Earthy Elements and Starbound Sounds
You could confine your activities to intuitively tweaking the RingerBringer’s controls and find your way to countless fascinating places. But in mastering the device, it can be helpful to think of the RingerBringer as a little synthesizer instead of a guitar pedal, and get to know the principles behind the basic effect.
Ring modulation occurs when the RingerBringer’s carrier frequency, a sine wave that’s tuned via the frequency knob, interacts with the signal from your instrument. At the pedal’s lower carrier frequencies (selected via the hi/lo rocker switch), those interactions tend to sound like tremolo. At higher frequencies, the combined signals can generate intense modulations with bizarre harmonics and overtones.
The LFO section of the pedal oscillates the carrier frequency within a range of as many as three octaves (which is determined by the amount knob), and the rate knob governs how fast that oscillation happens. The waveform selector plays an enormous role in shaping this oscillation, too. In square-wave mode, the LFO will effectively move between the two extreme points in the oscillation, creating a choppy modulation. In sine-wave mode, the oscillation sweeps between those extremes, producing a comparatively smooth and vocal sound. The RingerBringer also features a drive control at the pedal’s input that kicks up cool low-gain distortion and generates sharp, resonant peaks. All of these controls are highly interactive. And even if you only use the four knobs and six switches, you can uncover troves of freakish and lovely tones. But you can also assign an expression pedal to any of the four knobs, which opens a whole new realm of possibilities, particularly when you add unconventional prepared guitar techniques.
Of Flutters and Faraway Worlds
The tremolo-like effects that live in the low-frequency range are among the real joys of the RingerBringer, though you’ll encounter some very crooked takes. Various combinations of square and sine waves, frequencies, rates, and drive levels yield pulses that are deep, rich, resonant, and rubbery, but also percolate with hiccups, odd accents, burbles, and subdivisions that can color or craze a picking pattern, depending on the wet/dry mix and your intent.
The high-frequency range is where the aliens and Daleks live. But depending on the frequency and rate controls, you can also create the toll of haunted trans-dimensional church bells and the whir of UFO engine rooms. These frequencies are highly reactive to changes in picking intensity, and even the point along the string’s length where you pluck a string. They can also drive other effects in cool ways. For instance, if you use a low effects mix and pair the pedal with a delay setup for a long sequence of slapback repeats, you can generate dissonant notes that subtly shadow the true notes from your dry mix as the delay manufactures whistling sheets of overtones and compound notes. These settings free you to chase intuitively fashioned note clusters that generate off-kilter harmonizing chords—a liberating exercise that can make you look at the fretboard in totally new ways.
The Verdict
It probably goes without saying that the RingerBringer won’t be for everyone. Though it’s capable of pretty sounds—generally the ones on the tremolo-like spectrum—it might be a candidate for the pedal most likely to get you kicked out of your cover band. But if your musical inclinations are more experimental, you’ll find the RingerBringer overflowing with sounds that can shift the mood of a song from neutral to haunting, futuristic, alien, or unsettling—or recast it into an altogether different musical entity. Players with more conventional tastes should take my ratings as highly subjective. I relished almost every sound here and many of them sparked fresh musical ideas, so my tones and value ratings might be higher than they would be for folks down to pick a few James Taylor jams. But at just $219, this very authentic take on a Moog classic will be a righteous deal for those that regret missing out on scoring the real thing.
Warm Audio RingerBringer and Warm Bender Demo | PG Plays
OX at a Glance
OX is a 14-pound box measuring approximately 15" x 8" x 15". It’s designed to perch atop combo amps or heads, using rubber feet to straddle your amp’s handle. With its Fender-influenced color scheme (black, tweed yellow, and brownface brown) and retro styling, it looks good in the role. It certainly complemented all the Marshall-, Fender-, and Vox-influenced amps in my studio.
OX receives signal via your amp’s speaker output. Its balanced 1/4" stereo outputs connect to studio channels or PA systems. It has its own speaker output, so you can send attenuated levels back to your amp’s speaker for meltdown tones at any volume. There are also digital S/PDIF outs. The power supply is external, but it features heavy-duty materials and a locking XLR connector.
The direct signal sounds exactly like your amp, only better. That is, unless you have a large collection of premium mics, a hoard of classic cabinets, a great room to track them in, and extraordinary expertise at miking, blending, and processing multiple signals.
Drop-Dead Dynamics
Good impulse responses can evoke the sounds of speakers, mics, and cabinets, but OX goes beyond those solid-but-static sounds. Also, traditional load boxes can capture authentically overdriven amp tones, but when you connect the attenuated output to a speaker, you lose the nuances of the speaker responding in real time to a loud and variable signal. But OX’s modeling produces authentically overdriven speaker sounds. Unlike IRs, the models are dynamic—the tones change according to your playing dynamics. They simply sound and feel real. And while some load boxes include a speaker-like EQ profile, providing semi-realistic tones when recording direct, OX’s 17 speaker/cabinet models are breathtakingly authentic. (Universal Audio doesn’t cite brand names, but these are obviously based on such standards as Jensens and Celestion “blues,” “greens,” and “creams.”) The modeled cab configurations include single 10" and 12" speakers, 2x10s and 2x12s, and 4x10s and 4x12s.
Among the mic models are dynamics (Shure SM57, Sennheiser 421) condensers (AKG 414, Neumann U67) and ribbons (Royer R-121, Beyerdynamic M160). There’s also a DI (raw amp/no amp) option if you prefer to use an amp modeler within your DAW. You can use two virtual mics at once with either a straight-on or off-axis orientation. You can also add authentically detailed room sound via additional sets of modeled condenser and ribbon mics in both mono and stereo.
Mix Master
The ways you select and blend sounds are as gratifying as the sounds themselves. OX has a simple but effective set of front-panel controls. One knob selects between six stored presets. Another regulates the amount of room ambience. There are separate volume controls for speaker level (assuming you have a hardware speaker connected), line output, and headphone level. You can plug in and get great sounds right out of the box.
In fact, that’s what you hear in Clip 1. I plugged a Les Paul with retro-style PAFs into a Marshall JTM45 clone and recorded into my DAW via OX’s stereo outs. You hear the six factory presets in order. Note that I never change guitar settings (I’m on the bridge pickup with all controls at maximum.) or amp settings. (The amp is close to dimed, with the channels jumpered). Those dramatic tone contrasts are solely due to varying blends of mic and cab models, plus OX’s EQ, compression, reverb, and delay effects. (OX’s modeled effects are only applied to the direct signal. When connected to a physical speaker, OX behaves like a traditional load box—albeit a particularly great-sounding one.)
The App Factor
OX includes editing apps for Mac and iPad. (There’s no Android version.) It communicates with them via its own wi-fi network. The OX app has a beautiful interface reminiscent of Universal Audio’s other software products, with hi-res images, accurate ballistics, and a lucid layout. Basic rig setup, effect editors, and patch management are assigned to separate tabs. You can browse from 100 factory presets, modify them, or build your own tones from scratch. You can store 100 user patches, tag your favorites, and store any six patches to the OX front panel rig knob. There’s no need to bring your iOS device to the gig unless you plan to do further editing.
Ratings
Pros:Groundbreaking direct recording and performing tool. Superb sound. Beautiful hardware and software. Fun to use.
Cons:
Some connectivity issues in virgin release.
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Street:
$1,299
Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box
uaudio.com
The factory presets are consistently stellar. Thanks to the software’s clear layout and thoughtful ergonomics, it’s easy to customize presets to taste or build your own tones from scratch, as I did in Clip 2. This time I used a Fender-flavored Carr Skylark combo amp, and I switched between guitars with various single-coil pickups (Stratocasters, gold-foils, lipstick tubes, and Charlie Christians). At times I added pedals upstream from the amp, including a vibrato and various fuzz boxes. How well does OX respond to upstream effects? Exactly as well as your amp.
OX’s own effects are flat-out fantastic. The 4-band EQ has two skins: one with graphic EQ sliders, and another with a DAW-like interface and adjustable bandwidth. The compressor is a light version of UA’s popular Urei 1176 plug-in. Finally, there’s a full-featured stereo delay. High and low filters lets you mimic analog delays, while a collection of LFO patterns provide a wealth of modulation effects.
I worked with both the Mac and iPad software. Everything behaved perfectly, save for one hiccup. During setup, you connect your device to OX’s network, and then use the app to link OX to your own network before returning your device to its previous network. That way, you can control OX without sacrificing your internet connection. However, I couldn’t make this feature work—the app disconnected me as soon as I left the OX network. (Universal Audio is aware of this issue, and apparently this only occurs on some wi-fi routers.) This wasn’t a problem for me. I recorded to my intenet-connected Mac while controlling Ox from an iPad. But not everyone has multiple devices.
The Verdict
I adore OX. Everything sounds magnificent. The hardware and software are a pleasure to use. You can get instant results via presets, or dig deep and design from scratch. And even starting from scratch, cool sounds coalesce quickly. Are there any reasons you wouldn’t use OX for all of your recording and gigging? Yeah, you might sometimes desire the sounds of less conventional speakers, mics, or rooms. Also, if OX becomes as popular as I suspect it will, an awful lot of players will be recording with the same cab, mic, and room sounds. My sole tech issue was an inability to connect to OX and the internet simultaneously, which is likely to be remedied in future updates. OX is a near-total triumph of form, function, and fan-frickin’-tastic tones.
Test gear: Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul, Fender Hot Rod Deville ML 212
Ratings
Pros:
Great value. Offers more flexibility than a standard mic.
Cons:
No way to split the signals from the capsules.
Street:
$149
MXL DX-2
mxlmics.com
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Busy Box
The Twin MkII is powerful enough to serve the I/O needs of a modest project studio, but small enough to bring to rehearsals and gigs. As one of the few guitarists foolish enough to perform via a laptop more than once, I’ve been using the original Twin since its 2014 release. The software and hardware have performed flawlessly. The sound quality equals that of the large-format Apollo in my studio. And I’ve been able to gig with sounds that simply don’t exist in the stompbox world.
Processing capacity differentiates the three versions of MkII. The $699 model has a single SHARC processor. The $899 version has two processors, and the $1,299 version we tested has four. Processing needs vary from plug-in to plug-in. But at risk of oversimplifying, a single processor lets you add a few favorite UA plug-ins to your mixes. The dual-processor version might shoulder much of mixing’s processing demands, though you may need to incorporate native plug-ins on big mixes. The quad version may let you mix using UA plug-ins exclusively—at least on less-than-huge sessions. Additionally, all Apollo interfaces can be linked. So, for example, I can wire the Twin to my larger 8-channel Apollo for extra I/O and processing power come mix time.
Twin MkII communicates with your computer via Thunderbolt cable. It houses two pristine-sounding mic preamps, fed by two balanced mic/line inputs plus a 1/4" guitar input. There’s also an ADAT cable jack for eight additional input channels (digital only). There are stereo monitor and headphone outs, two additional analog outs (perfect for sending musicians a headphone mix), plus eight digital outs via ADAT cable. As on MkI, you set all levels via the large encoder wheel and assign functions via a set of physical switches.
Ratings
Pros:
Superb audio quality. Compact, solid, and ergonomic. Access to stellar plug-ins.
Cons:
None.
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Street:
$1,299 street as reviewed with quad-core processor (models start at $699)
Universal Audio Apollo Twin MkII
uaudio.com
Console Me
The Twin package includes UA’s Console app—a virtual mixer so attractive and full-featured that most DAW mixers weep in envy. You don’t have to use Console. You can input directly to your DAW without launching the app. However, Console unlocks one of Apollo’s coolest features: “Unison technology.” Here, you can record through certain plug-ins before the signal reaches your DAW. Unison’s latency is absurdly low. It truly feels like tracking through hardware.
Only a fraction of UA’s plug-ins can run Unison-style, but they’re the ones you’re likeliest to use that way: compressors, preamps, and virtual guitar and bass amps and effects (but not the amp models included in the MkII bundle.)
New for II
MkII offers several new and improved features. According to UA, the A/D/A conversion has been redesigned for improved sound quality. I don’t doubt the claim, though I confess I don’t hear a massive difference when recording electric guitars. (It might be more apparent with fuller-frequency material, or to engineers with better ears.) There’s a nice new feature for project studios: a built-in talkback mic that lets you speak to performers over the headphone mix.
But this may be the coolest MkII feature: no price increase. The single- and dual-processor MkIIs cost the same as the MkI versions. (The quad-processor version is new.) Also, note that since MkI’s release, UA developed a fine library of virtual guitar and bass amps licensed from Marshall, Fender, Chandler, ENGL, Friedman, and Ampeg. These aren’t included in the MkII bundle, but you can explore them via the two-week demos.
The Verdict
We raved about the original Apollo Twin in the September 2014 issue, and the rave goes on. Twin MkII has enough connectivity for ambitious project studios, yet it’s small enough for a gig bag. The audio quality is superb. The build isn’t just studio-worthy; it’s stage-worthy. Unless you specifically need the new features, there’s probably no rush to dump your MkI. But MkII is a perfect entry portal for UA newcomers.
As I maxed out the virtual Champ’s volume, there was plenty of grind and I found myself reaching for the volume knob on my guitar more than I had expected. I went for the “Derek Trucks” setting on the Super Reverb (treble all the way up) and that biting, but not piercing, tone was there. Just a heads up: There is a bit of a learning curve in decoding the ins and outs of the AmpliTube software, but once you get past that you access a stash of holy grail amps that require way less maintenance than the originals.
Test gear: Fender Telecaster, Focusrite Scarlett 2i4
Ratings
Pros:
Very convincing amp tones. More options than you’d ever need.
Cons:
Rather steep learning curve.
Street:
$149
IK Multimedia Fender Collection 2
ikmultimedia.com
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