cm mini reviews

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Presonus

Revelator io24 £172

Web presonus.com

Gear USB audio interface with DSP processing

It’s fair to say that the small audio interface market is a pretty crowded one, full to the brim with units from SSL, M-Audio, Native Instruments, UA, Focusrite (we looked at their latest Clarett+ 2Pre a couple of issues back) and more. While most are ideal for small setups and singer/songwriters, and are usually very mobile and USB-powered, they all also need to have a USP to stand out from the (massive) crowd. And Presonus’ latest is no exception…

We looked at the company’s Revelator microphone last year and this interface takes some of the same tech and gives you a different slant on it. The Revelator mic features DSP processing to shape your voice in a wide number of ways (some, as we said, more useful than others) and similar processing is on offer here, within Presonus’ Universal Control software. Here, as well as the same kind of routing options you get with other interface apps, you get compressor, EQ, voice and other effects. You get the impression that there is more for the voice than anything else, not surprising given that Revelator the mic and Revelator the interface both have podcasting and streaming very much in mind, but there are decent studio features here too.

Two combi inputs allow you to connect up a wide variety of sources and the recording quality is excellent plus you also get phantom power options and a high-pass filter to help roll off any rumble. A genius feature is the multifunction knob that you can press to cycle through functions including headphone volume, monitor level and overall mix. It’s the star in what is a very easy-to-use package overall.

With Studio One Artist thrown in, this is a great interface for musicians, but if you’ve got broadcast aspirations, there’s even more for you here. Add the DSP processing, Stream Mix mode for streamers and loopback functionality — that enables you to easily blend interviews via Zoom etc with effects and music — and you have an interface that stretches itself well across a variety of 2022 tasks.