Reviews
Unit Audio Micro-Unit Summing Box
December, 2012 by Paul Vnuk,
Recording Magazine
Analog summing devices have become quite popular in recent years. They are designed to return analog smoothness and depth to otherwise sterile sounding digitally summed DAW mixes. Typically boutique specialty items, they tend to come with price tags that run from $700 to multiple thousands of dollars. Aiming to challenge that is Unit Audio, currently offering four different passive summing models at prices that range from the $399 16-channel Unit down to the simple $149 8-channel Milli-Unit. All Unit devices are dressed in a gloss-coated green enamel box with black lettering. Internally they feature a hand-wired point-to-point design, with Xicon metal film resistors and Neutrik connectors. The Unit and the oddly named New Unit make use of DB-25 connectors for their inputs and 1/4" balanced sockets for their outputs (the New Unit also offers an XLR output
option). Both smaller models, the Micro-Unit and the Milli-Unit (shown in the photo), skip the DB-25 connectors in favor of eight top mounted 1/4" inputs.
I was sent the $199 8-channel Micro-Unit for review. It is slightly bigger than your average direct box. It has top-mounted inputs, and a pair of pan switches that let you route inputs 1 and 2 either hard L/R or to the center— handy for sources like vocals and bass that are typically center in a mix. As a passive design, the Micro-Unit requires no power supply since the makeup gain will be handled by the mic preamp of your choice.
Read the rest of the review ...here
Recording Magazine
Analog summing devices have become quite popular in recent years. They are designed to return analog smoothness and depth to otherwise sterile sounding digitally summed DAW mixes. Typically boutique specialty items, they tend to come with price tags that run from $700 to multiple thousands of dollars. Aiming to challenge that is Unit Audio, currently offering four different passive summing models at prices that range from the $399 16-channel Unit down to the simple $149 8-channel Milli-Unit. All Unit devices are dressed in a gloss-coated green enamel box with black lettering. Internally they feature a hand-wired point-to-point design, with Xicon metal film resistors and Neutrik connectors. The Unit and the oddly named New Unit make use of DB-25 connectors for their inputs and 1/4" balanced sockets for their outputs (the New Unit also offers an XLR output
option). Both smaller models, the Micro-Unit and the Milli-Unit (shown in the photo), skip the DB-25 connectors in favor of eight top mounted 1/4" inputs.
I was sent the $199 8-channel Micro-Unit for review. It is slightly bigger than your average direct box. It has top-mounted inputs, and a pair of pan switches that let you route inputs 1 and 2 either hard L/R or to the center— handy for sources like vocals and bass that are typically center in a mix. As a passive design, the Micro-Unit requires no power supply since the makeup gain will be handled by the mic preamp of your choice.
Read the rest of the review ...here
Unit Audio UNIT Passive Summing Mixer
Oct. 8, 2012 by Brandon Hickey,
Mix Magazine
Unit Audio makes a small array of hand-build utility products for recording and mixing. Their primary product line offers passive analog summing mixers for DAW-based workflows. The benefits of analog summing is that combining electrical signals through an analog mixing buss sounds different from summing inside of a computer. Though DAW-based mixing offers the advantages of easy recall and automation as well as plugins which are more cost friendly than outboard hardware, there are also distinct advantages to analog mixing. Consoles usually offer greater headroom than DAW
mixers, and in many cases color the sound with a unique flavor.
Unlike summing systems like the Dangerous Music 2-Bus which offers a fully active circuit path, the UNIT falls in line with devices like the ROLL Folcrom which features no active circuitry. Passive mixers combine signals by using a network of resistors to sum them together. The resulting output is very low in level, so a microphone preamplifier is necessary to restore it to line level before hitting the mix-down deck. One supposed benefit of this type of strategy is that the mic preamp adds coloration to the signal. Naturally this is a point of debate. For example, how many engineers plug a mic into a
mic pre, then to a re-amp, then a DI, then to another mic pre to add flavor to the signal? Once a signal hits line level, why not keep it there, right? That is how I felt too, before I tried the UNIT. After using it, I haven’t necessarily been born again, but I will say that the results were not quite what I had expected.
Read the rest of the review at Mix Magazine ...here
Mix Magazine
Unit Audio makes a small array of hand-build utility products for recording and mixing. Their primary product line offers passive analog summing mixers for DAW-based workflows. The benefits of analog summing is that combining electrical signals through an analog mixing buss sounds different from summing inside of a computer. Though DAW-based mixing offers the advantages of easy recall and automation as well as plugins which are more cost friendly than outboard hardware, there are also distinct advantages to analog mixing. Consoles usually offer greater headroom than DAW
mixers, and in many cases color the sound with a unique flavor.
Unlike summing systems like the Dangerous Music 2-Bus which offers a fully active circuit path, the UNIT falls in line with devices like the ROLL Folcrom which features no active circuitry. Passive mixers combine signals by using a network of resistors to sum them together. The resulting output is very low in level, so a microphone preamplifier is necessary to restore it to line level before hitting the mix-down deck. One supposed benefit of this type of strategy is that the mic preamp adds coloration to the signal. Naturally this is a point of debate. For example, how many engineers plug a mic into a
mic pre, then to a re-amp, then a DI, then to another mic pre to add flavor to the signal? Once a signal hits line level, why not keep it there, right? That is how I felt too, before I tried the UNIT. After using it, I haven’t necessarily been born again, but I will say that the results were not quite what I had expected.
Read the rest of the review at Mix Magazine ...here
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Brandon Hickey is a Post Production Audio Instructor
at The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences He is an Instructor of classes focusing on the creation of sound for films. Topics include dialogue replacement, the addition of sounds related to human movement, creation of sound effects, and Pro Tools editing. He also instructs on the synchronization of multiple devices during recording, editing, and mixing and teaches classes in surround sound mixing theory and practices. |
Unit Audio Micro-Unit Passive Summing Mixer A Simple and Reliable Way
to Wrangle Signals into a Common Output
Apr 25, 2012 by Jon Chappell,
Senior Editor, Harmony Central
When you’re a performing multi-instrumentalist, you quickly learn what a summing mixer is, because it’s an indispensable piece of stage gear. Basically, it’s a box that groups multiple inputs into a common output (mono) or outputs (stereo). Signal-routing-wise, it’s like a no-frills mixer, but a lot smaller and simpler electronically, and so is easily tossed into a gig bag or the back of an amp. In one typical situation, you would plug an amplified acoustic, the stereo outputs of a keyboard, and the output of your last stompbox into the summing mixer. The outputs are ganged together (“summed”) in an electrically kosher way and sent to a single mono output or to stereo outputs, which you would then plug into an amp, mixer, or P.A. In a mono setting you can use the summing mixer’s output to feed a single input of your guitar amp. Summing mixers can be used in small studios and makeshift recording setups, and they have secured a place in large-scale DAW recording as well.
Unit Audio offers a trio of summing mixers: the Milli-Unit ($149.00), the Micro-Unit ($199.00), and the Unit ($335.00). All are similar with regard to internal electrical specifications and differ only in number of inputs and inclusion of panning switches. My review model was the middle-of-the-pack $199 Micro-Unit, which has 8 inputs (as opposed to 16 on the Unit) and panning switches for Inputs 1 and 2 (versus none on the Milli-Unit).
Read the rest of the review at Harmony Central ...here
Senior Editor, Harmony Central
When you’re a performing multi-instrumentalist, you quickly learn what a summing mixer is, because it’s an indispensable piece of stage gear. Basically, it’s a box that groups multiple inputs into a common output (mono) or outputs (stereo). Signal-routing-wise, it’s like a no-frills mixer, but a lot smaller and simpler electronically, and so is easily tossed into a gig bag or the back of an amp. In one typical situation, you would plug an amplified acoustic, the stereo outputs of a keyboard, and the output of your last stompbox into the summing mixer. The outputs are ganged together (“summed”) in an electrically kosher way and sent to a single mono output or to stereo outputs, which you would then plug into an amp, mixer, or P.A. In a mono setting you can use the summing mixer’s output to feed a single input of your guitar amp. Summing mixers can be used in small studios and makeshift recording setups, and they have secured a place in large-scale DAW recording as well.
Unit Audio offers a trio of summing mixers: the Milli-Unit ($149.00), the Micro-Unit ($199.00), and the Unit ($335.00). All are similar with regard to internal electrical specifications and differ only in number of inputs and inclusion of panning switches. My review model was the middle-of-the-pack $199 Micro-Unit, which has 8 inputs (as opposed to 16 on the Unit) and panning switches for Inputs 1 and 2 (versus none on the Milli-Unit).
Read the rest of the review at Harmony Central ...here
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Jon Chappell is a guitarist and the Senior Editor of Harmony Central. He has contributed numerous musical pieces to film and TV, including Northern Exposure, Walker, Texas Ranger, All My Children, and the feature film Bleeding Hearts, directed by actor-dancer Gregory Hines. He is the author of The Recording Guitarist: A Guide for Home and Studio (Hal Leonard), Essential Scales & Modes(Backbeat Books), and Build Your Own PC Recording Studio (McGraw-Hill), and has written six books in the popular Dummies series (Wiley Publishing).
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