Steven Slate of Slate Digital has been on a quest to model classic analogue hardware for years now. We’ve seen everything from virtual consoles, to virtual tape machines, virtual compressors, EQ and with the VMS, even microphones. Now, his company, Slate Digital, are claiming to have created the Virtual Recording Studio. At the centre of this feat is the VRS8 Virtual Analog Interface — an eight-channel version of the VMS Ultra Linear mic preamp, with mastering grade A-D/D-A conversion, high-end circuit design featuring boutique op-amps, WIMA capacitors, two discrete headphone amplifiers. What's more, Slate is claiming the VRS8 has the lowest latency of any native solution (down to 0.7 ms at 96k). This is helped by the use of fast connection protocols — the VRS8 connects to Macs via Thunderbolt and to PCs via PCIe. It also has a quoted signal to noise ratio of 124dB, which is really rather impressive as it will cost only $1999.
To complement the VRS8 is the ML-2, a small-diaphragm modelling mic featuring the same linear frequency response as its larger sibling, the ML-1. The ML-2 is designed to allow you to recreate the sound of nearly 20 different mics including dyanmics, condensers and even ribbons. A pack of five ML-2 mics will set you back $500, or $150 for one.
Watch our quick run-down with Steven Slate above, otherwise watch Steven Slate’s own keynote, complete with audio demos, below.
