Overview
The TC Electronic Impact Twin is a mid-level firewire interface with 14 inputs and outputs. It has two preamps, onboard effects, S/PDIF, ADAT Lightpipe and MIDI I/O. It’s not as compact as some other interfaces but packs a ton of features and i/o yet still small enough to fit in a backpack.
The Impact Twin caught my eye in spring 2011. I was looking for a more compact replacement to my M-Audio Profire 2626 (see review here), or a way to expand the I/O of my system, or at least a portable option so I don’t have to tear apart my studio all the time I go out to record. I trust TC Electronic to make nice clean digital gear, for about $400 it had pretty much every feature and function I wanted. I ordered one through Revolution Audio (note: I work for this company and got dealer pricing) and when it arrived I started writing my review. I don’t really have a good excuse why it took nearly a year to write, other than that l got busy being awesome in other aspects. Jump down to the end if you’d like to see what I think of it after about 8 months of owning it.
Last week Ian Shepherd (productionadvice.co.uk, mastering engineer and friend of AGZ) announced the release of his first instructional E-Book Mastering with Multiband Compression.
There is a basic and enhanced edition. The enhanced version has a bonus 1hr tutorial video, and audio examples for just $10 more.
Here is the sales page: Buying through this link will support AGZ If you prefer not to donate, click here.
Ian sent me an advance copy and I was quite impressed. I sent him a short review for his sales page.
“I already use multiband compression in my mixing and mastering, but this eBook made me realize I’d been taking some things for granted. Reading it I gained new strategies, a greater understanding of the parameters and new ideas I can implement into my mastering projects right away” Jon Tidey, Audio Geek Zine
And this is the truth. Ian’s approach is different than the way I’ve taught myself to use multiband compression over the past couple years. I haven’t been doing it completely wrong but I now know why on several occasions it hasn’t worked as well as I’d hoped. Multiband compression was never as transparent as I’d like and it was so easy to overdo it. I know this is a common complaint about multiband compression and Ian’s book has the solution. The starting point, strategy and tips will change the way you misuse multiband compression.
This week I checked out the latest tutorial from Groove 3, Programming Rock Drums in Pro Tools and I thought I’d write a short review.
Programming Rock Drums in Pro Tools is presented by Travis Brown and runs about two hours, fifteen minutes. This is shorter than many of the other Groove3 titles which run three to six hours, but it is $10 cheaper than the others. Regardless of the length, there is plenty of content in this tutorial.
Travis uses Pro Tools for the tutorial but I wouldn’t say there is anything Pro Tools specific about the lesson, you should be able to apply the info to your DAW of choice. He also uses Steven Slate Drums EX but again any modern virtual drum package can be used in the same way.
This tutorial is aimed at beginners. Travis did an outstanding job of presenting the information in a way that will get beginners up to speed, but without dumbing it down too much for the intermediate viewer. I’ve been programming drums for years and I took a way a trick or three from this video.
Travis came up with a great beat for each section of the song, starting with a basic foundation, then making each part special, then working on humanizing. This is a great strategy that I’m going to adopt as I tend to spend far too long worrying about all the details before I’ve got the big picture and the full song laid out.
Mixing and processing drums is not covered in this tutorial beyond balancing the kit, just FYI.
The only criticism I have is some of the Pro Tools specific things that the average viewer may not notice. One was that he was switching tools all the time. Pencil tool to insert notes, grabber tool to move notes and selector tool to choose where to play from, rather than using the smart tool and modifier keys as necessary. This is just a personal issue for me and for the beginner, using a specific tool for each task is probably the better way to teach, but is really inefficient. The other is that the main ruler was on Samples instead of Bars|Beats so when he switched to slip mode the gridlines changed to samples. He even commented on that. Again, not something terribly important, just a little nitpick.
Groove3 sets and maintains the standard for software video tutorials. This video met the high level of quality I’ve come to expect from Groove3. Worth checking out.
You can get Programming Rock Drums In Pro Tools here: Groove3 The smartest option is the All-Access pass which let’s you watch the entire Groove3 library, hundreds of hours whenever you want.
Yesterday at my Acoustic Guitar recording workshop for VHR the Apogee Duet decided to add heaps of white noise into channel one.
I was demoing Large diaphragm condensers vs small diaphragm condensers using both channels. I turned off phantom power, swapped the LDC for another small diaphragm and went back to recording. There was a ton of noise in channel 1 making stereo miking impossible. With the mics disconnected the noise was still there. I don’t know if this is a permanent problem but I wasn’t able to fix it within a few minutes.
This unit wasn’t brand new and I don’t know if it had been abused prior to this workshop by connecting mics while 48V is on. A bit of searching online shows a number of noise issues with the Duet mostly on the monitoring side but some had preamp issues too. Hopefully the owner doesn’t have any trouble getting it repaired or replaced.
Mini review of the Apogee Duet
Here are my first impressions after using the Apogee Duet for a few hours.
Sound – The preamps and conversion sounded very nice, very clean with lots of gain. When it was working I was impressed with the sound.
Functionality – Using the Duet was fairly simple and the features that can’t be controlled directly on the box were in the software. I could get used to the one knob design, but I definitely didn’t love the idea of it. The software control panel and mixer was far less intimidating than most others.
Design - The large knob just looks out of place to me. A shorter dome shaped one with little nubby grips would have been better. I much prefer a separate control for the essentials. 4 flat sliding controls would have been best. The pigtail for the i/o really detracts from the appearance of the device. The wires are thin and I wouldn’t trust it to last long if you do any traveling. I can’t think of any way to get that i/o on the interface without making it twice as large.
Other complaints – No power button means you have to completely shut down the mac or hot plug the interface, which is bad. Loud noises into your speakers when you plug in the interface to the computer and a pop when you use the mute. Mac only.
PT Tuts is an awesome new Pro Tools training course created by Chris Bryant. This is a complete and comprehensive training product for absolute beginners to intermediate Pro Tools users.
.
Click to watch video
. Key Features
Hours of Pro Tools Training Videos
Access to Member Community
Text Based Articles
Illustrated Tutorials
165 Page QuickStart PDF Guide
QuickStart Tutorial Pro Tools Sessions
Membership Bonuses
One Year Membership
Chris gave me a chance to see the first few modules of his course and it did not disappoint! I’ve seen over a hundred hours of online Pro Tools training and this is among the very best in quality. Large, clear videos with clean audio; excellent clear narration by Chris; and a ton of content covering everything you need to know. One great aspect of this course is that the massive amount of content is not just dumped on you. Each week new articles and videos are unlocked giving you time to learn and really understand each concept before moving on.
Now because I’ve seen over a hundred hours of PT vids, went through a year of training including ProSchool 110 certification and 5 years of almost daily use, this particular product doesn’t give me a lot I haven’t seen before. It’s aimed at beginner to intermediate users, I’m probably closer to the Guru status at this point. Having gone through all that, I’ve got pretty high standards when it comes to PT Training, this product is in another league above the rest. I wish this was available a few years ago as a supplement to my PT training in school, this is actually much better than what I paid hundreds more for. I’m being as honest as possible here.
I recommend this course for:
New Pro Tools users (less than 1yr frequent use or 2yr occasional use)
Anyone that wants a solid foundation of knowledge for Pro Tools Operation
Anyone that’s NOT interested in becoming an engineer, but needs to know Pro Tools
Anyone thinking about going to recording school and wants a jump start on PT (I wish I had this when I was in school)
At the regular price of $129, I’d say this is a fantastic deal. At the current introductory special price of $97 (or 3x $39), well it’s a no-brainer!
If you’re thinking of signing up for this course please purchase through these links as they will help support AudioGeekZine, otherwise go to pttuts.com
8 Encoders (Infinite Rotation) with touch-sensitivity and 11 segment Led rings
Touch sensitive Speed Dial
14 Buttons with integrated LEDs, 6 of which are lockable transport controls
8 soft feel Trigger pads
Sprung pitch wheel
Modulation wheel
General Automap Operation Buttons (Learn, View, Browser Groups etc.)
Octave up/down buttons with LED indicator
Button to lock/unlock transport controls
Sustain Pedal: 1 x 1/4 Jack Input
Expression pedal: 1 x 1/4 Jack Input
Appearance, Design and Construction
The keyboard is made from a very dark grey, almost black plastic. In all the pictures (like the one above) I’ve seen of the Nocturn 49 there’s been a dark stripe at the top. In reality it’s a subtle blue-grey color. It is fairly compact and light but feels solid, I’m not afraid of anything breaking under normal use in the home studio.
Automap Standard
Inside the box is a CD to install the driver and Automap Standard software. Automap is the brains for all the knobs and buttons which automatically configures the controls for effects, instruments and even your DAW mixer using HUI. After installing the driver and Automap software, and checking for updates, the next step is to wrap some plugins using the Plug-in Manager. This is a very simple process. Find the plug-in you want and click the checkbox beside. Next time you open that instrument or effect you will have most of the controls already configured to the knobs and buttons.
Reconfiguring a mapping is simple, push the learn knob on the keyboard, move a parameter of the plug-in and then touch a control on the keyboard. Alternately select a control in the Automap HUD and choose a Parameter from the list available at the bottom.
Beyond simply assigning the knobs, buttons and pads, there are modes and minimum/maximum values. A knob or pad can be either normal or inverted, values from 0 to 127. A button can have 4 modes: Normal, Momentary, Toggle or Step. Each mode has different values to be configured. This simple function can really open things up for creative uses for interaction with your plug-ins.
Using the DAW setup guides I was able to easily configure both Pro Tools and Reaper on Mac and PC to work with the Nocturn using the HUI protocol. This lets you use the knobs and buttons to control transport functions, fader levels, pans, and other mixer functions without the mouse. Reaper’s HUI functions aren’t fully implemented yet and 3 of the transport buttons won’t work. Unfortunately HUI doesn’t get you away from looking at the computer screen as you’ll still need the Automap heads-up display (HUD) to see what each control is assigned to or which track you’re tweaking. You can call up the Automap HUD anytime by pushing the view button on the keyboard.
Automap Pro extras
Automap standard can do a lot but upgrading to Automap Pro gives you a few more cool features. The Keystroke assignment and Drag & Drop functions are what interest me the most.
Multiple device support – Automap 3 Pro supports multiple devices, so numerous Novation controllers can be used side by side. Keystroke Assignments – Automap 3 Pro can assign almost any computer keyboard shortcuts to hardware controls. For example arrow key functions can now be assigned to hardware controls, allowing you to flick between tracks using buttons on your SL/Nocturn. You could also zoom in and out, open windows or create and jump to markers in your DAW. XY Pad Control – Fully Auto-mappable XY Pad control, expression pedal, control pedal and drum pad control. The Automap server can now assign parameters to all these controllers using the ultra-quick learn facility. (Pedal/pad control not supported by SL Compact) Drag and Drop – You can now drag and drop control mappings and control map groups in the GUI, allowing you to re-assign knobs, faders and buttons by simply grabbing them with the mouse and dropping them on the new controller. Autoview Mode – Optional Autoview mode means that the GUI only becomes visible when a controller is touched, then it disappears again allowing you to get back to your DAW.
The Good
The keys feel pretty nice, I’m not a keyboardist by any stretch but they feel right.
Rotary encoders are smooth and touch sensitive. The LED around them shows the value. This is exactly how I would want encoders to work.
Compact and doesn’t take up any more space than necessary
Control layout is symmetrical, spaced right and uncluttered
Speed dial – I’m using this a lot for the plugins I don’t have mapped. It’s always nice to get away from using the mouse once in a while.
The Bad
No hardware MIDI Ports – Not an issue for me but I thought it was worth pointing out. I didn’t know this until I got it out of the box.
I don’t love the feel of the pads on it, even with the sensitivity turned way up I feel like I have to tap much harder than I want to.
The layout of the pads, I wish it was 3×3 or spread out slightly more.
The documentation – It’s good, once you can find it. (I’ll link below to the instructions) One pdf with all the instructions would be nice, or access to them in the help menu (currently no help links).
Pink back-lit buttons, I was hoping they’d be more red in real life and I really wish they’d gone with green LEDs instead.
Alternatives
The M-Audio Axiom Pro 49 at $200 more is the closest competitive product that comes to mind, but Novation’s Remote MkII line is a much closer match to that one. The Nocturn is more compact than the Axiom, and has similar features, nicer knobs but not as nice pads.
Another is the Akai MPK49 at $100 more and crams a ton of features into a small keyboard including real MPC pads and arpeggiator.
Overall
It’s been about a month since I bought the Novation Nocturn 49 keyboard. I haven’t fully mastered how to use it yet, digging into the features to write the review has made me know it a lot better. Overall I’m really happy with it. It’s been a good investment, it works well, and looks cool (besides the pink lights). I haven’t had any stability issues with it. With any new piece of equipment there is a learning curve, not being able to find instructions doesn’t make it any easier. I did have some trouble with some functions at first, but it was because of glitch with the installation and reinstalling took care of that. If you’re in the market for a new MIDI controller with great feel and advanced features, definitely check this one out.
Automap User Guide 3.2 HTML (as of this writing the latest version of Automap is 3.4.1 and there is not an updated user guide)
Automap DAW Setup Guides (HUI setup)(also available through the button in Automap Server) These were the only easy to find instructions but again, one pdf for all DAWs would be my preference.
The Impact Twin caught my eye in spring 2011. I was looking for a more compact replacement to my M-Audio Profire 2626 (see review here), or a way to expand the I/O of my system, or at least a portable option so I don’t have to tear apart my studio all the time I go out to record. I trust TC Electronic to make nice clean digital gear, for about $400 it had pretty much every feature and function I wanted. I ordered one through Revolution Audio (note: I work for this company and got dealer pricing) and when it arrived I started writing my review. I don’t really have a good excuse why it took nearly a year to write, other than that l got busy being awesome in other aspects. Jump down to the end if you’d like to see what I think of it after about 8 months of owning it.
Programming Rock Drums in Pro Tools is presented by Travis Brown and runs about two hours, fifteen minutes. This is shorter than many of the other Groove3 titles which run three to six hours, but it is $10 cheaper than the others. Regardless of the length, there is plenty of content in this tutorial.
