Prism Sound Orpheus - Audio Media

05|08AMSRProfessional Audio... PersonalizedSing Play Listen Record“There is obviously ademand for smallformat, rack-mountableanalogue mixing desksfor a wide variety ofapplications. For hirecompany stock this deskwould fit into the smallevents market very nicely.”Duet is a two-channel FireWire audio interface for the Mac featuring the sound qualityand ease of use Apogee is famous for. With Duet’s portability and direct integration intoGarageBand, Logic Pro, and Soundtrack Pro, you can effortlessly make professional recordingsanywhere your music takes you.Introducing Logic StudioA suite of powerful, easy-to-use musiccreation and production tools, Logic Studiogives musicians everything they need towrite,record, edit, mix and perform.>your view of the meters.Two red LEDs indicate the status of the internalpower supply; there is one for the phantom 48v, andthe second for the internal +/- 17v rail.The two stereo returns are right under the meters.Always routed to the main mix and controlled by ared level pot, they can be used for those two effectsunits easily. The first stereo return can also besent to aux 1, whilst the second stereo return can be sentto aux 2 – a feature that could be very useful, butwould require some planning to ensure that eachstereo input signal reached the desired aux buss.The Big Red ButtonAnother red button and pot combo is providedto control the two track return. The button routesthe signal to the main buss, whilst the pot changesthe level. By de-selecting the ‘2 trk to mix’ button, it ispossible to send the two-track signal to the monitorbuss only, without hearing it in the main mix.The monitor source can be flipped between thetwo-track input, the mix buss, or both. You canselect to listen to the monitor buss in mono too,which is a very useful feature as an instant monosum of your mix is available on headphones orreference speakers at any time.Two more red pots finish off the section – theycontrol the monitor output and the headphoneoutput levels. There are of course also the masterfaders, which are bright yellow and obviouslyvery important.In DemandThere are a number of similar products on themarket, and have been for years. There is obviouslya demand for small format, rack-mountableanalogue mixing desks for a wide variety ofapplications. For hire company stock this deskwould fit into the small events market very nicely.A venue like a club with DJs and small stagewould do well to employ a desk of this quality(please keep away from the horrendous but cheap‘B’ products!).The audio quality of this board is very nice, thepreamps are transparent and powerful, but likeanother popular small desk there are no pads.Another gripe for me is the lack of mono bussassignment switches for each channel. I supposethat this desk is so small it would not really be usedon gigs with a centre cluster, but a mono buss forselected channels can be useful for sub woofer sendswhen all the auxes are already used.No Fuss NecessaryAll in all, this desk is very nice to use, it simplydoes the job with no fuss whilst providing enoughfeatures to get you through most situations in avictorious fashion. ∫....................................INFORMATION£ 12ch 12+2 GB£950.00, 16ch 16/2 GB£975.00 (bothexc.VAT)A Soundcraft, Harman International Industries Ltd.,Cranborne House, Cranborne Road, Potters Bar,Herts EN6 3JNT +44 (0) 1707 665000F +44 (0) 1707 660742W www.soundcraft.comE info@soundcraft.com74AUDIO MEDIA MAY 2008