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The EVO software mixer is clear and simple, but gives access to some surprisingly deep functionality. The EVO 16's optical inputs and outputs have you got covered for sessions of any size! Supporting both ADAT and SPDIF, you can add up to 16 channels of mic preamps to your setup, giving you plenty of options for expanding your recording capabilities down the line. Monitor your settings via the LCD Screen
Audient EVO 16 24-in 28-out USB-C Audio Interface
We test every amplifier we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product. In every Expert review we ask three of our team of contributors to give their first impressions of the product. We ask them to give the product a hit or miss, based on factors such as originality, innovation, usefulness, quality and value for money. For each hit the products gets an Expert Award. One hit and it gets our bronze award, two hits gets silver and for a hit from all three of the panel it gets a coveted gold award. Of course if there’s three misses, there’s no award. Luke Goddard On EVO 16Audient started out as manufacturers of large‑ and medium‑format analogue mixing consoles, drawing on the immense experience of designer Dave Dearden. When they moved into making audio interfaces, one of the key selling points was their ability to apply this analogue design expertise in the new sector. Audient’s ID range thus combines ergonomic desktop form factors with mic preamps and other circuit designs closely related to those used in their flagship ASP consoles. I like the flexibility of the software and the fact that it can easily be driven from the front panel. My daily driver is a (distinctly premium) Focusrite Red4Pre and I control that almost exclusively front the front panel. Having an easy to use interface with a clear and informative front panel display in a unit at this price is great. The core of the EVO range’s ease of use is Smartgain, a system that analyses the incoming signal and sets the ideal input gain for it. With the EVO 16, Smartgain can set the gain for all eight analogue inputs simultaneously, a massive time-saver especially if you’re a self-recording band or drummer. Just get connected, activate Smartgain, play for 20 seconds and you’re ready to record.
Audient EVO 16 review: Pro-grade I/O for beginners and beyond Audient EVO 16 review: Pro-grade I/O for beginners and beyond
The much touted Smartgain feature has not previously interested me on their smaller interfaces for a simple guitar or vocal, but on an 8-channel device, for setting multiple levels like with a drum kit or small ensemble, it makes more sense. I am yet to test it but I assume/hope it leaves enough headroom on super-fast HF sources like ride cymbals and tambourines. For musicians who don’t want to faff around doing boring tech stuff, this can get you sorted in seconds, and you always have the option to manually tweak anything if you choose. All of EVO 4’s monitoring functions are controlled by a single control knob, including volume control, monitor mix, and monitor pan. They can also be adjusted from the EVO 4 Control app, letting you make adjustments on the fly. When all you want is to record your band’s latest jam, lay down a beat or capture the chord sequence you just dreamed up before you forget it, the last thing you need is to get bogged down with preamps and gain levels. It was with this in mind that, in 2020, British pro-audio manufacturer Audient launched their easy-to-use EVO range.However, it’s actually a lot less restrictive than some other models you might buy at the price. This is a 2in/2out interface, better than the capable but single-input Focusrite Scarlett Solo. These inputs can be mics, line ins, and there’s a dedicated “instrument” input, for greater flexibility than is offered by the recent Focusrite Vocaster line. And it’s more portable-friendly than the Audient ID4 Mark II. EVO 16’s audio performance is entirely respectable and will stand up to scrutiny in most situations. If you’re trying to record birdsong 10 metres away with an SM7B then you might be disappointed, but for everything else, EVO 16’s inputs are clean and detailed, and its headphone outputs are loud are clear with moderate loads. With 58dB of gain in hand, the inputs boast a noise figure of less than -127.5dBu (making the unit one of the quietest things in your input signal chain in most scenarios), and can tolerate a whopping +16dBu from line sources. Specs And Pricing
EVO 4 - Downloads EVO 4 - Downloads
The sound quality is on a par with the other EVO interfaces, with the same clean, low-distortion preamps and accurate reproduction. The preamps capture good detail and presence in the low and mid range, though could perhaps do with a smidgen more definition at the top. The ID‑series interfaces are competitively priced, but on the pure value‑for‑money front, they are undercut by rival products that use mass‑market, off‑the‑shelf components and circuits. Hence the launch of Audient’s EVO series of interfaces, brought to market more affordably by the use of generic audio circuitry instead of the Audient custom designs employed in the ID series. But price isn’t the only thing differentiating the EVO interfaces from their ID brethren. Tabula Rasa The market for budget, entry‑level interfaces is mostly made up of newcomers to recording. These customers, on the one hand, benefit from designs that present the easiest possible learning curve; but on the other, they’re also unburdened by preconceptions as to how an audio interface should work. Consequently, Audient have put a lot of work into the usability and ergonomics of the EVO series, and they’ve not been afraid to depart from established convention. The EVO 4 and EVO 8 look nothing like any other audio interface I’ve ever seen, and present a refreshingly minimal and friendly user interface.Marketing director, Andy Allen explains Audient’s thinking: “We believe technology shouldn’t get in the way of the creative process; it should enhance it and be accessible to all, no matter what their skill-level or art-form and EVO is here to help make great-sounding recordings as easy and effortless as possible.
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