GEAR REVIEW
SOYUZ LAUNCHER (IN-LINE MIC PREAMP) | Mitch Bohannon
KEY FEATURES
some recording at home and I have one decent It’s been a few days now and I’ve just finished
mic, but I have a few basic dynamic mics that I testing the Launcher with a guitar track and a
• Proprietary circuit with custom
transformer really wrestle with to make effective. Most of the vocal track both mic’d with an SM57 through
time when I record with a dynamic microphone a Presonus AudioBox and into Ableton Live. I
• 26dB of gain into Ableton Live or Studio One, I am having to ran the test straight, without the Launcher…
• Super portable boost the signal gain on my interface as well as and to get a workable volume, I turned the
boosting the gain on my channel strip just to AudioBox gain to about 9.5 and then boosted
get a useable track. All this gain boosting is at that signal in Ableton Live 3.3 dB. You’ll see
the risk of distortion and a loss of clarity. and hear it when you check out the video.
• Huge sound
• Hand-wound transformer
The guitar sounded pretty good direct through
Do you use dynamic microphones? Do you When I opened the box for the Soyuz Launcher, the mic, but when I added the Launcher to
record at home or in a studio? Do you perform I was surprised at how substantial it felt. It the signal (before the AudioBox), the sound
live? Do you shoot video with secondary audio? weighs in at almost a full (0.9) pound! I got it was incredible! The specs on the Launcher
Any of these situations would be a great place set up and did a channel check with a cheap list the boost to be about 28dB… The boost
to have the new Soyuz Launcher in your audio dynamic microphone to get a level and then I experienced had to be at least 28dB. After
signal path. added the Launcher and recorded the same editing the video, I realized that I actually could
check. The photo (photo 1) shows a visual have reduced the gain on the AudioBox after I
I noticed the Launcher on my Instagram of the level difference. There is power and added the Launcher (which I did on the vocal
feed in November and it caught my attention presence that had been non-existent with part of the test) because the signal peaked a
as it looked like a simple preamp that would the same mic! There is simply no comparison few times with a little distortion audible.
improve the sound of my microphones. I do between the before and after tracks!
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January 2020
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