For as lengthy as music gear corporations have been making audio interfaces, they’ve assumed that most individuals out there care solely about plugging as many microphones into their laptop as doable. They may have a pair quarter-inch inputs in entrance for “devices,” however the market dominance of interfaces that commit the majority of their actual property to inputs with mic preamps and XLR jacks has gone unquestioned and unchallenged for much too lengthy. What about boomer gearheads with racks of classic preamps who don’t need chintzy Guitar Heart–grade circuity coloring their sign? Or the synth nerds who want a hassle-free hub for his or her many winding paths of modular goodness?
A number of the most modern gear solutions questions that aren’t being requested, and Arturia has been forward of the curve on these issues for the higher a part of a decade. Identified greatest for his or her sturdy MIDI controllers and Behringer-beating price range synths, the French agency turned heads when it dipped its toes within the crowded waters of the audio interface market with its AudioFuse series. These sturdy and classy little containers made it easy for recording artists of all stripes to seize concepts with little effort, all at a value level that hovered in a cushty center floor between the discount basement junk that litters Amazon and the “prosumer” studio centerpieces provided by glitzier manufacturers like Audient and Common Audio. The addition of USB hub ports for connecting gear like USB MIDI controllers, keyboards, and different widespread peripherals was a “Why didn’t anybody consider this sooner?” second for the ages. To this point, the MiniFuse 2 ($122) is my favourite interface for fast and straightforward iPad-based audio manufacturing.
As they transfer upmarket with the AudioFuse 16Rig, Arturia solutions one other essential query nobody is asking: Would anybody pay $1,299 for a rack-mount interface that trades preamps for a mind-boggling array of inputs and outputs? A month with the 16 inputs and eight outputs provided by this 1U dynamo of routing and workflow satisfied me the reply is a convincing “Sure.”
{Photograph}: Pete Cottell
Audio Infusions
Endurance and spontaneity are the yin and yang of lo-fi bed room musicians and revered producers alike. Creativity can hit at any time, however you’ll must spend untold hours prematurely plugging issues in to foster an atmosphere that makes the method of sitting down and hitting the report button as frictionless as doable.
I spent a couple of afternoons routing my Line 6 Helix, HX Results, synths, and a pedalboard stuffed with results from manufacturers like Chase Bliss and Walrus Audio by way of a primary patchbay and into the varied ins and outs of the AudioFuse. It took lower than an hour to wrap my head round how the accompanying software program could lead on me to a “set it and overlook it” setup that will be able to go at a second’s discover.
The software program is comparatively easy, with predictable layouts and features nested in its I/O, mixer, and routing matrix pages. The mixer web page begins off empty and requires channels to be “added” to develop into energetic, which took some getting used to, however this and the I/O web page will really feel instantly acquainted to anyone who uses a DAW with any regularity.
{Photograph}: Pete Cottell
