Colin McDowell is a genius. Yes, there, I said it! One of the smartest people in the music industry, one of the nicest too and when he gets behind an idea and sees it through you know it’s going to be revolutionary and the McDSP APB is just that, truly revolutionary.
We all know that the Analog vs Digital argument is just too exhausting and frankly redundant and now Colin’s put it all to bed by creating an anolog unit which its fully digitally controlled, completely recallable and sounds marvellous! He’s pushed the boundaries of Analog given it the flexibility of digital while maintaining the sound we all know and love.
The McDSP Analog Processing Box (APB) combines the flexibility of software with the fidelity of premium analog processing. Each channel can be controlled by an AAX, AU, or VST3 plug-in giving true digital workflow with genuine analog performance. Processing options include compressors, mastering limiters, transient enhancement devices, multi-channel and multi-band applications, and much more.
- RELATED: McDSP SA-3 Spectral Processor Review
The APB-8 and APB-16 come with a collection of APB plug-ins to route audio to the APB hardware and control the analog circuitry within. The user simply operates the APB plug-in like any other plug-in, but processing is done in the analog domain. Settings can be saved as a preset, plug-ins can be recalled with a session, and parameters can even be automated with sample level accuracy. APB plug-ins provide true digital workflow with genuine analog performance.
An APB plug-in takes the input audio signal, combines it with a control signal, and sends both along a Thunderbolt connection to an APB hardware unit for processing. The control signal sets up the analog components to do the selected algorithm with all the parameter values, and the audio signal is processed in the analog domain, and then converted back to the digital domain, and appears at the output of the APB plug-in back inside the DAW session.
Joe Carrell takes the McDSP APB through its paces, using Kinetic Drive, Royal Mu, Royal Q, L-18 Limiter, Chickenhead Compressor, C673-A Compressor and Moo Tube plug ins on the James Dupré song ‘Another Love Song’.
Download the Multitracks below!
