Endless Analog C.L.A.S.P

(closed loop analog signal processor)

   For decades, there’s been the argument of analog vs digital. In the early years of digital audio, the converters were a bit “brittle” sounding, and the technology was expensive, and out of the reach of a mid sized or project studio. The early digital tape machines like the Mitsubishi X80 and the Sony 3324 were six-figure, big ticket items in their day, and over the years they fell out of favor with the major studios as they switched to Pro Tools once the computers & software could handle 24 tracks or better. But the argument raged on…….. analog vs digital. Of course, some studios stuck with analog tape machines, refusing to buy into digital technology. Famed mixing engineer Chris Lord-Alge stuck with the Sony 3348 digital tape machine, transferring analog tape & Pro Tools projects to this machine and preferring to mix from there, loving the workflow and the sound of its converters. He then bought up all the remaining tape stock, and did all he could to hang onto the format, but in recent years has switched to mixing directly from a Pro Tools HD rig to his SSL 4000E console through Focusrite RedNet converters. Others went for a hybrid approach, recording first to an analog tape machine for the basic tracks, then transferring to Pro Tools for overdubs & editing. Nashville producer/inventor Chris Estes was doing the same thing to bring the warmth of analog to his Pro Tools projects. With a father that ran a lab that did missile testing for the Department of Defense, Estes learned about writing computer code and building electronics. He bought a 2 inch Studer analog tape machine, and began to develop C.L.A.S.P, a system that would allow you to record the input signal onto an analog tape machine, pass it on to Pro Tools to be recorded to hard disk with the sound of the analog tape machine, and overdub additional tracks, all with sample accurate monitoring & recording, and true zero latency. One of the first clients was analog gearhead/rocker Lenny Kravitz, who quickly interfaced C.L.A.S.P with Pro Tools and his vintage Studer J37 1 inch 4 track analog tape machine that he purchased from the famed Abbey Road Studios in London that was used to record the Beatles’ legendary “Sgt Pepper” album. Perhaps the most well-known C.L.A.S.P users are the rock band Areosmith, whose long career involved a lot of analog recording. With the High Definition digital converters of today reaching even closer to the resolution of analog tape, and C.L.A.S.P to merge the sound of true analog tape seamlessly into the Pro Tools workflow, perhaps the “analog vs digital” debate can be finally laid to rest.

   This blog brianirvingengineer, is to show my interest in recording technology, and my passion for perfecting my craft of engineering. Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past few years, and the small, mid sized, and large studio each has made great improvements.
   For the small laptop based studio, Universal Audio has created the Apollo Twin
http://www.uaudio.com/interfaces/apollo-twin.html an audio interface that connects to any Thunderbolt equipped computer, and with on-board DSP processing for its UAD-2 plug-ins, opens the user to the large collection of just about every major piece of vintage outboard gear modeled as a plug-in from their online store.

   For the mid sized studio, a great "kill 2 birds with 1 stone" solution has been created by Slate Digital in the form of the Raven MTi http://www.slatemt.com/products/raven-mti/ a touchscreen DAW controller. See your Avid Pro Tools on the screen, and touch anything on the screen with your finger instead of your cursor & mouse. At $2000, it's a easier goal to reach for a mid sized studio than buying monitor screens and fader controller packs.

   For the large studio that may have a 2 inch analog tape machine retired in the corner, bring it back to life by using it with Endless Analog's C.L.A.S.P. (closed loop analog signal processor) http://www.endlessanalog.com/products-page/analog-hybrid/clasp-24 a device that places the analog tape machine (and sound) in your recording signal path going into Pro Tools with sample accuracy and zero latency. No more recording to tape to get the warmth of analog, then hours of transfers to Pro Tools for overdubs & editing, record straight to Pro Tools, and give your recordings the warmth and soul of analog with your analog tape machine & C.L.A.S.P.