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AudioArtist « Great Value, Just shy of "pro" level »
Published on 09/11/12 at 12:09The Art Pro Channel is a tube mic-pre and channel strip all in one.
You get xlr and 1/4inch inputs and outputs.
You get eq and compression/limiting.
It is rack mountable.
UTILIZATION
As long as you are comfortable and experienced enough with EQ, compression, and fine-tuning a tube mic-pre you should have no problems whatsoever with getting good sounds out of the Pro Channel.
SOUND QUALITY
Like every other mic-pre or channel strip ever made the sound is not transparent. However, what you want is a unit that imparts a pleasant sound or colors the sound in a positive way.
The eq section is quite adequate for preliminary adjustments.
The compression is ok but not the best.
The best part is the tube preamp adjustments.
Like all other Art preamps you may wish to replace the factory tube with another higher quality one. Groove Tubes and J-Tubes are common choices. Just find a replacement of the same tube type and experiment until you find the one most pleasing to you.
OVERALL OPINION
The best thing about the Art Pro Channel is the wide array of options available to shape and control your signal before your DAW or other recording unit. Also, all the features vs. the price make this an excellent choice for the thrifty home studio user.
The eq section is very adequate and sounds quite good. Alot of small issues can be addressed before recording and can help out alot with your headphone mix while recording. The compression holds it's own though it's not outstanding. However, compression is a tricky animal, if you are proficient in using a compressor then you will be able to coax some good work from the Pro Channel. The best thing about the Pro Channel is the alternate preamp modes. It allows you to run it hard or moderately and still make adjustments from there which puts the preamp section of the Pro Channel above and beyond many of Art's lower priced preamp alone models.
The overall signal output is quite clean and all the adjustments needed to ensure a well saturated, well colored tube sound without clipping out are right there at your fingertips.
The Pro Channel stands up well against many higher priced competitors but, be honest with yourself, it will never sound better than an SSL channel strip nor a Neve. You get what you pay for for, and with the Pro Channel that's actually quite a bit and surprisingly good quality for the price. Art did a good job with this unit, it's probably one of their best products ever.
I'm rather fond of this unit though I have used much better. It's a solid choice for the engineer that doesn't have a couple thousand dollars to purchase one single channel strip.
I would definitely suggest the Pro Channel, as always Art is a "best bang for the buck" company.
You get xlr and 1/4inch inputs and outputs.
You get eq and compression/limiting.
It is rack mountable.
UTILIZATION
As long as you are comfortable and experienced enough with EQ, compression, and fine-tuning a tube mic-pre you should have no problems whatsoever with getting good sounds out of the Pro Channel.
SOUND QUALITY
Like every other mic-pre or channel strip ever made the sound is not transparent. However, what you want is a unit that imparts a pleasant sound or colors the sound in a positive way.
The eq section is quite adequate for preliminary adjustments.
The compression is ok but not the best.
The best part is the tube preamp adjustments.
Like all other Art preamps you may wish to replace the factory tube with another higher quality one. Groove Tubes and J-Tubes are common choices. Just find a replacement of the same tube type and experiment until you find the one most pleasing to you.
OVERALL OPINION
The best thing about the Art Pro Channel is the wide array of options available to shape and control your signal before your DAW or other recording unit. Also, all the features vs. the price make this an excellent choice for the thrifty home studio user.
The eq section is very adequate and sounds quite good. Alot of small issues can be addressed before recording and can help out alot with your headphone mix while recording. The compression holds it's own though it's not outstanding. However, compression is a tricky animal, if you are proficient in using a compressor then you will be able to coax some good work from the Pro Channel. The best thing about the Pro Channel is the alternate preamp modes. It allows you to run it hard or moderately and still make adjustments from there which puts the preamp section of the Pro Channel above and beyond many of Art's lower priced preamp alone models.
The overall signal output is quite clean and all the adjustments needed to ensure a well saturated, well colored tube sound without clipping out are right there at your fingertips.
The Pro Channel stands up well against many higher priced competitors but, be honest with yourself, it will never sound better than an SSL channel strip nor a Neve. You get what you pay for for, and with the Pro Channel that's actually quite a bit and surprisingly good quality for the price. Art did a good job with this unit, it's probably one of their best products ever.
I'm rather fond of this unit though I have used much better. It's a solid choice for the engineer that doesn't have a couple thousand dollars to purchase one single channel strip.
I would definitely suggest the Pro Channel, as always Art is a "best bang for the buck" company.