Multi-Tap Delay.

There's also a three-band frequency isolator-style EQ, which allows you to fine-tune the effects to the frequencies you want and even add feedback loops and added resonance by pushing the three frequency bands to the max.

The Slip Roll is a particular highlight of these effects, enabling DJs to cut a section of the track and loop it at fractions, just like a standard roll effect. But, with Slip Roll, you can re-trigger the fractions from new points while the track continues underneath. This makes for a much more natural beat-chop effect when in the mix.

Each of these central effects can be applied to individual channels, A or B sides of the crossfader or the master channel. This isn't where the effects end, though, as Pioneer have also included six INST FX, which can be applied to each channel and controlled using the Filter Control rotaries located above each volume fader.

The usual effects suspects are here including HPF, LPF, Crush, Zip and Jet, but the coolest effect is the inclusion of a noise oscillator, which can be swept onto any channel using the same channel specific Filter rotary.

This makes creating your own build-ups and drops very simple, and added fun can be had by applying the main effects over the top of the noise such as adding a Phaser or Transform effect. This feature alone will make this mixer a firm favourite with club DJs.

The inclusion of MIDI with this mixer is very thorough, with a dedicated MIDI Out port that can send MIDI clock to external devices dependent on the bpm calculator readouts. All controls of the unit are also MIDI-mappable.

As yet, the unit has no Traktor TSI template available, but Pioneer expects templates to be forthcoming.

Using Ableton, Traktor or any other MIDI software alongside the normal functions of two CDJs and a mixer is also easy. Using start/stop and MIDI on/off control buttons, you can choose when to send MIDI information from the mixer and when not to.

The unit is also separated into two MIDI zones: the touchscreen and the rest of the unit. Both these zones can have separate MIDI channels, so that the touchscreen could be used to trigger clips in Ableton while the rest of the unit is set to take command of Traktor.

Can Touch This

With touch technology in its SVM-100 AV mixer, it's no surprise that Pioneer has embraced the popular world of the touchscreen in their DJ line. The DJM-2000's whopping 5.8-inch colour touchscreen is an amazing feature for a mixer to have, nonetheless.

Designed as the solution to a multitude of duties, it includes a Frequency Mixer, MIDI controller and Sidechain Remix mode. The screen is duo-touch, which means only two actions can be performed at the same time, but on a screen this size it never becomes an issue.

The first obvious test was to wet our fingers and test the touchscreen for issues in a recreated drunk/sweaty/clumsy club environment. We're pleased to say that it passed with flying colours and seemed just as responsive with to damp daubs as it did to our dry ones.

Testing out the innovative Frequency Mixer was also a success. This multiband crossfader is split into seven different frequency bands and allows you to crossfade them between whichever two channels you like.

In use, it allows you to blend frequencies between tracks more subtly than ever before - way surpassing what is possible using channel EQ tricks alone. It will certainly be hugely popular with the Techno, Minimal and Progressive crowds for incredibly smooth mixing.

'Ere Come Da Remix

Another feature on the touchscreen is the equally original Remix Mode, which serves up an X/Y pad that can control one of four different oscillators, a Roll Style sampling mode, Pitch effect and Gate effect.

The oscillators are all noise-based drum sounds with hi-hat sound on oscillators one, two and three, and a more 808-style snare on oscillator four. Using this mode, you quickly realise that its success is dependent on the track triggering the oscillators.

The oscillators are envelope-triggered rather than triggered by the master bpm, and you can mute high, mid and low frequencies to tighten the amount of transients triggering the oscillator.

While there's a fair amount of tweakability, it can sound a tad clumsy if you're not careful, but the bonus is that any tempo changes or movement in the trigger track instantly feeds back to the oscillator.

Feeding these noises to a separate channel and adding a mixture of the INST FX and main effects is where the fun really begins.

Set the sample

The colour touchscreen is the obvious main attraction on this mixer but hiding in a small button to the top left of the screen is a Live Sampler mode. For on-the-fly creative performance this is an unbelievable tool, although you do need to have a LAN-connected CDJ-2000 for it to work.

Hitting the button brings up a GUI on the interface where you can record up to eight seconds of either the microphone input or the master channel output. Once sampled, hit the Link button on the CDJ-2000 deck and you can select the DJM-2000 and playback, scratch and manipulate the sample you've recorded.

The possibilities for working alongside MCs and with instrument players are obvious when using this feature. Being able to loop, effect, and scratch sounds you've only just sampled is sure to be a crowd-pleaser and another creative weapon for the DJ.

Plus, because the DJM-2000 has the ability to 'talk' to the CDJ-2000s in the way, the circular ring of light around the jog wheels of the CDJ-2000s will actually glow red when they are 'on air' (the mixer faders turned up), helping to stop accidents from happening when four CDJ rigs are in use.

Pioneering mixer

Pioneer have really gone all the way with this mixer, serving up a solution for every possible scenario and making the regular two-CDJ-and-a-mixer setup more creative than ever before.

As soon as you decide on the best way the mixer works for you, it's much easier to focus on the details and colouration of your mix rather than getting bogged down in features and effects, which is very easy to do. Pioneer have stuck with familiar controls and stylings, which lowers the immediate learning curve, and added features such as Remix Mode, Frequency Mix and touchscreen MIDI templates are simple to get to grips with.

You can't ignore the massive price tag here, but this is one of the most cutting-edge mixers on the market and could form the basis of everything from a creative DJ act to a full-flight Electronic music show.

When combined with four CDJ-2000s, it's easily the most creative, stable and well-thought-out DJ rig available.

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Blackbox M10

[ 0 ] 2010/08/18

Although conventional wisdom has it that mixing on headphones is A Bad Idea - because sound is piped directly into each ear, you don't get the left/right bleed that comes from using monitors - the popularity of laptops, iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices means that most of us now do at least some of our music making on the move.

This being the case, a decent, comfortable set of headphones is becoming a must for the hi-tech musician, and the Blackbox M10s have the added advantage of offering noise cancelling technology. This comes from Phitek Systems, a company that has been licensing said technology to other manufacturers for a while, but is now producing its own cans under the aforementioned Blackbox brand.

In the box you get the headphones themselves, two detachable stereo 3.5mm jack cables (so if one breaks, you've got a spare), a dual 3.5mm mono airline adaptor (noise cancelling 'phones are a godsend on planes), a 6.5mm stereo adaptor, a silky carry pouch that feels like something a magician should have, and a AAA battery.

The battery is required for the noise cancelling to work, though usefully, the M10s will also function (albeit with compromised performance) without power. That said, 50 hours of use are promised from one AAA, so if you carry a spare you're unlikely to ever have to listen in this mode.

In use

Once you've got them on, the M10s don't throw up any unpleasant surprises. Bass is tight and well-defined and mids are punchy. There's not the top-end sparkle you get from some headphones - and overall, performance is polite rather than bruising - but these cans punch their weight sonically.

That said, the M10s wouldn't be anything remarkable if they didn't cancel noise, so it's fortunate that they do this pretty well. Flick the switch and the majority of background buzz and hum is eliminated, and once you've got your music on, you can't hear much else either. The only downside is that leakage is slightly higher than you might expect; you won't be able to hear the guy next to you chatting on his mobile phone, but he may be checking out your latest dubstep production whether he wants to or not.

Ulimately, though, the M10s come recommended, having much more in common with more expensive noise cancelling headphones than cheaper ones. They're comfortable to wear for long periods at a time - great news if you're going to use them for music making - and do a fine job of shutting out the world around you.

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Thermionic Culture Little Bustard

[ 0 ] 2010/08/16

The rackmounted summing mixer has recently become the premier means of getting your in-the-box mix out of the box for some wholesome analogue conditioning before it goes back into the box.

Thermionic Culture responded to this trend with typical aplomb by issuing the impressive Fat Bustard.

To expand that unit's 12 channels (via the Aux 1 & 2 inputs) TC has created the Little Bustard, a 16-channel summing mixer which keeps to the house speciality (valve amplification only) in a 2U casing.

"A peek at the Bustard's innards reveals the hand-wired beauty that comes as standard with TC gear."

Unlike the Fat Bustard, this unit doesn't feature any signal processing (EQ, distortion/attitude, stereo expansion) and offers the user six fixed gain stereo channels, four mono channels with Gain/Pan controls and independent left and right Master Level knobs.

Why Analogue Summing?

The rise of 'in-the-box' mixing has still left a lot of engineers cold, with poor stereo imaging and loss of clarity/depth cited as problem areas. Though it has been argued that a lot of this is subjective, there are real causes for poor summing in the digital realm, such as large track counts generating massive calculations that challenge CPUs/DSP chips (which are also running plug-ins and hard drives) and even high bit-depth internal processing.

These problems can be program-dependent and digital mixing can be extremely accurate when treated right; even so, analogue summing is free from these problems and offers some added benefits.

The infinite degree of variation in voltage/current means that analogue mixing can achieve an extremely fine degree of clarity and articulation. The earliest mixing consoles were basically summing mixers, but these soon became loaded with EQs, routing options and dynamics that brought a myriad of noisy components that mostly degraded the mix.

And so it is that we return to the trusty summing mixer to get the best of analogue and skip all those bits we already have in our shiny new DAWs.

Chicken heads

The I/O is via XLRs at the rear (16 input, two output) and operates entirely unbalanced, thus forgoing any colouration or noise contributed by balancing transformers, op amps or transistors (the Fat Bustard, like many TC units, is also unbalanced).

The gloss black front panel carries the Thermionic design aesthetic, from the big green power light to the chicken head knobs. At the left are the six stereo channel on/off switches.

In the middle are the four mono channels with their individual Gain controls (from ∞ to 0dB/unity), on/off switch, Pan knob and Pan 'In' switch. When set to 'Mono' mode, as opposed to 'Pan In', this latter switch adds 6dB - more on this below.

To the right of the mono channels are the two Master Level knobs, which range from -18dB to +2dB. At the far right of the facia is the Bustard's face, the eyes of which house the output level indicators. Two small amber LEDs indicate 'signal present' while larger, multi-coloured LEDs use a traffic light system to show how hard the output is being driven.

Thanks to the well-laid-out front panel, the Little Bustard is easy to use and feels reassuringly solid. All of the control pots are indented: 21 positions for the mono channel gain and Pan pots and 31 positions for the two master levels.

This is particularly useful for matching levels between channels and the master outputs, as well as for Pan position setting - the 'one click up/one click down' routine makes life a lot easier, compared to nudging a pot back and forth.

The quality on the outside is matched by that of the inside, as having a peek at the Little Bustard's innards reveals the hand-wired beauty that comes as standard with TC gear.

Poking out the mix

The six fixed gain stereo channels do just what they claim to, and offer unity gain summing. There is plenty of clean headroom available, so these inputs can take hot signals with little discernible distortion. Pulling back the Master Levels deals with most distortion issues caused by summing a lot of high-level sources, and the Bustard's eyes alert you before your ears do.

The four mono channels create a little more flexibility for either stereo pairs that require Gain/Pan adjustment or mono sources that need fine-tuning in a mix, such as vocals and bass. The indented pots come in very handy here for 'vocal up/vocal down' mixes prior to mastering.

The +6dB function from the Pan In switch is great for poking a source out of the top of the mix.

The Little Bustard uses an essentially simple design with a separate summing gain stage (ECC83 valves) and output amplification stage (PC86s), the beauty of which translates into high headroom (low distortion) and very low noise. There is also extremely low crosstalk between channels and within stereo channels, which means that stereo imaging remains untainted.

Transparent tool

The Little Bustard is surprisingly, though pleasingly, transparent. When driven hard, it will start to distort; this gives good results with transient sources, such as drums, where the peaks are compressed a little, effectively 'fattening' the whole mix.

That said, this is not a device one would use to 'warm up' signals and it will not miraculously reanimate lifeless digital recordings. This isn't a criticism, as all too often valves are associated with colouration, and though they are more than capable of distorting a source they are also exceptional amplifiers and when used in a well designed circuit they can out-perform their solid state counterparts.

We all know what a summing mixer does, but what is it really useful for?

Our favourite use for the Little Bustard has been drum sub-mixing, where the overheads, room mics, toms and reverbs can be sent to the fixed-gain stereo channels with the kick, snare and hi-hats mixed via the mono channels.

The results were excellent and an improvement on the DAW version, thanks to a little transient distortion via the +6dB on mono channels and driving the inputs hard.

The unit is also an excellent way to recombine outboard parallel compression setups, sum group busses after analogue processing or before final A/D conversion, and expanding a small desk setup.

Obviously, there are many uses for a summing mixer (effects returns, multiple synth setups, etc), especially one that does the job with such clarity.

The great expander

The Little Bustard indeed makes a great expander for its 'Fat' counterpart, especially thanks to the excellent signal path. As a standalone unit this is definitely a tool rather than a character maker, though again the transient distortion when driven adds bite to drum, guitar or brass sub-mixes.

There are cheaper alternatives but, as is so often the case, we doubt you'll find as efficient a signal path. Also, it's Thermionic Culture, so it looks cool and will last a lifetime.



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Novation Dicer

[ 0 ] 2010/08/13

Now that most manufacturers have done the generic MIDI controller to death, we're seeing the next wave of controllers, designed for specific jobs or even specific software functions.

In our opinion, this is definitely a good thing, as we'd rather have something doing one job well than something else doing a lot of things, but only doing them okay.

Novation's Dicer is one of the next wave, and this compact controller is targeted at DJs - specifically Serato Scratch Live users - who want to get some extra hands-on performance from the Looping features.

"If you've ever tried to find space for a controller in a DJ booth, one that sits in the right place is liberating."

Just like decks, Dicers come in pairs, and it can be securely mounted on the corner of a Technics 1200. On the underside is a circular mounting block (this can be detached by unscrewing it) that enables it to slot into the 45 RPM adaptor recess of the deck, so it won't wobble when prodded or knocked.

Funnily enough, this is one of its major selling points - if you've ever tried to find space for a MIDI controller in a DJ booth, you know just how difficult it can be, so having a controller that sits in exactly the right place is a liberation.

If you need to attach them to CDJs, or prefer to position them on a different part of a deck, simply detach the mounting circle and use the DJ putty provided to stick them in place.

Two heads

So, we're off to a good start - but thankfully there's more. Dicer is USB-powered and uses the smaller USB Micro 1.1 standard connectors. The pair of units are identical, so either can be connected to the computer.

To save using two USB ports to connect the pair, you can daisy-chain the units together using the provided mini jack cable. To clarify, although this is an audio lead, it's only used for MIDI.

Setup time is short and sweet. Just mount the Dicers to the decks, plug them in and you should be good to go. They are class-compliant, so there is no driver installation and, since, they are pre-mapped to Serato's Looping and Cueing functions, it's game on as soon as you see them light up.

The layout features five big round rubber buttons and three smaller ones. The big ones are numbered like dice and are the main ones used for performance; the smaller ones are used to select the various modes.

All of the buttons take advantage of intelligent backlighting and use three colours to distinguish themselves from one other.

Join the cue

The first thing to do is to select one of the modes to play with. Let's start with Hot Cue mode - this makes the unit light up red and enables you to store up to five cue points using the big buttons.

To store a cue point, simply tap the button, at which point it will light up to indicate it's saved it. You can delete a cue point by holding down the little Cue Mode button and pressing the active Cue button, at which point the light should dim and it will be ready for re-arming.

The second mode is backlit in green and controls the Loop Roll feature. This is great for adding cool fills and stutters without interrupting the flow. This time, pressing and holding any of the buttons momentarily loops the track. The five buttons correspond to different increments, starting at one beat and rolling through half, quarter, one-eighth and one-16th of a beat.

Obviously, this is only going to work smoothly if the track in question has had its BPM analysed in advance. The nifty thing about Loop Roll is that the track will resume from the point it would have reached. So if you hold down Roll for two bars, when you release it the track will play from two bars after the initial button press and so will always be in sync.

The third mode is for Auto-Looping and makes the buttons light up in amber yellow. It differs from Loop Roll in two significant ways. Firstly, the five loop lengths are longer, ranging from one beat, two beats, through to four, eight and 16 beats. Secondly, the Loop function is activated by toggling the button on or off.

Getting Dicey

After a few hours of playtime, it's easy to get addicted to using the Dicers, simply because they make it so easy to explore the different possibilities which can be performed with the buttons.

They are mega-responsive to touch, and the triggering is lightning-fast. Another nice feature is that when holding down one Loop Roll button, you can tap another to create polyrhythms without the Dicer getting confused and glitching.

In the lead-up to its release, Novation were heavily hyping Dicer as a 'game changer'; now that it's uncovered, some may wonder what the difference is between using this and any other generic MIDI controller to operate Loop functions. In our opinion, it's the combination of ergonomics and intelligent lighting that justifies the hype.

If you're sick of taping controllers to the side of your decks, only to knock them off halfway through a show, this is for you. Our only reservation is that it's a bit expensive compared to other controllers; there's nothing similar right now, but that could easily change.

If you've been reluctant to dive into SSL's Looping/Cueing features because they don't feel right, this may well change your mind.



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Yamaha CP1

[ 0 ] 2010/08/13

Yamaha have, it's fair to say, always been at the forefront of stage piano technology. The first pianos to wear the CP badge were the now-classic CP70/80 electric grands, adopted by many big-name artists over the years.

As with the recently-launched Roland V Piano, the Yamaha CP1 uses modelling technology (combined with sampling) to capture the nuances of a real piano. However, while VA synths get close to the magic of real analogue, modelling technology is still in its infancy compared to purely sample-based pianos.

At nearly five feet in length, well over a foot deep and weighing in at a notch under 60lbs, this is not something suitable for gigging with unless you have plenty of helpers and an estate car or hatchback with its rear seats down.

"In terms of sound, the CP1 is pretty impressive, and it's hard to detect any velocity sample switching."

On tour with roadies or in studio residence? No problem, of course - though when you also consider that it needs a flight case, the prospect of moving it becomes even scarier.

Looks-wise, the CP1 is utilitarian yet classy. It has a textured metal case with black/brown wooden end panels, a brushed aluminium panel housing the switches and a faux-leatherette top suitable for standing a laptop or small second keyboard on.

There's a good-sized vacuum fluorescent display with six push-rotaries for direct access to the most important parameters. Sound selection is via the Preset/User/External buttons in combination with 16 Patch-Selection switches. All switches have LEDs that flash depending on if they are in Edit mode, or to signify if a particular selector switch is on or off.

The keys, the secret

The 88-note keybed is an all-new design. It's very playable, nicely weighted and not too heavy, though perhaps a little more sluggish responding to faster runs than we would have liked. But, in general, it's very good indeed.

The signal path is logically laid out in blocks on the front panel. First up is the Piano button block, where any of the 17 piano/electric piano modes can be selected. There are several acoustic pianos, plus Rhodes and Wurlitzer piano emulations and DX7 emulations. These can then be fed through modelled preamp stages based on preamps and speakers found in Rhodes and Wurlitzer pianos.

Following this is a Modulation block, where sounds can be processed through chorus, phaser, wah, flange and symphonic effects. These effects are musical and warm, really helping to bring the sounds to life.

The Power Amp section is again modelled on Rhodes and Wurlitzer designs, but also includes a vintage compressor for extra punch and level control. It's powerful and authentic-sounding, adding real guts and finesse to the dry sounds.

Next is the Reverb block, containing eight reverbs which include stage, room and hall emulations though, surprisingly, there's no delay. Finally, there's a very powerful Master EQ section with selectable peak and shelf and adjustable 'Q' parameters for each band, enabling detailed customisation of every sound. Nothing to complain about here!

Sound Shaping

With regard to customising the CP1's sounds, there's plenty of control for all piano types, ranging from hammer hardness, hammer strike position to note decay.

Using these functions really helps you to connect to the CP1 - much as if you were tweaking the pianos themselves - making it feel much more like a real instrument than some entirely sample-based pianos.

The preamp and Power Amp models are also some of the best we've heard and greatly enhance the raw sounds plus they can be interchanged with different pianos, while the five-band EQ is very powerful, too.

The modulation effects add a bit of extra mojo to the sounds, giving welcome movement and life, but the reverbs, though decent enough, aren't particularly amazing. Though there's very little to criticise in terms of tweakability or playability, it would still have been great to have more adjustment for the Rhodes sounds and the ability to choose different strings for the acoustics.

It's a real shame there's no pedal on/off resonance, especially given that it's a flagship instrument.

Mixed bag

The CP1 is two-part multitimbral and up to two sounds (such as Rhodes and Piano) can be layered with little menu diving - ease of use is something that shines through on the CP1. Any major function can also be user-assigned to any of the dials and set to appear on the screen in the main performance mode, enabling you to have all your favourite parameters to hand at all times.

In terms of sound, the CP1 is pretty impressive; it's hard to detect any velocity sample switching, so the response is smooth throughout the playing range and frequency spectrum.

However, it's not without fault and some of the sounds can be a little lifeless and boxy. The S6 model sounds a little too nasal for our liking, though EQing does help. You also end up relying on the effects and EQs rather than using the dry sounds on their own. Not to say that the piano/electric pianos aren't good in isolation, but they can lack a certain sparkle and movement.

These criticisms aside, our favourite sounds include the CF grand and the CP80 - as well as the 75 Rhodes model with stereo panning turned on.

Overall, the CP1 is a mixed bag. On one hand, on a playing and tweaking level, you feel a real connection with it. On the other, We can't help feeling that although it does sound good, it lacks a certain magic that you'd naturally expect from a piano at this price point. The overall sound and the technology used are certainly impressive, but we were hoping for more 'wow' factor.

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MeldaProduction MMultiBandDistortion

[ 0 ] 2010/08/10

This Melda plug-in is billed as being for processing guitars and synths, but with a possibly wider range of uses thanks to its deep structure.

The multiband and modulation aspects of MMultiBandDistortion are identical to MMultiBandChorus, which we recently looked at, so we won't labour the point here.

Suffice to say, the plug-in offers up to six adjustable bands, up to 4x upsampling, MIDI learn, four global modulators, definable LFO shapes, full automation and randomisation, and the ability to process mono, stereo or up to eight channels simultaneously for working in surround sound.

Each band has amp simulator and 'destroyer' sections, the former offering emulations of generic styles of guitar amp (no specific brands or models are named), while the latter houses five purely digital distortion algorithms, flanked by a rather silly skull graphic.

The aim is to provide a versatile sound that covers everything from clean amp sounds, passing through high-gain tones and on through to over-the-top decimation of your signal. In fact, it's very easy to overdo things and end up with a complete mess that produces screaming feedback, even with no input signal present.

There are 12 amp types: two bass, two 'deep', two rock and five metal, as well as single models for pop, country and alternative styles. While they don't have the same level of sophistication found in dedicated amp sims such as Guitar Rig or AmpliTube, they do cover a wide spectrum of axe-based tones.

Once you've opted for the amp type, there are further controls for things like the Drive, Color (or tone) and Feedback, as well as quirkier parameters such as Bias, where you can choose between extreme, tube and transistor sounds. The amp models also include cabinet/mic simulation, although this isn't adjustable.

The five digital distortion algorithms are represented as six sliders, so that's one slider each, except for Bitcrusher, which has two. These can be employed simultaneously per band and, when used sensibly, can add an edge to the amp sim tones.

Right at the bottom, there's a basic EQ section, comprising bass, middle, presence and treble controls for further sculpting of each band's tone.

No axe to grind?

MeldaProduction have aimed this plug-in at forward-thinking guitarists who want to add distortion effects to their axe sounds. Synth users who are in need of a multi-faceted distortion unit are also on their hit-list, and we can concur with their choice of target audience.

The plug-in's multiband nature lends itself perfectly to effecting bass and lead guitar tones, whether you want to zero in on the low-end to warm your sounds up, or produce some gnarly high-end frequencies in order to give your patches a bit of added bite.

However, there's no reason to stop there. MMultiBandDistortion is a flexible plug-in and it works well with other instruments too. For example, it's highly adept at trashing and scuzzing up drum tracks. You could easily slap some low-end grit on the kick drum or, conversely, decimate the hi-hats or snares, while leaving any bassier percussive elements punchy and defined.

Start your engines

MeldaProduction's multiband engine provides an enormously flexible palette of sounds, from quick one-band presets for instant tones, to extremely complex six-band setups that would be practically impossible to recreate with hardware - well, unless you happen to have six different amps and a device to split the signal into as many frequency bands!

Then there's the excellent MeldaProduction Envelope System for modulating parameters - including the band positions themselves - via the syncable or envelope-based LFOs. All of this adds up to a remarkably deep plug-in that offers a seemingly endless range of distortion effects.

MMBD doesn't really replace dedicated amp sims for axe-wielding computer musicians, but for those looking for a truly flexible distortion plug-in, we'd highly recommend giving MeldaProduction's creation a trial run.

Hear what the MMBD can do with our audio demos:

Guitar - Brighter

Guitar - Overdrive

Synth - Masochist

Synth - Underbass

Drums - Crunchy

Drums - Deep Core

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