You know Centrance. Though they’ve developed a host of products for musicians and audio production folks, most voice actors recognize them as people who developed the MicPortPro…the wildly popular device that translates your XLR mic into a USB output. After their lead into this realm, other names followed suit (for example, the Shure X2u), but the MicPortPro remains the standard.
Michael Goodman
But now, Centrance is entering a field where many others already have a toehold: recording on tablets and smartphones. Digital media aficionados everywhere recognize this shift to smaller. The tech world is moving lock, stock ‘n’ barrel to greater ease of use on the smaller devices that people take with them everywhere (and expect them to do everything).
Thus, the MixerFace by Centrance is about to debut. The Managing Director and Chief Product Achitect of Centrance — Michael Goodman — is in Las Vegas for CES (isn’t everybody?), and answered some quick questions for me which you can read immediately below, and I’m also re-printing the Centrance News Release.
The important thing, here is that Centrance is — according to Goodman, “…spreading the word about the crowd funding campaign on indiegogo, which is the way for us to build the product ASAP and being it to market faster…”
(click to enlarge this photo of the back panel of MixerFace)
I also asked M. Goodman where and when the product would be available in retail.CEntrance Releases New MixerFace Product at Indiegogo
Chicago, IL – January 6th, 2013 – Today CEntrance, a leader in Digital Audio, announced a crowd-funding effort to speed up the production ofMixerFace(tm), its new mobile recording interface. MixerFace connects professional microphones with smartphones, tablets and laptops. The small, battery-powered mobile device includes two studio-grade microphone preamps and rich digital connectivity options, enabling professional-quality recording on the go.
The new product comes on the heels of CEntrance’s successful “HiFi-M8” (pronounced HiFi-Mate) portable DAC and headphone amp for the audiophile listening community. MixerFace integrates the smart phone into the audio production workflow, creating mobile recording capability for the modern, on-the-go musician, broadcaster and VO artist. The Indiegogo campaign starts January 6th, 2013 and can be found at:http://igg.me/at/mixerface
Michael Goodman, Managing Director of CEntrance, stated, “Getting the latest gear first has its advantages, so we decided to crowd-fund MixerFace to speed up the product introduction. This parallels our recent crowd-sourced efforts with the HiFi-M8, but takes that a step further by opening the process up to the general public.” “MixerFace shares battery-powered technology with the HiFi-M8 and leverages our experience with small recording devices such as our popular MicPort Pro,” adds Goodman. “Today’s smart phones and tablets have become serious music production tools, and with Mixerface we are adding a professional, mobile audio capture solution.”
MixerFace offers two Neutrik(tm) combo jack inputs with boutique low-noise microphone preamps, independent gain controls with LED level monitoring, switchable 48V phantom power, sophisticated monitoring options, a headphone amp and 24-bit/192kHz converters. Mixerface offers the choice of connecting to a laptop or to a smart phone / tablet for recording or playback. The attractive, handheld, battery-powered device is made from tough, road-worthy extruded aluminum and works for over 6 hours on a single charge.
MixerFace is set for release in April 2014 and will be priced at $599-US, while Indiegogo contributors can save a significant amount and be the first to receive the new product well in advance of stores. For more Mixerface product information, visit http://www.mixerface.com
About CEntrance, Inc. Founded in 2000, CEntrance develops innovative audio products and licenses its technology to industry leading brands, such as McIntosh, Playback Designs, Bel Canto, Benchmark, PS Audio, and Lavry. The company’s portable recording and playback solutions have earned rave reviews, industry awards and enthusiastic endorsements from artists such as Harry Shearer, Nathan East and Will Lee, and mastering engineers Bob Katz, Brian Gardner, Tom Jung and sound designer Frank Serafine, among others. CEntrance is headquartered in Chicago and distributes its products worldwide.
CEntrance is expanding its dealer network. To inquire, please call +1 (847) 581-0500 or e-mail [email protected].
All Trademarks are the property of their respective holders. MicPort(tm), AxePort(tm), DACport(tm), DACmini(tm), MasterClass(tm), Audiophile Desktop(tm), HiFi-M8(tm) and MixerFace(tm) are trademarks or registered trademarks of CEntrance, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Apple iPhone(r), iPad(r), and iPod(r) are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc.
