Product: MOTU PreAmp-1 MAS
Price Paid: US $395
Submitted
05/18/2004
at
08:12pm
by
sam
Reviewer Background
:
Ease of Use
:
8
Very intuitive...for the competent, experienced engineer. Patches can be modified, saved and recalled from the plug-in's menu but modified and saved patches
are available only within the Project file and are not global. The behavior is a bit annoying. Patch or parameter changes are automatable though I have not yet
tried whether they are MIDI controller assignable and therefore contolled via MIDI event or MIDI foot controller.
Opening the plug-in used to crash Digital Performer, but this has been fixed with a little patch update.
Sounds/Sound Quality
:
8
Guitars - Parker Fly Classic, Godin LGX, Ibanez S540, walnut Fender Telecaster.
Mics - Rode NT2, AKG C3000B, AKG C2000B
Audio interface - MOTU 896, dbx 386, MOTU 2408mkII.
Monitors - Mackie HR824 pair or Rocktron Velocity 250 and Marshall 1960A JCM900Lead.
This is actually an all-purpose plug-in that simulates a tube-preamp stage, and therefore has many applications even though I use it to create my guitar tones.
This can warm up an otherwise clean though way too sterile vocal signal. I can feed a bass directly to the MOTU 896 w/out a direct injection box and the
plug-in can enhance its already beefy character with compression and gain.
Just like any actual amp, the plug-in will produce noise and hiss at high gain settings, and though it is not bad at all, thankfully MOTU has a gate with its
dynamics processor that can be inserted after the plug-in.
3 band Pre-distortion EQ allows for tone shaping, and so far I've been able to dial up nice clean tones for jazz and pop, dirty blues and country tones, and
saturated Marshall-like tones with great sustain. One caveat on the high gain tone is that you need an EQ after the plug-in cutting off frequences above 5000HZ,
dipping 1000KHz by 10dB, and raising 100Hz to 200Hz slightly to simulate a mic'ed cab effect. I top it off using a mono white phase that gets rid of all the
edginess and I end up with the most tube-like glassy saturation that I could not find with a J-Station or Rocktron Prophesy.
Overall Rating
:
8
What I love to play is jazz, though I spend a lot of time of pop, shred and 80's hair band music. I've been a musician for 15 years and own a plethora of
recording and musical equipment. The plug-in, being one that is included free with the MOTU Audio System, though you do need a MOTU Audio System
host such as Audio Desk or Digital Performer, represents an outstanding value for live and studio work and can be the processing end of your vocal, bass and
guitar signals.
