The first month of 2022 saw us staving off the winter blues with these drool-worthy new music technology goodies.
GForce Make Their MkII
The original software Mellotron emulation, M-Tron put Brit developers GForce Software on the map when it launched in 2000, and was followed almost a decade later by M-Tron Pro, which made improvements in every department, from the engine and UI to the core sample bank. Capturing the sound of the Mellotron M400, M-Tron Pro is a genuine classic among plugins – and now it’s joined by a whole new ’Tron!
M-Tron MkII is a separate instrument to M-Tron Pro, rather than a replacement for it, virtualising the older Mellotron MkI/MkII, and the Chamberlin Music Master. These ridiculously rare dual manual tape-loop-triggering keyboards put rhythms and ensemble accompaniments (‘Bossa Nova’, “Rhumba’, ‘Fast Jazz’, ‘Waltz’, etc) on 35 keys, and lead sounds (‘Flute’, ‘Electric Guitar’, ‘Marimba’, etc) on the other 35, and the software version takes that basic concept and runs with it. Rhythms and accompaniments from the same tapes can be freely combined and layered, the lead sound tapes have been captured both DI’d and miked, complete banks can be retuned without affecting tempo, and reverb and delay effects are onboard.
Built on a beautiful 5GB sample library recorded and produced by Streetly Electronics’ Martin Smith, M-Tron MkII is every bit as characterful as its Pro sibling but offers a very different range of sounds and possibilities. If vintage keyboard emulations are your thing, you certainly won’t want to miss this one.
PreSonus Go Five By Five
PreSonus don’t hang about with their Studio One point updates, and just four months after the release of version 5.4, Studio One 5.5 is here, introducing another raft of new features and improvements to many of those we already know and love. The focus this time round is on the Project Page – Studio One’s integrated mastering environment – and the headline news is the addition of volume and plugin parameter automation, which works just as it does in the Song Page. Also ported over from the arrange view are clip gain envelopes (enabling detailed volume changes over time to be drawn directly onto clips themselves), the Track Transform ‘freeze’ function, and the Listen Bus. On top of that, when exporting your master, you can now target the gamut of commercial loudness standards, export in multiple formats at once, and take advantage of PreSonus’ proprietary new dithering algorithm.
Studio One 5.5 isn’t all about mastering, though, with the Chord Track now able to extract chords from dragged-in MIDI files, stacked notes stretching out into strums when dragged with a modifier key held, and numerous lesser enhancements put in place. It’s a free update, of course, so if you’ve not yet grabbed it, what are you waiting for?
Tascam Achieve Peak Mobile
With that colour touchscreen LCD giving it the appearance of something off the set of Star Trek, Tascam’s Portacapture X8 claims to be the ultimate mobile and field recording system, packing a wealth of technological and functional innovation into its diminutive, sub-500g frame. On top of the built-in 14.6mm-diameter stereo condenser mic pair (movable between A-B and X-Y patterns), four XLR/TRS jacks enable up to four microphones and/or line-level signals to be brought in for multitrack (plus, conveniently, stereo mix) recording, each with its own phantom powering; while a minijack socket allows for separate input from a camera, media player or other device.
Recording is done at up to 32-bit/192kHz, up to 512GB of MicroSD storage is supported, and the 3.5-inch touchscreen provides all the requisite visual feedback, as well as access to five recording apps/presets – Voice, Podcast, Music, Field, ASMR – and the fully configurable Manual mode. You can also plug the X8 into your Mac or PC and use it as a USB-C audio interface, streaming up to eight tracks, and hook up the optional AK-BT1 Bluetooth adaptor to facilitate remote control of the thing from your phone.
It looks like Tascam really have thought of everything with the Portacapture X8, which clearly leaves the smartphone coughing up dust when it comes to high-quality field and location recording, and makes for a far more manageable and genuinely mobile option than any laptop. We’re seriously tempted…
Positive Grid Give Guitarists Some Hardware Love
The first audio interface from virtual guitar amp and effects specialists Positive Grid, Riff not only aims to make recording life easy for the guitarist who doesn’t want to deal with the potential complexities of multichannel audio interfacing, but also serves as a controller for their Bias FX 2 software. A handsome, sturdy metal box with a big backlit LCD display, Riff features a 1/4-inch instrument input, a 1/4-inch stereo line out and a headphone minijack, connects via USB, and records and plays back at up to 24-bit/96kHz. The big knob on top can be assigned to amp and effects parameters within Bias FX 2, and the interface itself boasts three onboard preamp emulations for self-contained amplification. There’s an auto-gain function, too, for effortless input level setting, and direct monitoring for latency-free listening.
Compatible with macOS, Windows and iOS, Riff is available now in a choice of four colours, and includes Bias FX 2 LE and PreSonus’ Studio One Prime DAW.
API Bring Big Console Monitoring To The Project Studio
Kicking off ’22 in boutique style, legendary mixer manufacturers API have broken the monitoring section from their analogue consoles out into its own desktop unit, and tailored it to “DAW workflows”. Featuring three balanced stereo line inputs, a 3.5mm minijack input, a digital input (AES3 or USB), three stereo line outputs with independently adjustable trim, a mono subwoofer output, two headphone outputs, a talkback mic and Bluetooth connectivity, the MC531 Monitor Controller makes routing signals to up to three sets of speakers (plus assignable sub) and assigning cue sources to headphones a simple push-button process. And employing the same circuitry (including API’s 2510 op amp) as its full console stablemates, it’s safe to assume that audio fidelity and transparency will be more than up to scratch. Such studio luxury doesn’t come cheap, mind, and at over two grand, the MC351 is anything but an impulse buy… which doesn’t stop us desperately wanting one.
Did you buy any new audio gear in January? Let us know in the comments.