I think for this to gain traction it is gonna need some simple metering, balanced IO, and a lower price tag. I ain't expecting it to be under 1k euros but if it were under 2000 euros with those features, and perhaps a selection of 3 bands for high and low boost it would give a lot of the "standard" mastering boxes a serious run for the money. A sidechain frequency filter would also put this on another level. As it stands, an aphex compellor 320 can achieve the transparent feed forward compression with balanced IO, and the fmr rnc holds the crown as the best unbalanced comp of all time, particularly in transparency. Most live peeps could probably use a compellor and a graphic eq to achieve close enough to this for much less than half the cost. That being said, this sound amazing and I want this to continue and I appreciate the work that has gone into this, hand built is not easy either. My criticisms are framed so that this can make the creator financially comfortable because what they got going can really eat at the big names market share if it were a little more feature packed and a little less expensive.
I understand the price as a handmade piece. Just seems like it's kinda stuck in the middle. These features would probably come in just under 2 if it were mass-produced (at the same build quality); but if it were a bit larger and with balanced i/o, metering, maybe a midband eq, then I could see it in the low 3K area. But it's hard for me to justify the price for this - I can put together a (balanced) stereo mastering chain in 500 for the same price; or as you suggest, get the RNC for 2 bills, a couple nice EQ pedals - really good ones! - for like $300 each, and boom: $1000 mastering chain. ALL THAT SAID, this really sounds great. And if you have the money, and are specifically looking for a basic set it and forget it/don't wanna think about it too much master bus, you could do worse for more money (and a lot more space). It's not something I see myself buying, but its still cool, and anyone who does buy it, I wish them (and the builder) all the success in the world.
OH MY GOD!! I'm so excited by this since seeing it in one of Stimmings review videos. Edit: OK, less excited by it after seeing the video. That's because I am clearly not the target audience. It is a cool concept and it is extremely niche. Stimming solved a problem he was facing and is sharing that with other musicians sharing the same problem. I think he's done a good job at solving it.
Things quickly went from “if you want more loudness then turn up the trim knob on your club mixer” to now suddenly “you need to be loud because the PA is tuned for loud tracks 😊”
its not cheap .. but its worth it, not only in the studio but also for a dj mobile hybrid setup or something .. and yeah, latency is the one awesome point i think despite the fact that everything on the master bus eats up your single core power on a laptop
If you wanted to use it for mastering, you could add a small quality passive DI (4 channels) for balanced in and out. Passive because then goes both ways. Using short patch leads to get in and out unbalanced. It would be better for the unit itself to be balanced, even in a live situation. A DJ mixer might not have balanced in but the PA itself or the FOH mixer will. You could run straight out the back of the unit into the FOH without fear of noise (stages, with all that equipment, are electrically noisy places!). If it had balanced in and out I would consider it for my studio just to have a nice and simple bus master analogue channel insert effect hooked up to my interface, for recording and mixing.
Sounds like fun, for certain mastering I think you should also have an M/S option, just for the record, any younger recording engineer, DJ or producer can now find the benefits of this very small great sounding unit to enjoy the analog benefits of modern mixing and mastering techniques, on the other hand, 75% of today's producers have never seen hardware equipment like this, except plugins with the same name. Most of them think that mixing or mastering is just 25 plugins staged with all kinds of parameter adjustments in automation formats. Again, a great price for a very, very nice little device. Finally, someone has found a way to easily make something small sound big. :-)
It's a premium product for a pretty niche use case. Having said that if you're playing live production sets without a DAW or laptop this would be essential for getting the LUFs right
saturation will get you so far but i dont think it'll get you to being competitive loudness without changing your sound. you need transparent loudness.
It is very cute. Unbalanced at that price is kind of a deal breaker. As a cool mini field rack it does look like a killer piece of kit. Headroom is a wonderful thing! Your room is looking great. Best regards, Glenn in Rochester, NY, USA Edit: That's a great thought you had about DJ systems. Yes, this looks great for that. I had been thinking that it reminds me of a broadcast processor.
If you have a live Setup, with a lot of uncompressed stuff in it, and want more pressure and be as loud as the Dj before you, its a possible situation to use this.
Shouldn’t there be a limiter and the end of the chain? EQ->Compressor->Saturator->Limiter I guess you can always add one, and the club probably already has one
Thanks for this interesting video. For the price, it is possible to have a good bus compressor + a SSL fusion.... if would cost 1000 eur, ok.... Yet when it reaches that level of price, you can expect to have a professional tool that looks like it should.
you could buy a better mastering chain for that money, but the idea is for it to all fit in one bag. stimmings latest live rig is all small stuff that bearly takes up any space at all.
This is amazing. Exactly the kind of unit for which I'm always on the lookout. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on how this unit would compare to something like Elektron Analog Heat (tech specs aside). It may even be acceptable to compare this to the ART pro VLA II, which you are known for using quite a bit in your studio (tech specs aside as well of course). Price tag is definitely steep, but being familiar with Stimming's work for many years now, a part of me really trusts that this is a high quality unit for which the benefits might not be immediately obvious.
don't think you where quite getting the unit. It's mostly made for playing live in clubs and spicing up your signal, it's not so much about being super precise and gainmatching your material. you also never used all the the controls together (EQ+Drive+EQ) to see what it can sound like. should probably be tested with electronic dance music as well, since that's the primary market I'd say.
I prefer balanced jacks mainly because then I can't accidently phantom power the unit from my interface and blow something up. But either way is fine since I can just use a balanced jack on the interface side
The price of this in comparison to the results of say the SSL Fusion?… I know there’s a size difference… I guess this is about it’s size… unbalanced doesn’t make sense… but for travel it might be good… but, is it enough to satisfy the confidence in what you’ll produce for a master to clients if you was then adding the rest in software? I guess you’d have to try it out for yourself. I liked it’s sound, but is it enough for the price? I’m unsure, but, could be interesting what this company brings in the future as they gain feedback (pun intended).
It seems like there are also a ton of stereo channel strips that have more features for the same or less money, I guess a lot of people must be really tight on space.
I am not playing live (yet) and my music is not widely known (yet). Therefore I do not have a use case for this device. But I've seen a video with Martin explaining his own device ... and the use case of his mastering chain immediately pounced me: It's a small relative light device which is important for traveling (the lesser you take with you the better). And it's »all in one« so you don't have to carry many devices. Also in smaller clubs with less advanced sound technicians (or no technicians at all: »Here's your plug ... go!«) and you need to take care for the loudness of your music by yourself. So well ... here it is. 🙂 Actually I don't know any device on the market which can do what this thing does in this formfactor. ( And I am in no way affiliated to Martin Stimming ... 😀 )
it's an extremely luxurious solution... you could buy a macbook pro m1, have Virtually no latency, a whole production suite including the Weiss/softube stuff, and still have money left over
i have a noob question: .. when i use a monitor controller (passiv) or an active one to control the volume of my active speakers - where should my interface volume knob (main output level) stand? @100% full , 75%, 50%?
I really think they could do the unit for under 1k with the same specs. Just not produce them in Germany. Why not start a Kickstarter campagin for that?
I would love to see a review on the Hilbe Mo 67 pre plugin. Not many of us have the ilok to use it and it seems like it’s either a fantastic plug or not worth the $200 price tag. I love your channel! Thanks for speaking the truth about how you feel🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
unbalanced audio is more succeptible to interference, and without the 3rd conductor balancing the cable, it results in a signal 6db quieter than a balanced signal, so it can cause issues gain staging. when doing live sound I always pushed for balanced signal to work with, there are some exceptions of units I still use in the studio that are balanced in and then are unbalanced on output that I still use, but using a lot of unbalanced gear live is asking for trouble at least for a FOH engineer.
@@ppllaanneessppoottttiinngg so when connecting an unbalanced source to something balanced, the third conductor shorts to ground so you are losing 6db of signal.
What is the logic behind not having a balanced output in such an expensive unit? Sorry, for me, it seems overpriced for the many of us who don't have heavily treated rooms to master in.
Once you learn about the man behind the unit and how he performs live, it will all make sense. As it is made as a unit for djs/producers that perform with a small hardware setup.
What would a balanced output bring to the table. I like balanced for long cables and in this case I don't see the need for a balanced output. This is not a mastering device and not even for in the studio it's a tool to optimise a signal in a small form factor.
i thought you would say TEOTE by Voxengo, which you should review actually :3 quick disclaimer: i hate Alexy "Voxengo" Vaneev as a person, but i recognise that he is a great plugin developer
one thing to keep in mind, this seems to be hand made and developed by one person. The price is rather steep but how many hand built pieces of outboard are cheap? much less hand built by one person and not an assembly line of people? Also, if the price was too low, it probably would not be viable for a single person operation to do, much less keep up with orders so I get why it is priced this way, even if I would not pay that for what it is currently offering feature wise.
The Song you’re talking about is called Sandstorm
Lol you must be new here
It's a way to make people comment XD
@@hernandoando wow that must've been like impossible for you to figure out. thanks for the top secret information pal.
@@2shotDerringer wow, I'm sure you feel better now.
@@hernandoando absolutely
Thank you for including the apostrophe. Massive respect to Stimming and all he does.
I think for this to gain traction it is gonna need some simple metering, balanced IO, and a lower price tag. I ain't expecting it to be under 1k euros but if it were under 2000 euros with those features, and perhaps a selection of 3 bands for high and low boost it would give a lot of the "standard" mastering boxes a serious run for the money. A sidechain frequency filter would also put this on another level.
As it stands, an aphex compellor 320 can achieve the transparent feed forward compression with balanced IO, and the fmr rnc holds the crown as the best unbalanced comp of all time, particularly in transparency.
Most live peeps could probably use a compellor and a graphic eq to achieve close enough to this for much less than half the cost.
That being said, this sound amazing and I want this to continue and I appreciate the work that has gone into this, hand built is not easy either. My criticisms are framed so that this can make the creator financially comfortable because what they got going can really eat at the big names market share if it were a little more feature packed and a little less expensive.
Beeing able to buy it as a DIY kit could help with making it more affordable too.
I do love my RNC!
I understand the price as a handmade piece. Just seems like it's kinda stuck in the middle. These features would probably come in just under 2 if it were mass-produced (at the same build quality); but if it were a bit larger and with balanced i/o, metering, maybe a midband eq, then I could see it in the low 3K area. But it's hard for me to justify the price for this - I can put together a (balanced) stereo mastering chain in 500 for the same price; or as you suggest, get the RNC for 2 bills, a couple nice EQ pedals - really good ones! - for like $300 each, and boom: $1000 mastering chain.
ALL THAT SAID, this really sounds great. And if you have the money, and are specifically looking for a basic set it and forget it/don't wanna think about it too much master bus, you could do worse for more money (and a lot more space). It's not something I see myself buying, but its still cool, and anyone who does buy it, I wish them (and the builder) all the success in the world.
I love the way how that mic make you sound like you about to drop a rap song
OH MY GOD!! I'm so excited by this since seeing it in one of Stimmings review videos.
Edit: OK, less excited by it after seeing the video. That's because I am clearly not the target audience. It is a cool concept and it is extremely niche.
Stimming solved a problem he was facing and is sharing that with other musicians sharing the same problem. I think he's done a good job at solving it.
its always good to touch a knob and feel it , music i mean
thanks for your insights
Things quickly went from “if you want more loudness then turn up the trim knob on your club mixer” to now suddenly “you need to be loud because the PA is tuned for loud tracks 😊”
I thought that this was kind of interesting.
Then I saw the price - 2.799 euro.
Not a chance!
its not cheap .. but its worth it, not only in the studio but also for a dj mobile hybrid setup or something .. and yeah, latency is the one awesome point i think despite the fact that everything on the master bus eats up your single core power on a laptop
If you wanted to use it for mastering, you could add a small quality passive DI (4 channels) for balanced in and out. Passive because then goes both ways. Using short patch leads to get in and out unbalanced. It would be better for the unit itself to be balanced, even in a live situation. A DJ mixer might not have balanced in but the PA itself or the FOH mixer will. You could run straight out the back of the unit into the FOH without fear of noise (stages, with all that equipment, are electrically noisy places!). If it had balanced in and out I would consider it for my studio just to have a nice and simple bus master analogue channel insert effect hooked up to my interface, for recording and mixing.
unbalanced jacks is a strange choice for stereo master unit
Thank you for elucidating this subtle issue
I don't know the technical backround but Martin Stimming said, it is better for the highest loudness, I read in an interview.
No noise in short cable lengths less than 2 meters ....
Name of the artist and track, please. Sounds really good!
Give a chance to the attack of the comp. Allmost All the examples, the attack is super fast and the kick and bass suffers. Quite impressive though.
i knooow. bothered me a lot..
Sounds like fun, for certain mastering I think you should also have an M/S option, just for the record, any younger recording engineer, DJ or producer can now find the benefits of this very small great sounding unit to enjoy the analog benefits of modern mixing and mastering techniques, on the other hand, 75% of today's producers have never seen hardware equipment like this, except plugins with the same name. Most of them think that mixing or mastering is just 25 plugins staged with all kinds of parameter adjustments in automation formats. Again, a great price for a very, very nice little device. Finally, someone has found a way to easily make something small sound big. :-)
It would be nice to have metering for gain reduction..
Yo that song is 🔥🔥🔥🔥 can we get a link when it's done?????
Dropping in with the song title as requested. Teapot Enema.
snake in the mierder oil ?
It's a premium product for a pretty niche use case.
Having said that if you're playing live production sets without a DAW or laptop this would be essential for getting the LUFs right
is it essential? there are other options? like analog heat, or OTO BOUM?
@@tendingtropic7778 facts. I have a heat, Boum, and bugbrand stereo compress. Can get all of those for the price of this.
saturation will get you so far but i dont think it'll get you to being competitive loudness without changing your sound. you need transparent loudness.
It has a nice warm sound.
Wow, pretty cool. But I like the song even more than the box! Thanks.
Looks like a nice thing, thanks for a review
Kinda off point, but my girlfriend laughs out loud at your jokes... Like genuinely. Full belly laugh... Just want you to know that your jokes land.
This would be great for like a workstation synth
this sounds beautiful
Those EQs sound wonderful, I can definitely see me using this in the future.
😂😂😂
It is very cute. Unbalanced at that price is kind of a deal breaker. As a cool mini field rack it does look like a killer piece of kit. Headroom is a wonderful thing! Your room is looking great. Best regards, Glenn in Rochester, NY, USA
Edit: That's a great thought you had about DJ systems. Yes, this looks great for that. I had been thinking that it reminds me of a broadcast processor.
FYI: The newest version has balanced outputs,
@@GeekGearSynths Thanks :) Happy Halloween!
If you have a live Setup, with a lot of uncompressed stuff in it, and want more pressure and be as loud as the Dj before you, its a possible situation to use this.
Thanks!
Shouldn’t there be a limiter and the end of the chain?
EQ->Compressor->Saturator->Limiter
I guess you can always add one, and the club probably already has one
2,800 euros is pricey as fawk.
Thanks for this interesting video. For the price, it is possible to have a good bus compressor + a SSL fusion.... if would cost 1000 eur, ok.... Yet when it reaches that level of price, you can expect to have a professional tool that looks like it should.
you could buy a better mastering chain for that money, but the idea is for it to all fit in one bag. stimmings latest live rig is all small stuff that bearly takes up any space at all.
@Federico Méndez great suggestion !!!!
You could put together very nice, compact mastering chain with 500 series modules for that price.
thats my thinking. this thing is still way more compact and that's the point. stimming uses carry on baggage.
Instant in this case means Live, as you play you treat your sound in the instant.
It was very good, but yeah, at that pricepoint you are playing with the big boys and need portability to be an issue for it to make sense.
nice unit but for 2800e you can get couple good 500series modules or else.
Hey, you HAVE to post a link to this track you’re testing with. Please.
@Greasy_Microwave you’re the winner! Thanks mate
Seeing you geek out about FB and FF makes me think you need an API Drum Bus (2500)
i wish it has a tilt eq with vaiable Freq.
This is amazing. Exactly the kind of unit for which I'm always on the lookout. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on how this unit would compare to something like Elektron Analog Heat (tech specs aside). It may even be acceptable to compare this to the ART pro VLA II, which you are known for using quite a bit in your studio (tech specs aside as well of course).
Price tag is definitely steep, but being familiar with Stimming's work for many years now, a part of me really trusts that this is a high quality unit for which the benefits might not be immediately obvious.
don't think you where quite getting the unit. It's mostly made for playing live in clubs and spicing up your signal, it's not so much about being super precise and gainmatching your material. you also never used all the the controls together (EQ+Drive+EQ) to see what it can sound like. should probably be tested with electronic dance music as well, since that's the primary market I'd say.
Nice simplicity
I prefer balanced jacks mainly because then I can't accidently phantom power the unit from my interface and blow something up. But either way is fine since I can just use a balanced jack on the interface side
Why not just buy the Mixland Steamdriver?
Sounds cool
The price of this in comparison to the results of say the SSL Fusion?… I know there’s a size difference… I guess this is about it’s size… unbalanced doesn’t make sense… but for travel it might be good… but, is it enough to satisfy the confidence in what you’ll produce for a master to clients if you was then adding the rest in software?
I guess you’d have to try it out for yourself.
I liked it’s sound, but is it enough for the price?
I’m unsure, but, could be interesting what this company brings in the future as they gain feedback (pun intended).
I was to say that lol
It seems like there are also a ton of stereo channel strips that have more features for the same or less money, I guess a lot of people must be really tight on space.
Unbalanced jacks? Why would they do that?
Stimming is a master!
It's the smallest most expensive summing mixer, but by no means the most expensive summing mixer. Still a very expensive summing mixer.
I think the Darude track is called Du Hast.
I am not playing live (yet) and my music is not widely known (yet). Therefore I do not have a use case for this device. But I've seen a video with Martin explaining his own device ... and the use case of his mastering chain immediately pounced me: It's a small relative light device which is important for traveling (the lesser you take with you the better). And it's »all in one« so you don't have to carry many devices. Also in smaller clubs with less advanced sound technicians (or no technicians at all: »Here's your plug ... go!«) and you need to take care for the loudness of your music by yourself. So well ... here it is. 🙂
Actually I don't know any device on the market which can do what this thing does in this formfactor.
( And I am in no way affiliated to Martin Stimming ... 😀 )
it's an extremely luxurious solution... you could buy a macbook pro m1, have Virtually no latency, a whole production suite including the Weiss/softube stuff, and still have money left over
The price is a little bit too loud. Yes, it's an analog unit, but 2700 is much too high for this piece of electronic.
It's called "Dust Wind" I think. Or "Fine Gravel Gust". "Dirt Hurricane?" Something along those lines.
i just called it crap
seems cool for apartment living, the unbalanced cables scares me though, wouldn't noise be an issue ?
I doubt it’s noisy, this video wasn’t noisy
i have a noob question: .. when i use a monitor controller (passiv) or an active one to control the volume of my active speakers - where should my interface volume knob (main output level) stand? @100% full , 75%, 50%?
This little thing is cute!
the microphone is the lewitt 1040?
What is the name of this song?! It’s so good!
3000 eu for that ?????? are you serious???
What a joke.
Better save the money for gas right now.
yeah, seems pretty nuts. you can get a damn good mastering chain for less than that.
I don't see the point, it's too limiting for a master. Maybe it's good for per-track?
wait so zero on this unit is louder that's why you're turning it down?
pak není k tomu ještě jeden modul? zdá se to nějaké divné
Presonus Revelator looks interesting for a similar result.
i was expecting less than $1k tbh
I wonder how it’d be on drum bus.
Sandstorm!
how many ms is its lookahead?
On the 1:10 it adds that chest pressure.
Way to expensive, at this price you can have a full set of Elysia 500 format used and a rack...
I really think they could do the unit for under 1k with the same specs. Just not produce them in Germany. Why not start a Kickstarter campagin for that?
You could get a number of decent 500 series modules for that amount of money, absolutely fucking ridiculous price!
Awesome song and hardware! I love how it fluxes with emotion.
yeah this seems to be the quality of analog gear
Limit + COmp + Eqa? zda se to nějaké divné omezim - stahnu natlačím vytáhnu nevím no
Hm, I rather buy a Midas Compressor Limiter 522 V2. It costs 158€ right now (new) and sounds very decent.
nope
This is great for live gigs but I would never use it in a studio.
I would love to see a review on the Hilbe Mo 67 pre plugin. Not many of us have the ilok to use it and it seems like it’s either a fantastic plug or not worth the $200 price tag. I love your channel! Thanks for speaking the truth about how you feel🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
In your opinion, can similar results be achieved with plugins?
maybe pay attention to the video
What is the obvious sign (sonically or idk..) of balanced vs unbalanced unit? I didn't know there were such a audible difference.
unbalanced audio is more succeptible to interference, and without the 3rd conductor balancing the cable, it results in a signal 6db quieter than a balanced signal, so it can cause issues gain staging.
when doing live sound I always pushed for balanced signal to work with, there are some exceptions of units I still use in the studio that are balanced in and then are unbalanced on output that I still use, but using a lot of unbalanced gear live is asking for trouble at least for a FOH engineer.
@@MrNEWDY Thanks. Never thought about it like this. Same as doubling signal ?!
@@ppllaanneessppoottttiinngg so when connecting an unbalanced source to something balanced, the third conductor shorts to ground so you are losing 6db of signal.
sandstorm?
Smallest 🎻 in the world fir the Smallest mastering chain
Nice solution.....but is there really a market? Acts who can afford this are playing the main stage I guess... ;-)
What is the logic behind not having a balanced output in such an expensive unit? Sorry, for me, it seems overpriced for the many of us who don't have heavily treated rooms to master in.
Once you learn about the man behind the unit and how he performs live, it will all make sense. As it is made as a unit for djs/producers that perform with a small hardware setup.
What would a balanced output bring to the table. I like balanced for long cables and in this case I don't see the need for a balanced output. This is not a mastering device and not even for in the studio it's a tool to optimise a signal in a small form factor.
NO!
hahaha the price
Jacks + unbalanced + external Powersupply is not what you want in a live stage situation ;-)
I don't know the technical backround but Martin Stimming said, it is better for the highest loudness, I read in an interview.
i thought you would say TEOTE by Voxengo, which you should review actually :3
quick disclaimer: i hate Alexy "Voxengo" Vaneev as a person, but i recognise that he is a great plugin developer
Why the hate?
@@ScottChesworth coz i know russian and had unfortunately seen his personal page where he posts racist and pseudoscientific shit...
@@not_just_burnt interesting. Got a link?
Nearly 4 grand. Pass. You can build a neve 500 rack for that.
I'd rather have an extra laptop on stage with a small external soundcard and plugins doing the same thing than pay that price.
2800 eur for this ? no way ...
I'd rather have an apollo
Comment for da algorithm
Streak count: 47
2700 euros. lol.
one thing to keep in mind, this seems to be hand made and developed by one person. The price is rather steep but how many hand built pieces of outboard are cheap? much less hand built by one person and not an assembly line of people?
Also, if the price was too low, it probably would not be viable for a single person operation to do, much less keep up with orders so I get why it is priced this way, even if I would not pay that for what it is currently offering feature wise.
@@MrNEWDY none of that matters to me. At that price I am not the target market, and i'm not sure who is.
@@MrNEWDY Suppose you're right but you can get a damn good mastering chain for 2700 euros, seems pricey in that regard.
3156 USD we’re talking RND level mastering chain that’s a no for me
First thought I had, why not balanced, who that would be interested in a mastering hardware piece would want unbalanced?.... it just beggars belief.
$2500.??????
Actually if you have two hands you have above average amount of hands...
Why lock or block a possible DAC upgrade for the consumer or lissener by using a D/A=D/A in the chain !!!!!!!!! This is so stupid unpro
this should cost 300e