Scotts Valley, CA (September 17, 2024)—Universal Audio has long provided all the pieces for building a considerable home studio—software, plug-ins and more—but its near industry-standard Apollo line of interfaces are priced accordingly, and that means high enough to be out of consideration for users entering the recording realm or upgrading from a $69 close-out special. UA has filled in that gap today, however, with the announcement of its new Volt USB Recording Studios, a line of seven (!) interfaces that come bundled with plenty of software users need to get started.
Released today are the Volt 1, Volt 2, Volt 4, Volt 176, Volt 276, Volt 476, and 476P. The Volt 1 and 2 offer one and two pres in, respectively, while the Volt 4 is based around two pres in and two lines in and four lines out. The 76 models are around the same input-related numbering but also have onboard a built-in 76 compressor via an analog circuit based on UA’s 1176. The top-of-the-line Volt 476p offers a straight our pres in and four lines out. All the units sport 24-bit / 192 kHz audio conversion, 48V phantom power for condenser microphones, Direct Monitoring, MIDI connections and an included USB-C to A cable.
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Regardless of their connections, the many Volt interfaces all come with UA’s Luna DAW, a dozen UAS plug-ins and software instruments, and a variety of educational resources. The plug-ins include Teletronix LA-2A compressors, Pultec EQs, Oxide Tape Machine, PolyMAX synth, and the recently-released Verve Analog Machines Essentials, among others. Finally, Volt USB Recording Studio offers instructional content from UA as well as a trial subscription to PureMix Pro.
The Volt USB Recording Studios are priced at a variety of levels, with MAPs on the line listed as the Volt 1 running $149, Volt 2 at $199, and Volt 4 going for $259. For the 76 models, the Volt 176 is $199, the Volt 276 goes for $299, The Volt 476 lands at $369 and the Volt 476p closes it out at $469.
