It's amazing how one little box could change what I do so much. Simply put, this is an impedence matcher for going from the output of tape/board/line-level type signal to the input of guitar amps, stomp boxes and the like. Boy this opened up a lot. Now drum busses are feeding distortion pedals and coming back into the mix. Crappy delay pedals don't distort out when I try to feed them off the mixer. Everybody's vocals end up going through the Fender amp it seems. Jeff Saltzman, our trusty freelancer here, has even been using it at the receiving end of long cable runs (with a mic pre at the top) to feed bass amps. That just a simple box with a transformer and potentiometer could unlock so much makes me aware of how strange it is that no one else is making something like this. (www.reamp.com)
Interfaces, Software | No. 147
Fireface UCX II USB Interface
by Tom Fine
RME has raised the bar on value with the Fireface UCX II. This German-made ADC/DAC is an all-in-one recording tool of bits and bytes, with no compromises on hardware quality or software functionality....