Cranesong Spider

First - this is simply the best audio you can get. There's different, but there's not better. Next, its the best deal for that class of gear you can get. In effect you get 8 Crane song  Flamingo channels, 8 Crane song Hedd converter channels, 8 limiters, and an entire bussing and stereo section with Crane song's tape emulation - for about 6 grand street - the price of 2 Crane song Flamingo's (4 channels of pre).

After three days tracking with the box on some sessions for David Brown and potty mouth country kid Lydia Loveless I have made the following observations.

The pre's are smooth. They reminded me of Amek.  Not perfectly transparent - but very transparent and a little flattering. Completely usable for anything - Headroom for days. A little grit when pushed too hard. Then you hit the "fat" switch and its neve-land. Juicy. I AB'd the Spider's fat switch with the Great River NP2NV and the sound is very similar with the fat switch engaged. Its like getting two pre's in one. Both are totally usable and without  compromise. The fat switch does add about 8 db to the noise floor.

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.