Over the past few years, we’ve watched as Arturia has steadily made greater strides into the world of electronic music hardware production, so we were more delighted than surprised to see them showcase two cool new products in early 2015 — check them out.
With tabletop synth rigs once again becoming a major part of the electronic music scene, many artists have been looking for reliable and flexible hardware sequencers they can use to run the show. At Sweetwater, we’ve been only too happy to turn our customers on to the Arturia BeatStep Pro. This self-contained yet impressively flexible hardware sequencer combines two independent melodic sequencers, each with 64 steps per sequence, with a versatile 16-channel drum sequencer. Each of the melodic sequencers allows you to store up to 16 sequences per project and save 16 projects. That’s a ton of creative power! Performance effects — including a looper with a touch strip, a randomizer, swing setting, and more — also let you add variety to your shows. And with the BeatStep Pro’s capability to interact with DAWs, hardware synths, iOS apps, and other MIDI-controllable gear, the sky’s the limit when it comes to putting this remarkable gadget to use.
The 14 x 14 AudioFuse USB audio interface offers an incredibly smart set of I/O in a totally convenient format. On the analog side, you get four channels of high-end sound, starting with a pair of DiscretePRO microphone preamplifiers with insert points for external processing. These pres are reminiscent of a classic recording console but far less noisy than most vintage-style gear. That transparency really comes through thanks to a set of high-end digital converters, which capitalize on precision clocking to deliver incredibly accurate imaging. The extreme low latency of the AudioFuse is a real bonus when you’re tracking, with round-trip latency as low as 3ms. All of the AudioFuse’s main controls are easy to access right from the top of its compact chassis. And since this USB audio interface will work with your Mac or Windows PC, as well as your iOS or Android device, its small size is sure to come in handy.
