Recording - January 2014 - 57

end of a recording. You can scrub tracks back and forth by rocking the virtual tape reels,
tap to locate anywhere in a song, and upload a finished track to SoundCloud with a single click. It's a simple and straightforward solution for stereo audio capture on any iPad; if
you're an iPhone user and/or already have an app of choice for audio recording, though,
the iTrack Solo is instantly recognized and should play well with any Core Audio compliant
app. My tests on GarageBand and RØDE Rec were flawless.
Sure, I'd like to see MIDI ports and iOS device charging, but those are minor omissions. As an audio interface that covers the basics beautifully, the iTrack Solo is a solid
little box that will still be useful as a rugged and portable audio solution even when
your beginner studio has grown to include a larger interface, and the tools available
in iTrack Studio will help even the most helpless beginner get up and recording in a
matter of minutes. Thumbs up!-MM

Sonoma Wire Works GuitarJack 2 USB
$199 ($129 street);
www.sonomawireworks.com

using it you realize that it's all pro under
the hood". The preamp had plenty of gain
and a nice clear open sound; the instrument input accurately captured the electric
guitars I tried with it, including my occasionally finicky Schecter A-5X; and the
Monitor section got good and loud without
noticeable background hiss until it was
cranked to ear-bursting levels. A beginner
who wants to hear good quality audio will
not be disappointed by what this interface
records or what it plays back. Note that
the iTrack Solo is a 24-bit interface; it supports 44.1 and 48 kHz sample rates on
iOS and up to 96 kHz sample rates on
Mac and Windows machines.
Recognizing that while a simple-to-use
interface with good audio specs is perhaps the most important part of a digital
recording rig, it's not the whole story,
Focusrite also sells a bundle called the
iTrack Studio. This package comes with
the iTrack Solo interface, a largediaphragm cardioid condenser mic called
the CM25S (with mic stand adapter and
3-meter cable), and a pair of closed-back
headphones called the HP60S. These are
good beginner-level additions to get you
started right away, with sufficient audio
quality that you won't mind having them
handy in your studio even after you
upgrade to a fancier set of phones or start
to add other mics to your collection.
The last piece of the puzzle for iOS users
is an iPad app called Tape. Focusrite makes
this simple stereo audio recorder available
for free, and it works with any Core Audio
compliant 2-channel interface. It's very simple, offering dual input meters, a button to
either record the inputs to L and R or blended in stereo, a waveform display, a
metronome, and two preset amounts of
compression that can be applied to a track
after it's been recorded. A Trim feature lets
you cut off silence or noise at the start and

Sonoma Wire Works offers a variety
of guitarist-friendly hardware and software that's been reviewed a number of
times in our pages; the company's latest audio interface is the GuitarJack 2
USB, a device-agnostic version of the
popular GuitarJack 2 (reviewed March
2012). In the process of making the
GuitarJack friendlier to non-iOS
devices, a couple of basic issues with
the original model have been neatly
solved, and it was a real treat to play
with the newest version.
The GuitarJack 2 USB is perhaps
the smallest 2-in/2-out USB audio
interface in the world, and certainly
the smallest that offers both 24-bit audio resolution and a Hi-Z guitar input with a shredder-friendly 470 kilohm input impedance (necessary to get the best possible tone from
most guitar pickups). It features the same solid aluminum casing and I/O complement
as the GuitarJack 2; in addition to the 1/4" TS Hi-Z input, there are two TRS minijacks,
one line-level stereo input and one stereo output for headphones (or to split into dual
mono signals to send to one or more guitar amps).
Externally, the main differences are in the case finish-brushed nickel-plated aluminum vs. the GuitarJack 2's mirror polish-and in the connector to your computer, a
USB Micro-B jack rather than the GuitarJack 2's 30-pin iOS dock connector. A short
USB cable is provided for computer use, as well as a right-angle cable that ends in a
USB A jack; this latter cable lets you connect the interface to any iOS device using its
own included 30-pin or Lightning dock/charging cable. Very neat!
There are also changes in how the interface is seen by external devices. The original GuitarJack 2, a dedicated iOS device that's still available for sale, offers amenities
like an in-app control panel for setting signal levels and the like, as well as the ability
to unlock presets in Sonoma's GuitarTone, FourTrack, and StudioTrack apps. In contrast, the GuitarJack 2 USB lacks its sibling's iOS-centric features but is a class-compliant USB audio device that can talk to any iOS, Mac OS X 10.7+, or Windows
XP/7/8 computer. The interface comes with a coupon for a free download of
Sonoma's Riffworks 3 guitar recording software for Windows and Mac.
When a guitar is plugged into the 1/4" input, the impedance is set high and the
stereo minijack input is disabled; otherwise the interface defaults to stereo mic/line in
and stereo out. There's no phantom power, but Sonoma Wire Works provides on its
website a list of battery-powered condenser mics that work well with the GuitarJack 2
USB, including mono and stereo models by AKG, RØDE, and Sony. Naturally any
dynamic mic will work with the interface, as long as you have the proper adapter
cable for it; you'll have to experiment with your computer/iOS device and mic to see
if the unit's 58 dB of gain will be enough for a clear, non-noisy signal.
As a guitar input/output interface using an iOS device as the "brains" (e.g. for guitar effects processing) or simply for guitar recording, the GuitarJack 2 USB has the
same killer audio quality and tone as the original; if you're serious about getting great
sound from your guitar to your iOS device or laptop and hearing it back out again,
these interfaces have few peers. With the proliferation of other higher-quality iOS interfaces out there, the cost of the GuitarJack 2 USB is no longer nearly as offputting as it
was in the era of cheap, rotten-sounding guitar interfaces that relied on the TRRS
mic/headphone jack. What a difference a year or two can make!
RECORDING January 2014

http://www.sonomawireworks.com

Recording - January 2014

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