If we jump ahead of ourselves and have a quick look at the back panel, we'll find standard ports for a mouse and QWERTY keyboard, and a VGA connector for a 1024 x 768 monitor: add these to the system and the Receptor's OS becomes a full-screen Graphical User Interface. That control set is capable of accessing all levels of the Receptor's OS, though the display can seem a little restrictive when dealing with what is a very deep and powerful device. Also present on the front panel are a USB 2.0 port and high-impedance guitar input jack, plus a headphone socket. Four continuous rotary encoders, which also respond to being pushed in, are ranged across the bottom of the display, and the controls are completed by a further pair of encoders, input and output level knobs and a dozen buttons. The front panel looks like many a piece of studio hardware, right down to the two-line x-24-character LCD. The Receptor's package is quite elegant, with a smart blue brushed-aluminium front panel distinguishing it from the many other 2U devices that one might find in a studio or stage rack. It is very easy to ignore the fact that we're dealing with a computer here - this feels like a module many of us may have been waiting for! Outside View This hardware unit is thus a highly flexible, expandable and powerful cross between multitimbral synth module and multi-channel effects processor (audio inputs are provided) and the line between the two modes is as grey as they come. Rather, its aim is to run any VST-format virtual instrument or plug-in effect from within an approachable, dedicated operating system. Muse's brief is not so all-encompassing as the Open Synth: the Receptor won't run sequencing software, for example. Open Labs' workstation synth-shaped Neko Open Synth (reviewed in January of this year) is an example of one approach, and this month we get to have a look at the Receptor from Muse Research. This mindset has not gone unnoticed by music technology R&D departments, and developers have initiated a recent trend towards products that are most definitely computers, and run music software, but with their PC-ness so cunningly disguised as to present the appearance of a standard piece of studio hardware. There is something about computers that is fundamentally unattractive for many musicians, even if those musicians look on with envy at the new sound-creation and manipulation tools that are available only as software. If you want to get your hands on the latest VST Instruments and Plug-in effects, but don't fancy having a PC in your studio, Muse Research's Receptor could be the answer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |