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October 22, 2003
Ozone: Composing on the Go
Not many people know this, but one of my passions is composing music. In between working on various projects for GearBits, Qvadis and Kinectrics and more, I'm within months of launching a new site around this passion.
Meanwhile, I thought I'd do a wander through my various pieces of studio gear (this is GearBits, after all), for anyone who's interested. And if there is anyone, it'd be great to hear your thoughts.
Here's the first in the series.
Home audio/MIDI recording used to mean devoting a room or den to a range of equipment, including a computer, a MIDI keyboard, control surface, a mixer, a preamp. And there was no way you were going to pack this in the back of your Saturn if you wanted to compose in, say, Tahiti.
No longer. Amazingly compact, the Ozone by M-Audio is combination keyboard, MIDI control surface, microphone preamp, USB audio and MIDI I/O - in a package no bigger than a laptop. It's like a portable keyboard for your PDA...but more.
Put Ozone together with a laptop and software like Sonar, or Reason, and you have a complete personal mobile studio. Talent not included.
Everything you need is at your fingertips - fullsize keys, mod and pitch wheel, MIDI controller knobs, microphone and instrument monitor and gain levels, headphone volume. The back panel sports a balanced XLR input, ¼-inch line-level input, ¼-inch stereo input, two ¼-inch line-level outputs, ¼-inch headphone output, sustain-pedal input, MIDI I/0, and USB port. One quirk for me is that the Ozone cannot be powered parasitically, an AC adapter must be plugged in at all times.
Output from the Ozone is amazing - very clean. Recording at 24-bit, 96-kHz recording turns out product that is excellent. The preamp does provide a sound reminscent of some older mixers, but hey, I'm not a great vocalist, so this is an extra for me.
Its size, weight, and capabilities make the Ozone a great accessory for the touring musician or composer. Now all I need is a ticket to Tahiti.
Posted by Sam in Music & Audio and Popular Media
Comments
cool. i'd love to see more articles on studio gear like this.
Posted by: peter at October 22, 2003 12:20 PM
I think this calls for a link to a few samples of your work. My iPod has lots of space!
Posted by: Mitch at October 22, 2003 1:36 PM
Good stuff. I'm in IT by day, in a band by night, so this is of great interest to me. Always thought there was a tech revolution coming not just in listening to music but also producing it. Glad to see Gearbits starting to cover this.
Posted by: rob at October 22, 2003 7:41 PM
No online samples of my work yet, it'll have to wait till the formal launch :)
Posted by: Sam at October 23, 2003 11:42 AM