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Have you seen this new product, soon coming, form Soyuz ?

Text from the site :

The Launcher is not meant to be transparent and clean like other “gain boosters” on the market. Imagine taking a piece of a vintage analog console and putting it in a magic little box. It’s no longer a fantasy with the Launcher.

If you’ve ever struggled to get “that” sound when plugging your mic into an interface without an external preamp, then struggle no more. The Launcher makes your mics sound like they’re running through a vintage console– even when they’re plugged into a simple interface or PA system.

Dream in Color
The Launcher imparts a truly special character and color that will bring your sound to the next level.

With its custom hand-wound transformer, the Launcher’s warm character will forever change the way you look at dynamic and ribbon microphones.

So a cloudlifter with mojo ?
Are we so desperate of imparting character to our recordings ?
What do you think, will you buy one ?
I'd certainly want to test it ! ;)

https://soyuzmicrophones.com/launcher?mc_cid=0241d7312f&mc_eid=6db4ce146e

Comments

Boswell Tue, 10/01/2019 - 08:14

This is billed as a transformer plus a "secret analog circuit". The photos appear to show the latter to be a pair of connectors. Maybe there's a Neve-style RC network stuffed inside the transformer housing.

I had to record a female singer recently who had a slightly edgy voice and insisted on using an SM57 as a vocal mic. Fine by me, I said, so I set a 57 up with a wind shield and put it through my API 3124+ (total of 3 transformers in the chain). When she heard the take, she didn't believe me that it was a 57 and had to pull the wind shield off to check. Embarrassed, she accepted my suggestion that she try a Beta 57A through a second channel for the next take, and that was the one that she took away. Pre-amps make a difference.

kmetal Tue, 10/01/2019 - 08:21

Imho its a cool concept, theres a company thats slipping my mind right now that has an xformer i/o 500 series module claiming a similar type thing.

I wasnt impressed with the audio demos on the souyuz site. At 200usd, you can get a focusrite isa solo mic pre and di which work simultaneously for 500$, just a little over 2x the price of this device, but much more electronics. Nothing about the audio demos sounded "vintage" to me.

I dunno may be im a grouch, but ive been sick of marketing for xformers and "the neve sound" for a few years. As great as neve is, its annoying that marketing strategies try to piggy back on a great pioneer. Im hoping larger than life tube stuff comes back into fashion.

pcrecord Tue, 10/01/2019 - 08:24

Boswell, post: 462279, member: 29034 wrote: This is billed as a transformer plus a "secret analog circuit". The photos appear to show the latter to be a pair of connectors. Maybe there's a Neve-style RC network stuffed inside the transformer housing.

I had to record a female singer recently who had a slightly edgy voice and insisted on using an SM57 as a vocal mic. Fine by me, I said, so I set a 57 up with a wind shield and put it through my API 3124+ (total of 3 transformers in the chain). When she heard the take, she didn't believe me that it was a 57 and had to pull the wind shield off to check. Embarrassed, she accepted my suggestion that she try a Beta 57A through a second channel for the next take, and that was the one that she took away. Pre-amps make a difference.

Funny story. I did live a similar situation but it was guitar and vocals both with sm57. After trying several mics, we ended up with my Diy T12 and a sm81.
My ISA preamps do great with the sm57 but on acoustic guitars... not the best choice. ;)

KurtFoster Tue, 10/01/2019 - 09:58

kmetal, post: 462284, member: 37533 wrote: Sorry if this is obvious, what's an RC network?

resistor–capacitor circuit

pcrecord, post: 462273, member: 46460 wrote: Are we so desperate of imparting character to our recordings ?

it would seem so ..... it's really funny when one considers the "Holy Grail" of the 70's was "transparency" and how everyone griped how what they were putting into the tape machine wasn't what was coming out. now they have it and they want back what they had then. some people are never happy.

imo they are chasing the wrong problem. it's not the front end, it's the recording process. digital is not analog. analog is a reflection, digital is a recreation.