Product Reviews

The nio 2/4 audio interface from Novation is roughly the same shape and size as a guitar FX stomp box, so it's immediately clear what the target market is. It features one in jack and one XLR (with phantom power) for input, along with two RCA jacks for line in and four RCA jacks for output, making it a fairly standard two-in, four-out audio interface.

There's also Midi in and out, and two in headphone jacks with dedicated volume controls (audio quality being the typical 24bit/48KHz maximum). But it's the Direct FX technology and the effects it makes possible that really sets nio apart from the crowd. However, we did experience some initial frustration - we couldn't seem to route any signal output to our headphones no matter how we arranged the plethora of channel and monitor switches or the output and headphone volume knobs. The problem was eventually solved by that old chestnut - unplugging it and plugging it back in again. The nio then booted up without a murmur, while the feedback gremlins never troubled us again and the signal duly emerged from the headphones.

The temporary glitch made the nio seem more complicated than it is. In reality it's perfectly simple. Furthermore the manual contains numerous workthroughs for setting it up, covering the common uses for a nio, so the concepts are quickly grasped.

Of prime

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interest are the effects. The output signal is virtually latency free, as Novation has grafted its Direct FX technology directly into the Core Audio driver. A nice twist is that you can either simply monitor the effects, vibing off the sounds so your playing is suitably inspired, or you can print the performance with effects in real time to your sequencer: just hit the FX to S/W button at the bottom of the Rack.

The guitar effects are fun to play with and sound pretty good, although they're not the flexible equal of the likes of AmpliTube or Guitar Rig. Some sounds also seemed to end too abruptly, as the Smart Hum Killer (Novation's posh name for a gate) clamped down over-enthusiastically. That said, other presets (guit ultraviolet, for example) were addictively mesmeric, with the Supernova II delay bouncing around in our ears. As a musician you want your tools to inspire you - and the nio achieves this goal.

There are also other bass, synth and general FX to mix and match. These include the likes of filter, chorus, phaser, compression and reverb to load into the nio FX Rack software interface.

The upshot is that you can create custom chains of devices that can naturally be saved as presets.

A further benefit of the standalone nio FX Rack software is that you can use the nio as a practice amp - you don't have to launch a full sequencer just to host one track. But you can't use the nio FX Rack without the nio hardware attached.

Aside from the Direct FX Rack concept, the nio also ships with an excellent third-party software bundle, the Xcite+ Pack. This contains a broad spread of genuinely useful tools and toys.

It's fair to say that the world hardly needed another USB audio interface, but together with the bundled software, FX Rack concept, comprehensive monitoring features, crisp sound quality and overall fun factor, there is no question that Novation has raised the bar with nio 2/4.