The marketing department at Rane Inc. SUCKS!

[wheelema]

But that's just because I think homerecording is the most important market in the world and before a recent post I'd never heard of Rane.

My overwhelming focus is on female vocals right now. I've looked at a boat load of preamps and channel strips and then ALONG COMES THE RANE VP12!

• Studio grade microphone preamplifier with processing phantom power, input gain, low and high cut filters
• De-esser
• gate/expander and compressor, each with separate threshold
• 2 bands of parametric EQ

With the EQ note

'that each band has a frequency multiplier switch that allows the range to cover 10 Hz to 20 kHz. A Bandwidth control allows control over a wide valley or a narrow crevasse. If +12 dB of Boost or -15 dB of Cut isn't enough, the filters are in series -- so simply setting the filters to the same Frequency can double the amount of Boost or Cut'

Also, note that

'Independent Bypass switches in each processing section defeat unnecessary processing and allow process/unprocessed comparisons. Additionally, each section of processing can be re-patched in any order via screw terminal jumpers on the rear of the unit'

So, for $449 smackers, how does it sound?

 

[chessrock]

Sounds like it's got some pretty good EQ features and control. Rane's always been well-regarded for making pretty decent EQ.

I'd look in to it and see if you can find out what kind of opamp chip they're using on the front end / mic pre stage. If they're using the burr-browns like they do in their MS1B, then I'd guess it's probably a pretty decent unit. But keep in mind that in that range, there's also the Focusrite platinum stuff . . . and if you don't mind buying used, a Symetrix 528 is a great channel strip that can be had usually for less than $200.

 

[regebro]

It sounds like a good value voice channel. When I was looking at voice channels I wanted one that had compression, EQ *AND* de-esser, and they are surprisingly rare.

But of course, I never go a voice channel, I got a preamp and a better mic instead.

 

[bgavin]

I own a boat load of Rane gear.

Rane uses Burr-Brown mic preamps in many (all?) of their preamps, so this is a good step in the right direction.

For certain, Rane is not in the same league as Davisound, nor is it in the same price range. Rane is plentiful and cheap on eBay... an almost never ending supply.

FWIW, Rane is the only manufacturer who uses a bit of humor in their datasheets and manuals. Most refreshing. I have the complete Rane tech library on my site, and it is VERY informative.