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You can use these to connect peripherals such as USB mice, control surfaces, hard drives and so on. MIDI comes in the standard In/Out/Thru trinity, and there are no fewer than four USB 2.0 connectors, in addition to that on the front panel. 4front Mastering Bundle 1.0 update#Muse have also put an ADAT optical digital output back here, too: currently, the master stereo output appears on ADAT channels one and two, but a planned future update will allow the Receptor to make use of all eight channels. Converters are 24-bit, operating at 44.1, 48 or 96 kHz, and the Receptor can be clocked from an external digital source, if required, via the S/PDIF connector. ![]() Audio I/O consists of two pairs of balanced quarter-inch jacks for analogue, and a pair of co-axial phono sockets for S/PDIF digital I/O. Let's stay at the rear for a moment - and it's really rather busy back here! The first thing you might notice, as I did, are the two fans these aren't strictly noisy in the way that some Macs are noisy, but are definitely audible. The Receptor's ADAT output currently works only in stereo mode, and if you want to expand its analogue I/O, you'll need to add a USB interface when an OS update makes this possible. ![]() But the Receptor still doesn't feel like a PC: after all, there are many dedicated rack samplers and hard disk recording systems that allow deeper access to an OS through optional monitors and keyboards, and that's the feel here. If we jump ahead of ourselves and have a quick look at the back panel, we'll find standard ports for a mouse and QWERTY keyboard, and a VGA connector for a 1024 x 768 monitor: add these to the system and the Receptor's OS becomes a full-screen Graphical User Interface. That control set is capable of accessing all levels of the Receptor's OS, though the display can seem a little restrictive when dealing with what is a very deep and powerful device. ![]() 4front Mastering Bundle 1.0 plus#Also present on the front panel are a USB 2.0 port and high-impedance guitar input jack, plus a headphone socket. Four continuous rotary encoders, which also respond to being pushed in, are ranged across the bottom of the display, and the controls are completed by a further pair of encoders, input and output level knobs and a dozen buttons. The front panel looks like many a piece of studio hardware, right down to the two-line x-24-character LCD. The Receptor's package is quite elegant, with a smart blue brushed-aluminium front panel distinguishing it from the many other 2U devices that one might find in a studio or stage rack. It is very easy to ignore the fact that we're dealing with a computer here - this feels like a module many of us may have been waiting for! Outside View This hardware unit is thus a highly flexible, expandable and powerful cross between multitimbral synth module and multi-channel effects processor (audio inputs are provided) and the line between the two modes is as grey as they come. Rather, its aim is to run any VST-format virtual instrument or plug-in effect from within an approachable, dedicated operating system. Muse's brief is not so all-encompassing as the Open Synth: the Receptor won't run sequencing software, for example. Open Labs' workstation synth-shaped Neko Open Synth (reviewed in January of this year) is an example of one approach, and this month we get to have a look at the Receptor from Muse Research. This mindset has not gone unnoticed by music technology R&D departments, and developers have initiated a recent trend towards products that are most definitely computers, and run music software, but with their PC-ness so cunningly disguised as to present the appearance of a standard piece of studio hardware. There is something about computers that is fundamentally unattractive for many musicians, even if those musicians look on with envy at the new sound-creation and manipulation tools that are available only as software. ![]() 4front Mastering Bundle 1.0 Pc#If you want to get your hands on the latest VST Instruments and Plug-in effects, but don't fancy having a PC in your studio, Muse Research's Receptor could be the answer. ![]()
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