Welcoming the need of musicians around the world to be able to make music at all times, iZotope enters the hardware market for the first time, launching Spire Studio, a portable hub dedicated to multitrack production on mobile.
Aesthetically, it looks similar to a small bluetooth speaker with very small dimensions (~ 11x09x12 cm; weight ~ 600gr) above which we see two large buttons stand out rec e play, colored LEDs and some other functions. The power supply is via power adapter (included in the package) or internal rechargeable lithium battery, with a duration of 4 hours of continuous use.
HOW IT WORKS:
Spire Studio is a kind of mobile sound card, enhanced with some interesting features, which works in tandem with a free app for smartphone e tablets, currently only available for iOS.
The recorded audio is instantly transferred to the phone via WiFi in a family member multitrack sequencer, thus creating a small mobile study. Unfortunately in this first version the registration is limited to 8 tracks all audio, mono o stereo (no MIDI and vst for now), but it must be understood that Spire Studio does not present itself as a substitute for a DAW.
Track recording takes place via the two inputs Small/Line In complete with power supply phantom, or using the internal microphone, an omnidirectional condenser.
The promise of iZotope is to have studio quality recs 48kHz/24 bit, entrusting the input sound to his famous DSP and the preamps of the Grace Design.
The monitoring takes place via two minijack headphone outputs of which we can of course control the volume. Track and project storage is internal to the Spire, for a total of 6 hours of registration.
Spire Studio is equipped with metronome and a rich array of effects.
Unique negative note: it is necessary to record the track already made in input since in this first release it is not possible to add and modify post-recording effects.
With a virtual mixer we can instead easily modify volumes and panning of individual tracks.
GAIN STAGING? NO PROBLEM!
With the function sound check, positioned on the top panel, we will only have to play a few notes of our next masterpiece and Spire Studio will work for us automatically to optimize the input level, contributing to a faster workflow and ensuring correct gain staging.
EXPORT AND COLLABORATIONS:
The mobile app is equipped with an inevitable share section, through which it is possible to export the entire project, the stereo mixdown, the single stems and even swapping projects with other happy musicians who own Spire Studio. A precious ally of remote collaborations!
IS SPIRE STUDIO THE OBJECT FOR ME?
The perfect target of this product are experienced producers who want to record ideas to be reviewed and finalized in the studio at a later time, novice composers who are taking their initial steps in the field of recording and ask for a simplified approach to production, but also songwriters and musicians. tired of putting down their ideas using the vocal notes of the smartphone. Furthermore, Spire Studio seems to be a very useful tool to be inserted in didactic contexts where compactness and ease of use are essential.
For those wishing to learn more, the parent company has created a dedicated site with all the information: www.spire.live
iZotope Spire Studio is available at Thomann at €399
Good music to everyone
Liz martin
