New Music Gear Monday: API "The Box"

There was a lot of new gear announced at the recent AES show, but one of the most spot-on in terms of the needs of a modern studio was API's "The Box." The new API unit is the answer for anyone who has a mid-tier home studio that only records a few instruments at a time and really wants to improve the sound of both the recording and mixing chain.

The Box unit comes with 4 inputs of API 212 preamps and high-pass filters. Two of the input channels have integral 550A EQs and the other two have standard 500 slots that you can load as desired. There are also two 527 compressors that can be assigned to either the mix buss or the input channels.

The unit has a 16 channel mix buss, complete with faders (which most summing boxes don't have), with a stereo and two mono aux sends (also on the inputs). Then there's the full master section, complete with talkback, solo buss, headphone buss, 4 stereo aux inputs, and main and alt speaker outputs.

The Box retails for around $18,000, which is a bargain, considering that it would cost way more if you tried to put something similar together from pieces from various manufacturers. It's the perfect center for any serious small studio. You can find a lot more details, including an excellent users manual, on the API website.

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New Music Gear Monday: Rupert Neve 5060 Centerpiece

Desktop mixers and summing amplifiers are all the rage these days and rightfully so. We live in a DAW world and well over 90% of all studio music mixing is done in-the-box. We've seen SSL and AMS-Neve recently introduce their own products in this category, but a new one from Rupert Neve Designs (not to be confused with AMS-Neve, his old company) is something completely different.

The Rupert Neve 5060 Centerpiece is basically a 24 channel summing amp with a monitor controller built in. What makes it unique is that it also has 4 stereo inputs each controllable by a fader as well as a master fader. Add a USB/MIDI transport section, and RND's totally unique Texture color control and the 5060 Centerpiece becomes a unit different from anything else on the market. Retail price is $7995. Check out this video for some of the details.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.