What’s on my gear radar?
Well, the end of year is upon us and it stands to reason that it’s a good time to take advantage of some holiday deals as well as consider various new product introductions.
Let’s not forget that an up-to-date studio does for us what a designer walk-in shoe closet does for the female species…
So here’s the list of goodies I’m contemplating…
Ironically, I was considering an upgrade to my Receptor Rev C (circa 2006) this time last year, but decided to hold off in hopes that Muse would create a more significant leap. The newly announced specifications on the Muse Receptor 2 (Pro Max) were just what I was hoping for, albeit 12 months later…
This baby can potentially replace my dedicated sampling server which presently runs GigaStudio 4 and Kontakt 3 and an assortment of sample libraries totaling approximately 400GB. Here’s my thinking: Tascam has put GigaStudio out to pasture so my long-run strategy is to consolidate everything onto NI Kontakt. I doubt I’m unique in this thinking… Muse has always had a cozy relationship with Native Instruments, but prior versions of the Receptor lacked the overall muscle and capacity to provide this function. Plus gigabit ethernet support now makes their Uniwire protocol something I can seriously contemplate; up until now, I haven’t used it. And, they’ve added eSATA support; this is a great solution for adding high-performance external storage (not possible on earlier models). Sure the Receptor costs more (est $3200 street) than an equivalently configured PC, but the Receptor provides more net performance with less configuration because its Linux kernel is purpose built and the absence of a GUI adds another 20-30% tailwind in my estimation.
The question for me is whether to consolidate everything from my Rev C, which presently runs self-contained instruments such as Ivory and other soft-synth VSTs, onto a Max Pro or simply dedicate the Max Pro as my new Kontakt/sampler platform. Kore 2 support is also on the near-term horizon according to Muse. My thinking is that wrapping everything under Kore 2 makes quite a bit of sense these days – if you’re going to standardize on NI stuff, may as well go “all in”. I’d be curious if anyone has thoughts or experiences along these lines?
I presently have 3 UAD-1 boards in my DAW, a dual Xeon box built by ADK Pro Audio. And for whatever reason, my UAD plug-ins have not been performing that well since the advent of Cubase 4.x – I’m not sure why, but my theory is that this coincides with a wrapper for VST 2.X plug-ins as Steinberg begins optimization around its new VST 3.X standard. Just my personal theory, but regardless, I can buy a single (albeit pricey) UAD-2 Quad and not only get a lot more DSP, but also free up some slots inside the box. I could then add a SSL Duende PCIe – which I prefer to run on the bus vs. over firewire. The Duende is also on my radar, but I’m going to wait on that one because I suspect SSL is preparing an upgrade of their own given their recent price drops. Besides, I’m a heavy Waves user so I have the plug-ins I need for the time being. It’s clear that the UAD-2 is going to be around for a while, so I think I’m going to bite the bullet and buy the top-end Quad – it’s time to consolidate – and this is best done before year end given the special incentives being provided by Universal Audio.
I also contemplated a DAW upgrade, but I’m getting “good enough” performance to hold out a bit longer, namely so I can make a healthy and uneventful leap into a 64-bit configuration. I’m seeing signs that Vista is beginning to stabilize, and my bet is that we’ll see a lot more 64-bit support (for drivers, plug-ins, etc) becoming available in 2009. I’m going to hold out until everything stabilizes. For now, the DAW falls into the category of not fixing what’s not broken…
ERGO stands for Enhanced Room Geometry Optimization – or more simply put, a room correction device that consists of the base unit, a calibration microphone and control software. These three pieces are used to measure and analyze phase and frequency problems within a listening environment to create a 3D image of your room and apply dynamic filters to control/correct the audio environment.
I haven’t been a big fan of these things in the past, but I believe the ERGO may provide some help particularly since I know I have low frequency nulls smack dab in my mix position. Notwithstanding, I also have extensive acoustic treatments in my studio including bass traps. I would not recommend something like this before you apply fundamental treatment, but I figure the combination of a well treated room and this little gadget may provide for some improvement. It’s all about creating mix transparency and for a mere $550 (USD), I can’t resist giving it a try! Incidentally, I’ve ruled out the competing alternative from IK Multimedia because I want something that sits outside of the DAW.
My remaining upgrades can be done cost neutrally courtesy of eBay! In this regard, I’m finding myself attracted to the new Line6 Pod X3 Pro. This new gadget combines the best of the renowned guitar and bass pod technologies plus it provides a decent pair of line and mic pres – the only thing I see missing is meters but I can live with that. Basically, this is an audio interface on steroids, and will be great tool for my visiting guitar toting mates. So the plan is to replace not only my current Pod Pro XT, but also my 2U Focusrite TwinMaster Pro and gain a spare 1U rack space along with 2 additional analog ins for my Yamaha O2r96 while I’m at it. More for less – always good in my book!
Well, that’s about it for now… I think I’ve just mentally spent about $5000 (USD)? Not really too bad in the grand scheme right? I haven’t really done much “gear acquisition” this year so perhaps I’m just in the mood, but some of these recent announcements really strike a chord with me so I think it’s time to do a little upgrading!
