Freqport FreqInOut FO1

A clever new USB‑powered unit aims to make it easier to access hardware in the box.

In the early days of DAWs, software alone couldn’t provide the necessary processing power to handle a busy mix. Even if your computer could take care of tracking and editing, a hardware console and a few racks full of outboard were required to distil the results into something suitable for mass consumption.

Today, few of us could say that we really need hardware outboard equipment. Computers are now so powerful, and plug‑ins so sophisticated, that there are no real limitations on what we can do with them. Yet hybrid setups combining software and hardware are growing in popularity. In particular, we’ve witnessed the rise of what might be called the hybrid desktop studio. Regardless of need, small studio owners are tempted by the idea of having a few choice items that they can integrate into an otherwise software‑based studio environment. And this is a trend that extends beyond recording and mixing. Electronic musicians want hardware synths and samplers to complement their virtual instruments, and guitarists devote scary amounts of time and money to curating the perfect pedalboard.

The pain point in these scenarios concerns exactly how this hardware can be integrated into a software environment, and that’s what Freqport are targeting with their second product. To the outside world, the FreqInOut FO1 is a line‑level USB audio interface; but to your computer, it’s a VST, AU or AAX plug‑in. The goal is to make adding outboard into a DAW session as easy as loading up a software effect.

Computers are now so powerful, and plug‑ins so sophisticated, that there are no real limitations on what we can do with them. Yet hybrid setups combining software and hardware are growing in popularity.

Hub Tropicana

On the digital side, the key to making this work is the Analog Hub software developed for Freqport’s first product, the Freqtube FT1. Reviewed in SOS February 2023, the FT1 is a desktop processor that likewise connects over USB and presents a plug‑in interface, and which offers four mono or two stereo channels of authentically analogue valve warmth to be applied to the DAW signals of your choice. Successfully implementing this involved overcoming one of the main limitations associated with USB audio, especially on Windows, where the ASIO protocol allows only a single device to be addressed. Freqport succeeded, and the Analog Hub software allows the FT1 to run simultaneously with, and independently of, your main audio interface.

Analog Hub is also the tie that binds the new FO1 into your computer system, and it’s not limited to a single device. Two FT1 and two FO1 units can all be connected simultaneously to a single system, with no need for additional clocking connections. This would give you eight mono or four stereo channels of line‑level I/O, and the same number of channels of valve processing: not quite the Power Station in its heyday, but enough to make a big difference!

Analog Hub runs in the background on your computer, and can integrate multiple FO1 and FT1 units.

As a fully self‑contained unit, the Freqtube FT1 supports preset storage and recall, and parameter automation, just like any other plug‑in. Latency is also compensated for in the background, so the only difference compared with digital plug‑ins is that you can’t perform offline bounces. Moreover, the FT1 is also a hardware controller, with eight rotary encoders that can be assigned to parameters within the Freqtube plug‑in. By contrast, the FreqInOut FO1 is inherently open‑ended. It’s designed to work with whatever hardware you care to connect; as long as something can accept and return a line‑level signal, it’ll work with the FO1. The flip side of this is that the FO1 can’t control anything. It’s up to the user to configure and recall settings on connected hardware, although, as we’ll see, the associated plug‑in lends a helping hand where it can.

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