Terrific all-in-one, kitchen sink processor that is pretty close to being a Swiss Army Knife of mic preamps/processors. Only two dissapointments. The de-esser sounds hollow and unnatural and the proprietary pushbuttons cannot be cleaned and are prone to noise and problems. My unit is three years old and the switches are more or less inoperable, which is very frustrating because the signal must pass through them. This can be a great sounding box, but the quality control has really been a letdown.

Absolutely outstanding performance. Used it with a number of mics, all incredible. Add just a touch of the harmonics, switch the compressor to post eq, and eq out a bit of the muddy area and I barely need to touch the track in post. Only a little tweaking to blend it perfectly with the mix. Not a fan of the tube on vocals, but works wonderfully with acoustic instruments.

Well, you won't find a preamp/channel strip with better features than this baby. Preamp, compression, gate, vintage harmonics, tube emulation, EQ, de-esser, zero-latency monitoring, the ability to monitor an external effects unit, you name it.

However, I find that most of the features are useless. The compressor does not compress enough to be able to effectively even out a vocal track, so I don't use it. The vintage harmonics sound nice right at first but when you start using them in a track it makes the sound too bright and artificial, so I don't use them (but that is just my opinion). The de-esser does not remove much of the sibilance, and so I don't use it. And I never use EQ during tracking so that one is wasted as well.

Another drawback is that it does not have a balanced line out, only balanced XLR (and unbalanced line).

On the positive side, the preamp is great. I can turn the thing all the way up and I don't get any noticeable background noise. Along with the tube emulation, the sound is great for voice and acoustic instruments.

In summary, this unit is for those that don't want to buy an external compressor/gate, eq, de-esser, and other vocal processors. Though the preamp is good, I have heard others that cost only slightly more that sound better. So if you can afford it, I would look at something else. If you can't afford it, I would save my money and look at something else in the future.

i've always had a problem getting the vocals to set in the mix right, instantly the voicemaster does it, the vintage harmonics really make the vocals sparkle, you can hear every breath. I could not accomplish this before using just a preamp. it also left more room for the instruments in the mix, excellent product!!

The Pre-amp as stated before is great. Vintage harmonics is a plus. The Optical Compressor has a admirable character. Tube emulation also. I don't exactly care for the De-Esser, it's a little narrow and tends to leave an excessive amount of "SSS'es" for a De-esser, even with precise adjustments. I recommend bypassing the De-esser and using a compressor side chain or a software De-esser the best of which being the SPL De-esser that comes with Cubase SX or any other one that's comparable. The Vintage Harmonics is a quick fix but after a year or so you realize your mic probably sounds better without it, especially for you purists. BUT NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO DONT PLUG TWO MICS INTO IT!!!! I know it's enticing and seeing how there's TWO MIC inputs. You would think this would be a completely reasonable urge, BUT YOU'RE WRONG!!! I dont understand it, either, but hey nothing's perfect. DONT DO WHAT I DID. It still works fine, usually, but occasionally the pre-amp Just crackles and stops Amplifying. It eventually comes back after a few deafening screams. But Overall I'm extremely happy with my purchase (2 Years Ago) and is the best at what it does aside from the Avalon and other excessivley overpriced Class-A Pre-amp/Channel strip. P.S. don't be afraid to use it for any thing as the pre-amp compressor and tube sound will make almost any thing sound better. Just Get It!!!