Audio specialist KMR Audio is to handle Endless Audio’s Clasp (Closed Loop Analog Signal Processor) in the UK.
Clasp has previously been shown at exclusive studio demonstrations in the UK by inventor Chris Estes, including a high-profile London studio where Fast-and-Wide was able to sit in and report.
The system will now be on demonstration from mid February in the listening room at KMR’s London headquarters, and Estes will return in the UK during March demonstrating to interested studios in situ. If you are interested in having a bespoke demonstration at your studio, please contact KMR. Sessions will be limited, and booked on a first-come, first-served basis.
‘When tape-based recording was largely replaced by DAWs, it left a sonic void that plug-ins have not been able to fill, hence the trend for returning to analogue tape for some parts of the recording process,’ says KMR Sales Manager Stefan Pope. ‘Clasp is tape at digital speed. It routes all audio to tape then lines it up with sample accuracy in the DAW in real time. All the functionality of the DAW remains, but your computer will sound like your tape machine. You’ll spend more time recording, and no time waiting for transfers, Lynx boxes or SMPTE. Even better, tape costs are low. A single reel can last up to 10,000 hours.’
The DAW controls the tape machine, without having to touch it once tape is loaded. Features like playlists and quick punch are not compromised and, perhaps best of all, Clasp delivers what is technically impossible with a DAW alone: zero latency, real time analogue monitoring. A noticeable improvement for singers and better for the overall feel.
‘Clasp is probably the most exciting thing to happen to the recording industry for ten years. It means that the analogue tape sound we all love is now available to everyone without sacrificing time or flexibility.’
The system is presently being used by a diverse range of artists, engineers, producers and facilities in the US, including Lenny Kravitz (at his new Bahamas-based Gregory Town Sound recording facility); Michael W. Smith; Denis Savage, engineer for Celine Dion; producers Nathan Chapman, Dave Cobb, Chuck Ainlay, John Fields and Tom ‘T-Bone’ Edmunds; and studio facilities such as Florida’s Cleartrack Productions, California’s Hemispheres Recording and Austria’s Prime Studios.
