Recording - June 2017 - 21

Going back out to the real world, Goliath has its own dedicated
mastering-grade monitor outputs, complete with mono switching
and built-in talkback. As mentioned before, the dual headphone
outs can each accept their own custom mixes.

Drivers and hookup

I was sent a Goliath a few months back and have been
using it both as a remote recording device and as the central
audio hub of my studio. My first happy report is that I need
to give mad props to Antelope for the Goliath drivers. If you
were to read some of my reviews of earlier Antelope units,
you will know that their drivers have been a tad fussy in the
past, an experience mentioned in online forums as well. This
time around, I experienced zero issues with downloading and
installing the drivers, updating the unit's firmware, and hooking
the unit up for use on both my El Capitan-equipped studio
iMac and my Sierra-equipped 2013 MacBook Pro. This was
my most plug-and-play Antelope experience to date, with zero
tech support calls or teething pains!
Hookup in my studio was aided by the fact that I use a DB25 Audiolot Mixbay patchbay. I had the units installed and
was routing current work mixes out of my DAW through the
unit, both to external effects as well as Goliath's own effects,
in less than 30 minutes.
To be fair, as with any new matrix/software mixer, there
is a comfort/learning curve. You should give yourself some
time and watch a few of Antelope's excellent tutorial videos
on the subject. I mention this because my 30-minute hookup
time doesn't account for the fact that this is my fifth Antelope
review involving matrix routing and my third with the new
mixer architecture!

In use

If you remember back to my original Orion32 review, when
I took the unit to the Chicago Recording Company studios,
there was concern over the unit's practicality in a live or studio
situation without the ability to have instant physical control
over the preamp levels. This problem is gone on the Goliath;
you have complete and instant control over every analog input
with dedicated controls for each.
Goliath's preamps offer 10-65 dB of gain with a THD+N
of -108 dB. What I like most is that they are not your usual
"straight wire with gain" preamps that are usually favored in allin-one interface units. Instead, these are more of a classic clean
console-style preamp with a nice solid weight and rotund signature.
Not overly colored or vintage, but not clinical or boring.

Tracking through the unit was a breeze. Like the Zen Tour,
Goliath offers great low latency and the added bonus of monitoring
through reverb and effects with no glitches or audible delay.
I do a lot of reamping and again, just as was my experience
with the Zen Tour, it's great to not need external boxes. Lately
I have also been doing a fair amount of pedal reamping,
so having the reamplification outs right next to the instrument
inputs was very convenient.
I found the built-in talkback and separate headphone mixes
were very handy when doing some remote guitar overdubs.
Be warned, though: the button click of the talkback mic is
very, very loud.
Beyond the preamps, sonically the Goliath contains Antelope's
well-known conversion. It's a sound I would call clean and
honest, but the more I use Antelope products, the more I start
to call the conversion sweet and almost glass-like. It's not a
harsh-reality conversion, nor is it weighted or colored. If you
want a slice of analog flavor, that option exists by using the
microphone preamps, or via some of the onboard plug-ins.
Speaking of onboard effects, Antelope is really hitting its
stride. The FPGA modeling engine comes with over 30 unique
vintage equalizer emulations, many of which I wish existed on
their own, such as the BAE-licensed 1073 style EQ or the rare
Neumann, SSL, Lang, Studer, and Pultec models. So far there
is only one flavorful vintage compressor: a mono-only 1176-style
limiter. Antelope reports that five new compressors will be out
soon, including a vintage 176 model that I can't wait to try.

Conclusions

I keep trying to think of things I don't like about Goliath,
and I just cannot think of any. Following on my praise of the
form factor and functions of the previous Zen Tour, I really think
Antelope has crafted a great beast of an interface in Goliath.
The one very sobering reality, of course, is that this unit does
come with a hefty price. Looking at the bottom line, though,
Antelope now has a piece that sits comfortably in the high-end
studio interface/converter realm, one that offers more features
and options built in than I have seen or used thus far.
So yes, the price is steep, but if you add up 16 channels of
clean console style mic preamplification, 36 x 32 channels of
pro level A/D and D/A conversion, and then add in a pair of
re-amping boxes, a digital console, and a bunch of realtime
FPGA vintage modeled effects, I am sure that even if you pick
modest versions of all of the above, you'll probably surpass
its price and lose its seamless integration in the process. Yes,
this unit impresses!

PRICE: $4995
MORE FROM: Antelope Audio,
www.antelopeaudio.com

RECORDING June 2017

http://www.antelopeaudio.com

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