NAMM: Behringer Ships Ultra-Voice Digital

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BEHRINGER ships their all-new ULTRA-VOICE DIGITAL VX2496 (US $199.99 MSRP) signal preamp and voice processor. The unit was designed to meet the demanding requirements of engineers and musicians working primarily in the digital domain. Based on the VX2000, the VX2496 is fully 24-bit/96 kHz compatible and features an additional AES/EBU output on top of the numerous voice processing functions of the original model.

The VX2496 houses a discrete ULN mic/line input stage with soft mute +48 V phantom power. Its AES/EBU output with selectable 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96 kHz sampling rates or external clocking ensures perfect digital compatibility. A true RMS expander for smooth noise reduction and an tube-emulation circuitry for typical tube and tape saturation sounds are included. In addition, an opto compressor with integrated dynamic enhancer ensures effective, musical compression, while the voice-optimized equalizer offers 3 specially selected bands of equalization, one of them sweepable. The opto de-esser guarantees quick removal of excessive sibilance from vocal tracks. Last but not least, the shielded toroidal power transformer of the VX2496 provides excellent transient response and minimal noise interference.