At first when I was given the assignment to review the Penta I was a little concerned that it would be more than a handful. When the unit arrived it was in a general brown package but somehow had a little of the excitement of Christmas morning. Upon being able to get some time to test out the unit and run it through the paces I discovered the true ability of the Penta which is: ease of use. So, like Christmas morning, the box flew open and I beheld the Focusright box black & white in all it’s glory. OK on to the tech stuff.
My first attempt to work on the Penta was down in Sweetwaters Blue star lounge aka meeting room. The mic that was used was the Audio Technica AT3035 and while I am not very musically inclined I am however very comfortable on the board position. The Penta is very comfortable right out of the box. It is designed to function both as a mono mic, line, or instrument processor, and as a stereo line-only unit. I did not test the instrument abilities of the Penta however the 16 presets are optimized for the most common musical applications. I did enjoy the tube emulation with the front panel control it interacted well with the presets. For fattening up vocal or bass sounds without losing top end or making them seem muddy the Penta is a must. During my demo it never sounded over processed or unrealistic. Those with DAW’s might find it ideal as both a front end pre-amp and a buss processor for mix downs. Overall the Penta will fit very well in most studio environments Pro or home along with the adventures live sound engineer and will be on many wish list.
