By Blades on Friday, 23 April 2021
Category: DAWs - Cakewalk by Bandlab and Studio One

Console 1 - American Class A (API) Channel Strip

I got a demo of the American Class A emulation for Console 1 and created a Review of it across a bunch of individual drum tracks and the drum bus. 

I love the Console 1 workflow in my DAW, specifically Studio One.  The integration of the Console 1 is really complete in Studio One and the various emulations each have their own flavor and sound color.  The American Class A aims to create the sound of the classic API modular components in the Console 1 workflow.  I got a chance to demo this emulation across a bunch of drum tracks and on the drum bus, showing the differences that it can make as a channel strip on all of those drums.

What stands out about this emulation to me is the amount of Flavor it has.  It adds a certain punchy sound to these drum tracks, makes them warm and "plump" and allows the transients through.  The compressor in my demo is the "smooth" (not punchy) one but still makes the drums pop.  In a mix, I'm sure I'd probably mix these a bit differently, but the drums tracks alone sounds really thick and punchy with this emulation.

I have a tendency to prefer the British Class A emulation, but now that I've heard the American Class A, I really hope that it will go on sale so that I can buy it and do a more complete comparison between these two on the same drum tracks - though maybe I'll get around to this before the demo times out for me next week.

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