The software functions as part of their Mix Rack package and allows you to audition the different microphone and preamp models, both in real time and, significantly, post recording. Included is a large-diaphragm capacitor microphone, a stand-alone hardware preamp, and the all-important modelling software, which is downloaded from the Slate Digital web site. The Slate VMS comes as a package of both hardware and software. Is the VMS a new frontier for pro audio, then? Or does it represent a step too far for today’s digital modelling technology? When you consider the fact that the whole system comes in at less than £ $1000, and that some of the microphones in question will set you back more than £ $10,000 each on the second-hand market, it is certainly not only an intriguing proposition but a bold one. The Slate Digital Virtual Microphone System claims to precisely model many of the classic large-diaphragm valve capacitor microphones, and some well-know preamps, of the last 70 years. Slate are also a manufacturer who aspire to innovate: they were one of the first plug-in companies to embrace an affordable pay-monthly system for their entire suite of plug-ins, and their Raven touchscreen DAW controllers offer a new way of working with our computer-based setups.
Look beyond the hype, however, and you’ll see that many people, including me, are regular and enthusiastic users of his ever-expanding range of mix processing tools. Slate Digital’s CEO Steven Slate has helped generate some of the hype, of course, and his highly personalised, ultra-confident marketing style has made him something of a polarising figure in the world of pro-audio. It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that the release of the Slate Digital Virtual Microphone System - or VMS for short - has created something of a stir in the industry. It has generally been considered extremely difficult, if not impossible, to truly model how different microphones respond to any given source, from any angle, in any space. Microphones, however, have been among the toughest nuts to crack. Even a studio’s live room can be recreated to some extent, thanks to increasingly advanced room-modelling software and convolution-based reverb.
Pretty much every classic compressor, EQ, analogue tape recorder or effects unit in the history of recorded music is now seemingly available to use in our DAWs with the minimum of fuss. Most hardware components of the traditional recording studio are now available in digitally modelled or ‘virtual’ plug-in software versions.
Can this unique combination of software and hardware really recreate the sound of some of the most revered microphones in the world? We put the VMS up against the originals to find out!
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