Audient Introduces Sono Amp Modeling Recording Interface with Tube Preamp Stage

Audient has teamed up with leading cab simulation pioneers, twonotes audio engineering to present Sono, an audio interface with a tube guitar preamp stage for guitarists and musicians, featuring powerful modeling capabilities. The combination provides countless tonal options for guitarists, whether they're recording, practicing or playing live. The integrated DSP runs the modeling without latency, with external software only used to configure the multiple simulations.

Ported enclosures are known to extend the low-frequency output of loudspeakers by exploiting the Helmholtz resonator effect produced by the compliance of the air inside the enclosure and inertance of the air in the port. This article looks at the problem of port nonlinearity to determine the correct port size, and the acoustic impedance of the port under high air velocity. This article was originally published in audioXpress, September 2001.

2018 was another record-breaking year for audioXpress.com with visits and users doubling the figures compared to our record year in 2016. Want to know which of the topics and stories published online in 2018 were the most popular? We looked at the most-read articles of 2018 in audioXpress.com (which also includes selected articles from Voice Coil magazine), and we created this Top 10 list of news stories and online articles. Here are the results!

VANA, Ltd. is now the North American distributor for European Audio Team’s (E.A.T.) line of vacuum tubes made in the Czech Republic. E.A.T. is dedicated to hand making the finest 300B and KT88 tubes tested on custom made instruments to meet the highest standards. E.A.T. Vacuum Tubes are painstakingly handcrafted within a former Tesla factory in the Czech Republic, under the supervision of Jozefina Lichtenegger and using the manufacturing equipment previously in the Tesla Vrsovice factory.

Richard Honeycutt reviews the second and more extensive edition of this electronics classic, Fundamental Amplifier Techniques with Electron Tubes. He gives high marks to this massive tome that provides useful information about electron tube technology, including their power supplies, for the design and DIY construction of these electron tube audio amplifiers.

Waves Audio' new Abbey Road Chambers plugin recreates a defining part of Abbey Road Studios' legendary sonic signature – the echo chamber used by Abbey Road’s engineers, to create exciting reverbs, delays and other unique spatial effects on countless classic recordings by the Beatles and beyond. Developed together with Abbey Road Studios, the Chambers plug-ins allows users to explore the Studio Two echo chamber, complete with the original valve Neumann KM53 microphones and Altec 605 speaker, as used on almost every pop recording done at Abbey Road during the ‘60s.

Solid State Logic announced the release of the new SSL Native v6 plug-in bundle. SSL Native V6 plug-ins replace SSL’s acclaimed Duende Native plug-in collection with completely re-written versions. The fundamental audio characteristics of the plug-ins remain unchanged but there have been a range of improvements which include new higher resolution user interfaces, improved Preset management, and expanded purchase and subscription options to suit the needs and pockets of a wider range of users.

Following the publication of its original SE 6C33C amplifier in audioXpress July 2004, Ari Polisois returned with more information on how to further simplify the whole construction and reduce the costs. The results, as the author describes, "combine the advantage(s) of the push-pull (mainly power) to the wonderful character of the SE: sensitivity, smoothness, simplicity, and warmth (due to the 2nd harmonic content, easily tolerated by our ears, as against the third, fifth, seventh, and so on harmonics produced by the push-pull)." This article was originally published in audioXpress, February 2008.

This article from respected author Ari Polisois deals with a single-ended amplifier with enough power to drive even the most difficult speaker systems - delivering 50W per channel. This is a project that quickly became the focus in lots of tube-oriented forums and has inspired long threads and many iterations, including further articles published in audioXpress from the author himself. This article was published in audioXpress, July 2004.

Where do tubes come from? In this article Richard Honeycutt revisits the history of tube electronics, from its early invention to the widespread adoption in radios and television receivers. And because familiarity simplifies tube selection, the article explains where some of the most common tube types can be applied in todays designs on power amplifiers and pre-amplifiers and tube stages. This article was originally published in audioXpress, April 2013 as part of the Hollow-State Electronics monthly column by Richard Honeycutt.