Accessories / Gadgets

After 85 years of active service, the humble VU meter remains as useful as ever in today’s digital studios — despite BBC engineers nicknaming it ‘virtually useless’!

I’m wondering if it makes sense to flip my patchbays upside down in my rack, to put my mixer inputs on the top row and signal outputs on the bottom?

Software‑controlled ‘patchbays’ are invaluable for recall and routing in hybrid studios. Is this the right one for you?

It’s hard to believe that the humble VU meter has been with us for almost 85 years. How does the Crookwood Stereo VU Meter measure up?

The FlexBar can make all sorts of dual‑mic placement jobs quick and easy.

Ever wished you could control the level of room sound that’s baked into a dialogue or vocal recording?

This clever solution for combining processors is much more than just a plug‑in host...

The XP‑Relay combines CB Electronics’ sophisticated patchbay control system with the purest possible signal path.

Many affordable patchbays come half‑normalled by default, and to change that you must flip the cards inside. It’s easy enough, but there’s a knack...

Ever wanted to run already recorded signals through a guitar amp or stompbox? One of these boxes could be all you need...

This DIY adaptor cable will fool your organ into thinking a real Leslie is attached.

These gadgets might not be the most glamorous devices, but at some point in your recording adventures you’ll probably find you need each and every one.

They may seem like an unromantic part of modular, but having the right case can make all the difference to your system.

Cat cabling is cheap and readily available — and there’s no reason you can’t use it to run balanced analogue audio signals all over the place!

Shure offer a very neat lateral‑thinking solution to mounting stereo microphone arrays quickly and accurately.

Does it matter how you deliver power to your pedalboard?

Tired of running back and forth between the control room and live room? Meet your new robotic assistant...

This clever storage and expansion solution is intended as the perfect companion to a Mac Mini.

Clean‑gain ‘booster’ preamps are popular accessories for ribbon and moving‑coil dynamic mics — but what if that gain were deliberately made more characterful?

External storage becomes so fast and so small it might as well not be external at all!

I’ve got a 19‑inch rack setup which currently houses six units and I’m wondering if it’s time that I considered powering it in a better way?