MusicRadar

Each of the two channels has a different secondary knob.

1 of 2 » View in gallery

• Review

In these days when DAW recording rules the roost, it's becoming increasingly common to find even the most 'digital' studios looking for a great analogue-to-digital conversion solution for sound sources that are still recorded with microphones.

Similarly, high-quality preamps are all the rage for ensuring that recorded elements sound as though they've been passed through a high-spec mixing console, even if a studio has no need for such a device.

Into this brave digital present steps British audio firm Audient, which commands huge respect in the industry for its high-quality preamps, compressors, EQs and, most of all, mixing consoles.

Much of Audient's technology sits beyond the financial reach of project studio owners, but MiCO, its new dual-channel mic pre, is certainly affordable.

Overview

The MiCO is a half-rack unit offering controls for its twin channels on the front panel and the majority of its connectors round the back.

Starting at the rear, you'll find a pair of XLR/line inputs, with direct XLR analogue outputs offered for each channel next to these. In terms of digital connectivity there's an AES/EBU port, plus additional ones for S/PDIF and TOSLink. A word-clock connector sits next to the S/PDIF output, and next to this are a series of dipswitches which are responsible for setting the MiCO's sample rate and word-clock status.

Additionally, a 1/4-inch 'direct input' jack socket is located on the front panel so that instruments can be connected directly without recourse to the back panel.

"The MiCO is a half-rack unit offering controls for its twin channels on the front panel and the majority of its connectors round the back."

Although in some ways it's great to have compact gear, and the MiCO is wonderfully portable in its current form (it fits comfortably in a laptop bag) – there are those who have reservations about half-rack-sized gear. For a start, you need two units of this size to be able to rack-mount, to say nothing of the fact that there is nearly always an ergonomic downside.

The rear-mounted sample rate switches represent that downside here, as these provide a function to which there's a good chance you'll regularly want access. A longer, single-rack unit with front-mounted sample rate switches would be more practical.

In use

Design issues aside, much greater importance should be attributed to the sound produced by the MiCO, and here we have no complaints. This comes as little surprise once you've discovered that the mic pres at the heart of both of the MiCO's channels are the same as those which feature on Audient's flagship mixing console, the ASP8024, whose popularity continues to grow in pro studios around the world.

At first glance, the front-panel controls seem to be identical for both input channels, but this proves not quite to be the case. The controls that are common are a pleasingly 'knobby' Gain dial, the provision of phantom power, a -20dB pad switch plus a pair of bass roll-off buttons (high-pass filters) at 40Hz and 80Hz. These can both be pressed to provide roll-off at 120Hz.