Each band, as well as the final output, has dedicated bypass and mute buttons, and both the input and output have variable level controls. The 1976 sports balanced stereo XLR I/O as well as a clear, stereo LED VU meter for keeping an eye on your channel levels. This unit includes an AC power cord and a linear, toroidal, internal power supply with user-selectable voltage for global compatibility.
Today in the digital age, these characteristics no longer occur naturally, giving an overly clean, sterile quality to the audio, and requiring saturation plug-ins to be used to emulate those harmonics which are not present. The 1976 allows you to add this character in a completely analog, natural way, and it's use is not only limited to digital recordings, as it'll add presence, warmth, and life to any audio regardless of how it's recorded, whether its drums, vocals, synths, and more, in digital or analog.
This is followed by three identical Low, Mid, and High saturation and width bands, flowing left to right, with the variable crossover frequency knobs separating them. To the right, are the Output controls to optimize the output level.
- Percussion: drums are one of the best sounds in which to use saturation. It can be used to glue the whole drum bus together, injecting some punch and excitement, giving them depth and life, and adding harmonics that are pleasing to the ear, while taming rogue transients and high end harshness using natural compression.
- Basslines: if your bassline sounds a little flat and lifeless, it will really benefit from adding some saturation. This will bring out the grit, dirty the sound, and fatten it out.
- Synths: synths tend to sound too digital and clinical. Saturation will bring them to life, making them sound warmer, more natural, and closer to the analog sound that they emulate. It'll inject harmonics and grit, and make the synths stand out more in the mix.
- Vocals: saturation is one of the secrets to great sounding vocals. Your vocal recordings may sound good, but saturation will make them sing (pun intended). It will make any vocal sound fuller, especially thin and dull voices, and will warm and tame harsh sounding vocals by subtly softening sibilance.
- Mix: for all of it's pros, digital recording has a major drawback, and that's its overly harsh, overly clean natural sound. Saturation can be the key here. It will add harmonic distortion to inject life and warmth into the mix, and help your digital mixes sound more like those from the analog recording era.