Feature:
This is really my problem with the unit. I thought the AVP-1 was Antares' flagship product, but now I know it is their software plug-ins. The Auto Tune function is OK, but the mic modeler is totally stripped down. Where the plug-in (and I'm assuming the AMM-1) models a gazillion mics with more available for download all the time, this jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none models only 11. That's right, ELEVEN, and none of them are specific mics, they are generics like "Hand-held Dynamic" and "Small Diaphragm Condenser #1" and "Telephone." Frankly this half-a$$ed mic modeler is the most disappointing aspect of the unit. Also, it is advertised as "everything you need to make great vocal tracks." Well, sure that's advertising hype, but I took "everything you need" to mean that it had a built in pre-amp, but it doesn't. All it has is a model of a tube pre-amp which doesn't actually pre-amp, it just adds distortion they call "warmth."So you still need a pre-amp, either in the form of a standalone or a mixer feeding it a line-level signal -- long story short, you need a pre-amp (which will color the sound of your source mic and render the mic modeler that much more inaccurate). The compressor/gate/eq/de esser are all pretty standard fare, which you can get in a Behringer unit for half or 1/3 the price.
Quality:
Seems rugged enough.
Value:
As I said before, it sounds pretty good and looks nice, but you can get boxes that sound as good or better for half this price or less if you don't care about the marginally useful Auto Tune.
Desirability:
Aesthetically, it looks nice in the rack, very clean interface, and of course the allure of the Auto Tune and Mic Modeler outweighs the actual functionality of those features in this particular unit. The mic modeler demo (and perhaps the hardware AMM-1) is pretty cool, although it does seem to just be creative equalization. The Auto Tune is marginally useful, you have to really be careful how you use it or the vocals take on a very strange sound, and I don't mean "Cher Believe" cool strange, I mean what the hell did you run that through, unlistenable strange.
Sound:
You can actually get some pretty good sounds out of this box, just twiddling a little with the presets. But you can get just as good for 1/3 the price.
Support:
Asked a question 24 hours ago and still no answer, so they're still on probation in this category, but their website has a lot of downloads... the company seems to favor its software buyers over its hardware customers.
Overall:
I'm going to have to supplement this thing with a pre-amp, which is what I was in the market for to begin with when I ran across it. I guess I can get a small single channel Behringer since the AVP-1 has compression, EQ and de-essing, but I can't get over how disappointing the mic modeler is compared with the computer plug-in version, nor how limited the usefulness of auto-tune (maybe I just need to get better at using it).
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