Capture creativity

– BARRY RUDOLPH barry@barryrudolph.com
DAMSON AUDIO TWIST PORTABLE SPEAKER
HOSA TECHNOLOGY PWL-400 SERIES POWER EXTENSION CORDS
Worldwide, AC power cables use International Electrical Connection or IEC connectors. This
universal cable connects to your equipment’s back panel socket and at the other end is the
proper plug that connects to any country’s AC wall outlet. This standardization allows operating
electronics anywhere in the world using the disparate AC line power voltage sources
and wall sockets locally available.
Hosa Technology’s PWL-400 is an IEC extension cable and ideal for extending the
reach of a standard IEC power cord. Equipped with an IEC C14 connector at one end to
mate to the end of your existing IEC power cable, there is an IEC C13 connector at the
other, that connects to your gear.
PWL-400 Series Power Extension Cords come in three lengths: PWL-401.5 is only 1.5-
ft. long and sells for $6.95—it’s great for interconnecting pieces of gear in the same rack;
the PWL 403 is 3-ft. at $9.95; and the PWL-408 is 8-ft. and sells for $19.95.
Hosa’s new PWL-400 Series Power Extension Cords utilize 14-gauge oxygen-free copper
conductors and a black PVC jacket for durability and low on-stage visibility. The PWL-408
sample I received was eight feet long and is rugged and heavy duty—it works well to extend the
AC power lead for a synths, DJ gear and pro audio equipment. It’s a good tool to have ready to go.
Visit http://hosatech.com for more.
The Damson Audio Twist is a portable powered speaker that works via Bluetooth or via a stereo analog mini jack input.
The “twist” is that this stylish aluminum cylindrical speaker, at about 3 inches tall and 2 inches in diameter, makes very
little sound until you set it on a surface—wood, plastic, glass, a desktop or table. Immediately, loud and full sound fills your
space with a powerful bass that belies its diminutive size.
The Damson Twist uses resonance technology instead of a conventional speaker cone to produce sound. Called Incisor
Diffusion Technology, the unit has a transducer in its base that couples the audio output’s vibrational energy directly to the
surface it rests on. The more freely a surface can vibrate, the louder the sound is acoustically amplified.
I like that the entire upper-half of Twist rotates from center position (off) to either Bluetooth operation or analog line input.
A dual-color LED lights to indicate which mode you have functioning and a short tone is emitted indicating successful
Bluetooth pairing. I paired up to my iPhone 4S but it’ll work with any laptop, smartphone or tablet the supports the A2DP standard.
I placed the Twist on a small antique coffee table in my living room. It was amazing. There was enough audio power that certain loose
sections of my old table would buzz with certain bass notes of the music. I moved Twist over to a massive dining room table and not only
did the buzzing disappear but I gained even more volume.
The Damson Twist sells for $69.99 MSRP. It comes in your choice of four candy metallic-colors and runs for about nine-hours on an
internal, rechargeable battery. Check out http://us.damsonaudio.com/products/twist.
EXPONENTIAL AUDIO PHOENIXVERB AND R2 REVERB PLUG-INS
PhoenixVerb and R2 are two new reverb synthesizer plug-ins from Exponential Audio’s Michael
Carnes who designed Lexicon Pro’s 960L, PCM96 and PCM plug-ins.
PhoenixVerb ($199) produces natural and realistic room, plate, chamber and hall reverbs
with presets arranged by keywords or categories. This arrangement lets you see different applications
of the same presets within the range of multiple categories.
R2 ($299) is called an active character reverb because it is designed to add coloration—
even quirkiness with its additional chorus and gate processor modules. I found the chorus to
add a subtle touch of modulation to the reverb’s sound while the gate panel’s parameters work
well for devising quirky reverb effects, sudden-gated reverb effects and unique or matching
ADR environment treatments.
PhoenixVerb has become my primary go-to reverb when starting a new music mix in Pro Tools 11. Both PhoenixVerb and R2’s GUIs have
complete sets of control knobs with individual parameter direct-entry windows. Wet/Dry Balance, Pre-delay and Reverb time are “center stage”
in the GUI with controls for Early Reflection, Reverb Level and Output roll-off filter frequency—I especially like the stereo width control slider for
setting the reverb’s image spread.
Both plug-ins are organized in a screen space-saving way with three parameter panes or panels for adjusting the basic character and nature of
the synthesized reverb. You can rename and build your own categories or view a very long list of presets.
Both plug-ins are available for MACs and PCs in AU, VST, RTAS and AAX formats including AAX64.
PhoenixVerb and R2 are must-have plug-ins. For more information, see http://exponentialaudio.com.
D’ADDARIO/PLANET WAVES NS MICRO TUNER
The new NS Micro Tuner is so small and lightweight, it is nearly invisible when clipped on the back
of my Fender Strat’s headstock. Even when turned on and tucked out of view from everyone, its
presence becomes immediately known by its brilliant color display.
Planet Waves improved the ratchet clip-on design so the NS Micro tuner now looks like part of the guitar
and can stay attached when you place the instrument in a travel case.
Other improvements and updates include the tuning software, which now has faster note recognition
and accuracy by way of an ultra-sensitive piezoelectric sensor system. I like the vibration pickup of this
tuner—it makes tuning easy on loud and dark stages and the simple multi-color, backlit display shows the
note name in red to indicate when it is out of tune and turns green when in tune.
The NS Micro Tuner has an expanded calibration range from A=410 to 480Hz and there is a fully
adjustable visual metronome for practicing. The NS Micro Tuner runs on a watch battery and
automatically shuts off in a few minutes if you forget.
The D’Addario/Planet Waves NS Micro Tuner sells for $32.99 MSRP. For more information,
check out http://planetwaves.com/pwnsmicrotuner.page.
BARRY RUDOLPH is a recording engineer/mixer who
has worked on over 30 RIAA certified gold and platinum
award-winning records. He has recorded and/or mixed:
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart,
the Corrs and Robbie Nevil, among others. Barry has
his own futuristic music mixing facility and also teaches
recording engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood,
CA. http://barryrudolph.com
12 September 2013 musicconnection.com