ONE MICROPHONE TO RULE THEM ALL…
By Graeme Hague
21 January 2014
Steven Slate and Slate Digital are looking to rattle the recording industry’s cage again – his innovative Raven MTX system still starts arguments around the water cooler. This time it’s the Virtual Microphone System. Yes, microphone modeling has returned to try and render your treasured microphone collection obsolete. The VMS is a hardware/plug-in combination that includes two microphones, the ML1 large diaphragm condenser and ML2 instrument microphone, the VMS Dual Preamp Converter and the VMS Plug-in Module. The modeling algorithms in the plug-in are the heart of recreating a wide range of classic microphones – cheekily called models such as S-57 or S-121 so there’s little doubt about the original’s identity – but critical to the VMS’s accurate reproductions is the ultra clean, flat and neutral hardware. The microphones and VMS preamp provide a completely uncoloured signal, so the plug-in module’s input signal isn’t tainted prior to processing. Aside from the modern quality of the plug-in, it’s this concept that promises the difference between VMS and previous attempts at microphone mimicry. Normally, microphone modeling is dismissed by experienced audio engineers as simply, impossibly never the real thing, but Steven Slate puts up one of his typically compelling video arguments, complete with cameo performances by the man himself, at http://www.slatedigital.com/vmspreview/ . Have a look and let us know what you think.
Australian Distributor: Audio Chocolate www.audiochocolate.com.au
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