Hey there, really cool review. I have a fractal modeler and I have used plugins for many years but there is something about this interface that sounds really clean and feels so organic, I didn't know the St James plugin but I really liked it here. I could feel the difference immediately. Thanks for sharing!
Very interested in this. The fact that the enhance switch is essentially a FET preamp combined with a limiter turns the gain knob into much more. I would leave Enhance on and dial in the gain by ear since there’s no threat of clipping.
I just got this today.. I am not sure why but there seems to be a noticeable latency when playing, enough to get me annoyed. I am using this with the St James Suite (Amp plugin) it came with. There's are no specific instructions on how to setup the in/out for the polar2 and the amp plugin to work properly. I also have a Steinberg UR22C which uses ASIO Drivers. That works perfectly. Maybe I am doing something wrong, I don't know. So far, not happy.
Is the enhance different than the hi z of Steinberg audio interface? From what I heard I have a feeling that they give us the same effect, sounds clearer, thicker, and catch the signal better even when the pickup is in too low position.
Very different. Hi-Z switches are purely a utility to accept high impedance inputs like guitars or low impedance instruments like keyboards. The Enhance is a Preamp and Limiter effect.
true, but it looks like that is generally on only 1 input? Also, doesn't have an 'enhance' switch for turning this feature on and off. Also good when the designers are guitarists themselves!
Can the Polar 2 be used for reamping by routing a dry guitar out of one of the 1/4" TRS outputs and listening using the headphones? The Audient iD14 can, and they've provided a video.
@@bradatherton9369 It’s possible - you’d probably need the right extra tools like a reamp box to bring the line level outputs back down to instrument level. The good thing about the inputs of the Polar2 not clipping is that they could happily take the hotter line level signal, but it would just have more gain. We think, however, that the best thing to do would be to take a split of your original guitar signal (using a stereo pedal or isolated splitter box) and record one side into an amp using a mic, then the other just directly into the DAW and use the St James amp plugin to ‘reamp’ different tones. It’s a really versatile and great sounding plugin!
@@Noisegate Thank you for responding. Yeah, the reamp box was assumed, but I didn't mention it deliberately to not muddy the waters. But I left out a pertinent detail: Can The Headphones Be Used to monitor the L + R incoming mix when reamping? I have a hunch the same DAC channels (in the codec) under the hood drives both the Out 1 and Out 2 TRS on the back AND the Headphone Out on the front. So the struggle would be in listening to the reamp mix "real time" without the clunky Y splitters at end-of-chain OR latency-inducing SW rerouting to another interface for monitoring. Going back to the Audient iD14 in particular, it has two extra outputs (3 & 4) to get around the restriction of Out1&2 being physically linked to Headphones via the DAC channels of the codec. I'm hoping Blackstar thought this one through "all the way" in an "end to end" kind of way. Particularly when they're advertising "designed by guitarists, for guitarists". Effective reamping is a necessity.
Curious to know what everyone thinks about the Polar-2. What do you guitarists out there think!?
Hey there, really cool review. I have a fractal modeler and I have used plugins for many years but there is something about this interface that sounds really clean and feels so organic, I didn't know the St James plugin but I really liked it here. I could feel the difference immediately. Thanks for sharing!
Very interested in this. The fact that the enhance switch is essentially a FET preamp combined with a limiter turns the gain knob into much more. I would leave Enhance on and dial in the gain by ear since there’s no threat of clipping.
What kind of latency did you get with it? Trying to find information, but it's pretty new! Thanks
Couldn’t tell you an exact millisecond figure, but it definitely felt pretty immediate! Felt really natural to play!
Probably very low.
About 10ms...
I just got this today.. I am not sure why but there seems to be a noticeable latency when playing, enough to get me annoyed. I am using this with the St James Suite (Amp plugin) it came with. There's are no specific instructions on how to setup the in/out for the polar2 and the amp plugin to work properly.
I also have a Steinberg UR22C which uses ASIO Drivers. That works perfectly.
Maybe I am doing something wrong, I don't know. So far, not happy.
@@ioannistheodoridis4322I did return mine! No better than my old Behringer... It's very annoying for me. I can't play with that much latency!
@@ioannistheodoridis4322any update?
Is the enhance different than the hi z of Steinberg audio interface? From what I heard I have a feeling that they give us the same effect, sounds clearer, thicker, and catch the signal better even when the pickup is in too low position.
Very different. Hi-Z switches are purely a utility to accept high impedance inputs like guitars or low impedance instruments like keyboards. The Enhance is a Preamp and Limiter effect.
So essentially it's a DA Converter...?
audient already have a jfet input
true, but it looks like that is generally on only 1 input? Also, doesn't have an 'enhance' switch for turning this feature on and off. Also good when the designers are guitarists themselves!
Can the Polar 2 be used for reamping by routing a dry guitar out of one of the 1/4" TRS outputs and listening using the headphones? The Audient iD14 can, and they've provided a video.
@@bradatherton9369 It’s possible - you’d probably need the right extra tools like a reamp box to bring the line level outputs back down to instrument level. The good thing about the inputs of the Polar2 not clipping is that they could happily take the hotter line level signal, but it would just have more gain.
We think, however, that the best thing to do would be to take a split of your original guitar signal (using a stereo pedal or isolated splitter box) and record one side into an amp using a mic, then the other just directly into the DAW and use the St James amp plugin to ‘reamp’ different tones. It’s a really versatile and great sounding plugin!
@@Noisegate Thank you for responding. Yeah, the reamp box was assumed, but I didn't mention it deliberately to not muddy the waters. But I left out a pertinent detail: Can The Headphones Be Used to monitor the L + R incoming mix when reamping? I have a hunch the same DAC channels (in the codec) under the hood drives both the Out 1 and Out 2 TRS on the back AND the Headphone Out on the front. So the struggle would be in listening to the reamp mix "real time" without the clunky Y splitters at end-of-chain OR latency-inducing SW rerouting to another interface for monitoring. Going back to the Audient iD14 in particular, it has two extra outputs (3 & 4) to get around the restriction of Out1&2 being physically linked to Headphones via the DAC channels of the codec.
I'm hoping Blackstar thought this one through "all the way" in an "end to end" kind of way. Particularly when they're advertising "designed by guitarists, for guitarists". Effective reamping is a necessity.
😂😂3.
okay (thumbs up emoji)