Day: December 18, 2019

The editorial team crowned it amongst the very best gear of 2019

Sound on Sound has been getting very excited over iLoud MTM, courtesy of expert reviewer Phil Ward, who has a long and impressive pedigree in speaker design, manufacture and installations – in short, a man who knows what he is talking about!

Here are some of this key comments from his 6-page meticulous review:

“Though compact and affordable, IK’s newest monitors manage to cram in a remarkable amount of tech – and the results speak for themselves.”

“The iLoud MTM’s built-in room correction is a first for an entry-level nearfield monitor.”

“In contrast to some of the distressingly heavy monitors that have recently passed though my studio room, the iLoud MTMs are refreshingly light at just 2.5kg each.”

“It seems to me that employing the D’Appolito format on a desktop monitor is a smart idea.”

“So how do the sum of the iLoud MTM parts add up? As it happens, they add up extremely well- especially given the genuinely entry-level price.”

“The iLoud MTM presents itself from the start as a very capable monitor.”

Phil’s final verdict was:

“I don’t really have any criticisms of the iLoud MTM, especially at the price. it constitutes a really clever application of electro-acoustic technology and genuinely offers something new and worthwhile. IK Multimedia should feel immensely proud of the iLoud MTM. It’s unique, it’s affordable, it does exactly what it sets out to do, and it does it brilliantly.”

PROS
Compact and inexpensive
Well thought-out design
Great electro-acoustic performance and subjective sound quality
Integrated acoustic room correction makes it uniquely capable

CONS
NONE

SUMMARY

“The only ultra-compact D’Appolito monitor that also includes onboard room correction turns out to be everything that it promises. A unique and genuinely great little monitor that ought to work well for all sorts of users.”

Read the full review on Sound on Sound
Learn more about iLoud MTM

+++ STOP PRESS+++
Every year Sound on Sound’s editorial team choose the best of the best gear from the entire year. Sound on Sound were so impressed with iLoud MTM that it is featured in their annual ‘Gear of the Year‘ round-up for 2019:

“Aimed at advancing real-world monitoring performance at a genuine entry-level price. It’s a great success.”

Read the full Sound on Sound Gear of the Year 2019 round-up

IK talks with DMX Krew about life, the UNO series, and more.

IK recently worked with legendary underground artist, DMX Krew, to create new tracks and a new sound library using UNO Drum!  With over 15 albums and a 25-year music career under his belt, we were excited to see how DMX would add his own flair on our analog drum and synth hardware. His latest albums, “Libertine 12” and “Glad to be Sad” both released this year, pushing the boundaries of the sound he’s been releasing since 1994.

DMX Krew began creating music at the age of 7, making up tunes on his family’s organ and translating them into harmonies and melodies.  Through this experience he was introduced to music hardware, first owning a Casio VL-1.  Mainly a hardware-based musician, DMX Krew has owned many cool pieces of gear, and even made his own drum machine, commenting on the experience saying:

“It took me a year to make my machine and I had to start from knowing nothing at all. I learned about basic electronics, soldering, programming and also weird stuff like making mechanical keyboards & metal cases.”

We were excited to put our UNO series to the test with such an experienced, expressive artist. After creating a brand new sound library with UNO Drum and two tracks with UNO Synth and UNO Drum, we caught up with him to talk a little bit about the experience.  

“I just got some samples that I use a lot and tried to make them small in size and punchy sounding, using the EQ in Ableton and Bias Peak. The thing I kept in mind was that the sounds had to sound good all coming out of the one output from the drum machine, so they needed to be ready-EQ-d in a sense.”

“I just play notes on the keys and twiddle the knobs until I hear something I like. The funk one has a lot of overdubs, I had to make the chords by overdubbing single notes for example, but that allowed me to pan each note in the chord across the stereo field which is a nice effect you can’t do on a polysynth. The acid one is just a live jam with an overdub of a second synth part.”

To conclude, we wrapped up by asking him to describe both UNO Synth and UNO Drum in 5 words. He responded,

UNO Synth:

Analogue synth, quite 70s sounding.

UNO Drum:

Punchy analogue drums, techno feeling.

Listen to the songs created by DMX Krew here with UNO Synth and UNO Drum here.

Ending with a word of advice, DMX Krew encourages all artists to practice a lot and create with a goal of expressing themselves truly.  He says that it doesn’t matter whether it’s a piano, or a guitar, or a computer, or a voice – all that matters is the will of the artist.

The brand new sound library from DMX Krew for UNO Drum is available for download in your User Area now! Click here to access your User Area.

Learn more about UNO Drum here.

Learn more about UNO Synth here.

Check out more from DMX Krew here.