Cranesong Spider (Updated August 2010)

This box is 8 channels of heaven. 8 preamps and 8 converters, a stereo bus, a master section. Its used by the very best mastering houses.

The sounds are smooth, every channel including the master sections have limiters built in, and every channel has Cranesong's tape emulation and the "fat" switch. This is as classy as gear gets. I use mine as a dedicated drum box because the class a amps have headroom for days.

Its also a deal - if you bough the same circuits as 19" stereo boxes (the Hedd, and the Flamingo) you'd pay like 20k and the spider has more and costs way less than half that. The stereo boxes have a few more features, but basically, this box is a steal. Did I mention it sounds amazing? Lately I have been using it as a remote rig to record live Jazz. Works perfectly for that application.. direct to adapt inputs of an alesis HD24.

There's so much headroom I was amazed. I absolutely abused the box before it would distort in a bad way. The limiters are useful, but not particularly amazing sounding - more for peace of mind than anything. They are the kind of limiters you hope will never hit their threshold but transparent enough that, if they do, you don't have to wince. 

The Tape emulation is programmable per channel by a little select knob and it sounds a hell of a lot like a tape machine. This is a remarkable feature, esp considering how much it would cost - by any means - to get the same sound another way. 

And oh, by the way, the box is an amazing summing mixer, and all around audio tool suitable for mastering (Massive Mastering uses it).

And.... a very pragmatic remote mixer for anyone wanting to do 8 channels for a Jazz combo or small classical gig. There's no better value I know in audio right now for someone looking for 8 channels of pre and converter. 

... and I have to thank Craig Calistro (Calistro Music) for more or less insisting that I buy this thing.