Quite often, when we hear some “has-been” singer talk about their current career, they mention the fact that they've opened up their own recording studio and we immediately imagine some big room full of specialized equipment, microphones, audio processing devices and so on. The truth of the matter is that all one needs these days in order to carry out audio recordings is a computer and the subject of our article, the Alesis USB Recording Kit.

As the name says it, Alesis' product is a kit, which means that it is formed of several different components, all of which play their specific roles. The first (and most important) are the two AM2 microphones (low profile, miniature cardioid condensers with switchable pad and high-pass filter), which capture everything the user has to say and offer a very good level of detail.

Next in line comes the iO|2 digital-audio interface, which sports two XLR-1/4” combo inputs with TRS inserts that are mic/line-level switchable and provide 48V phantom power for condenser microphones. The device also sports XLR-1/4” combo and stereo headphone outputs, plus a USB interface for connecting to a computer.

The Alesis USB Recording Kit also contains the M1Active 320 USB studio monitor speakers, which come equipped with an one-inch silk dome tweeter and three-inch lightweight woofer and are magnetically shielded so that they can be easily placed in the close vicinity of computer monitors, TVs and HDDs.

The last piece of the puzzle is the computer itself, or, better said, the Steinberg Cubase LE 4 software installed on the respective computing system, which takes care of all the processing requirements.

The Alesis USB Recording Kit is actually quite affordable, since it can be purchased from various online retailers for around 260 US dollars, which is not even that high a price, given its level of functionality.

 
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