It is most important to not have to try again to recreate that moment in time and feeling when you begin an IDEA or RIFF. The 615 will help you together with 456HD® to accomplish accurately and optimise these most important moments in a musician's life the 1st TIME AROUND. The recordings can easily be made using modern digital recording software and hardware virtually anywhere thus eliminating re-recording the birth of your new ideas. You will appreciate that a very badly recorded idea cannot be used as a starting point in a track and no amount of post production can help. This is the main point in using the 615 and 456HD® at the beginning of recording as it will save so much time and money and preserve that magical feeling when it happenned so it can used later in the final product.

We have included examples of isolated instruments and also in the context of a track both with and without the 615 for you to judge what is going on dynamically.
The setup we used was within the bounds of any small studio setup and all recordings used only the 456HD® and 615 to give you an insight as to the quality and dynamics you should expect from your basic recordings.

2 sets of audio files: 128Kb/s .mp3 and 16bit/44.1Khz CD .WAV provide audio quality comparison of both original uprocessed and 615 samples.
The drums especially highlight differences in the artifacts of mp3 as compared to WAV audio files.

Click on the links below for the Audio Files:

The 615 has the ability to effectively greately increase the VOLUME of the clean tone on stage without amplIfier distortion by carefully controlling the dynamic processing of the signal thus giving the optunity for CLEAN TONES to be used more effectively in live performance. The OUTPUT LEVEL can be adjusted to provide a significant level change. The amplifier distotion can be held and set for the desired tone with the 615 used as a DYNAMIC BOOST.

This dynamic processing now can also be used in conjunction with VOLUME BOOST to provide a valuable added layer of control to drive your favorite pedals in real time with no latency. The possibilities that this now opens up are enormous as you in fact have studio quality processing all the time. Your initial ideas and inspiration can be captured and recorded perfectly.

The 615 will increase the overall tone of the BASS as it controls the dynamics and enhances the full range of the strings and accoustic properties of the instrument. Full feeling and zero latency encourages the player to relax as the amplifier can be now optimised for tone without worrying about hitting the strings too hard and therefore will make slap and funk techniques really stand out.

The 6i5 has a +4dBm output which enables Direct Recording into any DAW without using an additional DI Box. You can of course split the signal after the 615 for Dual Direct and Amplifier Recording techniques.

The full tone and accoustic properties of the instrument are dramatically enhanced when the output of the microphone pre-amp is fed into the 615. Feeding the output of the 615 into a 456HD® before the DAW to record will produce even better results that compare very favourably to the old "HOLY GRAIL" of tape recording with discrete electronics. As with the other string instruments touch and feeling is maintained with zero latency so it is better to use this processing initially. The player can now relax and hit the strings naturally to convey the required feeling and sound.

The same setup as with a Accoustic Guitar can be used. The additional power obtained will enable the vocal to be positioned easily and sit in a track at the various levels required in differing types of music. It makes the vocal stand out with greater definition in the mix and we have shown this in a HARD ROCK track example. The artist can sing with freedom knowing that the difficult passages can be recorded perfectly. It also will work in LIVE situations of course with similar benefits.

The use of dynamic processing here is must for a poweful consistent sound for both RECORDING and LIVE. The 615 is made for this job and we have provided SNARE examples to show the enhanced drum shell sounds now being able to be heard as part of the overall sound. The KICK drum also will benefit from dynamic limiting to provide a powerfull pulse. We encourage the use of Stereo 456HD® for the overhead mics and this is what we have used in our examples.

The use of real time ultra high speed analogue dynamic processing to control audio program peaks effectively before you go into the digital domain is clearly the best way forward to record a great sound. With zero digital latency, the player can feel and judge perfectly his playing technique to produce results that are truly outstanding.

The 615 smooth uses advanced unique feed forward gain reduction techniques developed from their roots in the legendary RM 58 Limiters to give great player feeling whilst controlling the dynamics to produce smooth controlled output that is perfect for digital recordings or amplifier tones.

The ability to control the dynamics in such a free and natural sounding way enables Amplfiers to be set to a predetermined maximum distortion point.

When recording digitally as the maximum level is now controlled the player can relax and play freely without worrying about record level whilst getting a great consistent sound with maximum resolution from the DAW.

The 615 can also add extra 2nd Harmonics to the peaks enhancing the tone with a very natural musical flavour.

The transparency and detail of the original source is maintained using a Class A Discrete Audio Path with extended frequency response. This means that the 615 smooth can be used with great success for Bass Guitar together with all other normal studio tasks. It has universal applications for all sorts of percussive instruments as well.

The -10dBV mode input is high impedance that enables a guitar or other instrument to be plugged straight into the 615 smooth without the need for a buffer. It will not tone suck the pickups and is very quiet and transparent. The -10dBV output will interface correctly with an amplifier or an input to a recording device. This extends the use to live shows using the 615 smooth into an amplifier or to the PA system. You can use the +4dBV output to interface the instrument with a professional level recording studio recording system.

There are no mains transformers in the unit to provide a source of hum. The 615 comes with a 48V DC REGULATED UNIVERSAL WORLD AC/DC SWITCHING ADAPTOR .This input voltage is further regulated and filtered onboard for the best possible noise free performance.

Dimensions:
135 x 95x 55mm
Weight: 325g

We would like to thank the following talented people for their kind assistance in producing these files showing the 615 SMOOTH AND 456HD® in use.
SEAN GENOCKEY - Engineering, Guitars, Post Production - Top Dog at Black Dog Studios
JOHN HOGG - Vocals, Guitars, Bass
CHARLIE MORTON - Drums