Today the ULN-8 by Metric Halo is officially launched. It's an amazing audio interface that I have been lucky to use for the past 2-1/2 years as part of the beta-program. Nearly half of the current releases of my edition have been recorded, mixed and mastered with this outstanding tool, beginning with the production of the ensemble 12baritone.

I am very glad to have been involved in this process as it is a testimony to the fact that there do exist companies focused on uncompromisingly developing new gear with the future in mind--while improving on the past. The original specs were posted on December 2005, after nearly two years of in-house development and testing. Beta-testing began in December 2006.

What's in the box?

In German we have the saying "Eier legende Wollmilchsau" which translates into "egg-laying wool-milk-sow". The ULN-8 is...

• a remote & front-panel controllable 8-ch micpre with 92 dB of no-noise gain
• (with real analog sends!)
• and, as an electrically uncoupled alternative, 8 line-inputs
• sampling at 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 172.4 and 192 kHz,
• a digital routing system with 80 bit precision, outputting to 8 channels of AES/EBU
• (also, 8 channels of digital input...)
• an 8-ch preamp with digitally controlled analog gain stages,
• managed by an easy to configure 2.0 to 7.1 master controller,
• with a completely customizable DSP-matrix to boot.

Not to forget... * sample-accurate metering, * tactile control front-panel * with customizable gain readout options, * MIDI I/O, * SMPTE input & output, * Wordclock interfacing, * a dedicated headphone output * and two ultra high-Z DI-inputs on the front panel. * All in a portable, durable, 1 RU high enclosure * and at a great price!

Did I say it sounds amazing? Well, it does. When I first linked it into my studio I spent a day just listening to my favorite CDs and own recordings. There was depth and transparency like I had not heard before. This can possibly be explained by the fact that the unit is phase flat (as well as power flat) from 0 Hz to Nyquist. You get what's there, and what's there gets you :-)