TC Electronic M-350 Reverb and Effects Processor for Stage and Studio

Buy this one....I have owned similar rack effects from Alesis, Lexicon and Behringer. The Alesis Midiverb 4 sounds gorgeous and wins for convenience with its automatic I/O levels feature, but don't bump it or dysfunction could greet you quickly due to its less than solid build quality. The Lexicon unit was always in overdrive and otherwise impossible to set gains to within acceptable levels in either a guitar rack configuration or studio mix/mastering setup...it sounded thin and uninviting otherwise. I gave up and shoved it into electronics recycling. The new Behringer lasted two hours during which time I didn't hear anything happening at all, yep, no signal processing period.(a cool looking 3D-FX2000 supersonic-wiz-bang), (I also have a Behringer DEQ9624 which is awesome but the first one was also DOA...GGRRRROWL). The sub $300 price point offers toys almost like the real thing yet not capable of real results in many cases. I own much higher priced units from all of the manufactures mentioned and by comparison they are all pro and all work.($300-$1200 range) Currently, Behringer quality control is cause for trepidation. (Finger crossed). I also use RME-AUDIO sound cards permanently and no motherboard sound features at all. I have used a TC Electronics Finalizer Express for years, because it always works and sounds incredible every time. I spent less than 15 minutes setting up this TC Electronics M-350 using the AES XLR digital I/O. I then sent some track material through it. WHAT! EYES BUGGING OUT... OMG, Even set to defaults it resolved issues on tracks I have tried all conceivable methods to fix previously including using multi hundred dollar plug-ins. The build quality is solid offering precise controls. Turn any knob and you can actually hear an audible result across the full spectrum pro-studio audio capability. The complete compliment of robust pro-audio algorithms sound great and all work. The control logic is simple and includes a downloadable front-end application which can be used on your DAW to control parameters via MIDI. HURRAY AGAIN! ( Water-cooled and rack mounted, Gigabyte 990FX UD-3 w/Gigabyte Ultra-durable Radeon 256 bit GPU, a smokin fast and wide AMD FX 8150 Zambezi 8-Core, workhorse Crucial SSD's and WD Black-Edition storage, 16 Gigabytes Crucial Tactical Tracer 1600 RAM, Arctic Cooling PWM fans, Kingwin Striker Platinum fanless Power Supply, currently processing Windows 8 hosted multi-tracking Reaper and ADOBE Graphics A/V software's. Eats blue logo based systems for breakfast.) I proceeded to start programming some user presets by using my favorite VST plug-in settings as reference templates and voila, things that started as cool ideas on the desktop but suffered from VST plug-in limits suddenly came to life without the geek factor or DAW digital-true grit drama. For the price I am thrilled with the results so much that I have remastered 5 CD projects (about 70 tracks) over so far just to become familiar with the M-350. (Electronica, HipHop, Progressive Jazz, Rock, Metal, Acoustic Guitar, Female Vocals) What I am enjoying is far less toil to produce warm and exciting masters characterized by great-sounding stage presence with great instrument localization and projection encapsulated in well controlled musical sounding digital audio masters,...TC Electronics Forever!!! (Marching sounds). I am suddenly so happy:-)

Who IS this guy, and why does he care about the M350? I've been a semi-professional live musician for many years, mostly low-key, "house of worship" stuff, but there was also a time when I actually toured the US and Canada as a rhythm guitar player with a contemporary Christian music group. I've never fussed much with big banks of guitar or vocal effects, because the kind of music I do generally doesn't require them. However, in more recent years, I find myself doing a bit more live PA work, both for myself and for other musicians/singers, so my interest in these accessories has increased. What I started looking for in particular was a very simple, rackmount effects processor that would just allow me to do a bit more by way of "warming up" live vocals, e.g., reverb, delay and compression. Studio vs. Stage With the explosion of digital recording and "post-production" processing of every kind of media imaginable, something of a split has occurred in the huge variety of audio signal processors available in the market, e.g., between platforms designed for highly controlled, computerized studio and "post-production" work, and platforms designed for "real time" stage and live performance. The TC Electronics M350 can be used in either setting, but its rackmount format and system of external knobs and buttons for control of all its functions is really ideal for "dinosaurs" like me, who don't want to have to haul a laptop computer around just to add a reverb and effects loop to a few channels on their mixer in a live setting. This review is written for all you live stage techs and analog dinosaurs out there who are looking for the same thing, and don't want to negotiate an animated replica of a control panel on a computer screen, or a baffling array of "soft-keys" and LCD/plasma menus whenever you want to change effects or kick the gain up a notch. I'm here to tell ya, the TC Electronic M350 fits that bill. What the heck does "dual engine" mean? The M350 is a true "dual engine" device. That means it has two distinct signal processors combined in one unit. One of these processors is dedicated to "effects" and the other one is dedicated to "reverb." That also means that when the M350 is hooked up to the right kind of mixer (e.g., one that has at least two separate "aux" inputs/sends available to dedicate to "efx"), the amount of "effects" and "reverb" you're applying to any particular sound source can be separately controlled at the mixer. The nature, sound and character of the signal processing itself still has to be selected and controlled from the face of the M350. For those of you that don't have such a mixer, or only one aux send available for "efx," you can still access both "engines" in the M350 by setting it up in serial or parallel mode, running both effects through a single aux send/return, and controlling the balance between, and amount of signal processing by each of the individual "engines" from the face of the M350. The effects "engine" On the effects side, the M350 provides a total of 15 distinct effects, with potential applications to both instruments and vocals, including several unique delays, chorus, phaser, flange, compression and de-essing. Each of these individual effects can be modified to suit individual tastes, assigned a number between 1 and 99, saved in the M350's memory as a user preset, and then later recalled on demand. Don't be intimidated by all the jargon, however. This thing couldn't be any easier to use. Getting any one effect up and running is as simple as turning the selector knob to the effect you want to hear, and putting the adjustment knobs at 12 o'clock. At this setting, you'll hear the "default" effect, or what the factory guys consider a basic example of the effect you selected. You can then use the adjustment knobs to tinker with this sound if you wish, or if you think the "default" sound is fine, just leave it alone and enjoy. The functions of the adjustment knobs automatically vary, depending on the effect you've selected. There's even a "tap" button on the face of the M350 that allows you to synchronize the timing of your chosen delay with your "real time" playback. Nice touch. The only problem I noted with the multiple effects provided with the M350 is the fact that you can't combine any of them. You may select and use only one effect at a time. That's not surprising for an "entry level" effects processor like the M350, but it's kind of sad, since many of these are effects you might like to combine, like continuous compression and de-essing on a vocal track/channel, or continuous delay and chorus on a keyboard or guitar. In this particular configuration, however, the only way to combine effects in "real time" is to have multiple M350's in your effects loop. I took off one rating "star" for this limitation, but I admit it could just fall into the "you get what you pay for" category, and not necessarily be a legitimate basis for complaint. The reverb engine. The "reverb" side of the M350 operates in the same way as the "effects" side, but the reverbs are really what this gizmo is all about ... a total of 15 "canned" reverb formats, easy to select, use and modify. Check out the detail of the M350's faceplate on the TC Electronic website, if you'd like to see the manufacturer's descriptions of its individual reverb or effects settings. I've tried most of the "default" reverbs through a typical PA/mixer set up, and I thought they were great ... quiet, clean and polished. If you're like me, and just want the ability to quickly and simply put a touch of quiet, quality reverb into any channel on your mixer, you WILL be happy with this product. The M350 and MIDI While you can only access one distinct effect or reverb at a time in either of the two processing engines found on the M350, the device is MIDI-compatible, and can receive/send signal in either digital or analog format, so I assume that anyone who wants to incorporate the M350 into some kind of computerized sequencing system can alternate effects and settings in a single playback through a series of MIDI commands, with the same limitation, however. MIDI may allow you to jump from effect to effect, or from reverb to reverb in a single playback track, but you'll still only get one effect/reverb at a time out of the M350. Using MIDI to control a device like the M350 is far too complex a subject to talk about in any detail here ... it's just good to know you can do it if that's your thing. The bottom line. The M350 lists at $249, but most of the major music retailers I looked at offer it at $200, which I consider a decent value. If that's a bit rich for your blood, you can probably find a used one for a little less on E-bay, and most of those will be indistinguishable from a new unit, as there really isn't much that can be damaged or fail on a unit that's been properly used in a typical rackmount application. The M350 is solidly constructed, lightweight, provides an effects loop that's silent as a grave, easy to use, looks really cool in your rack, and its connection options, effects and reverbs are all great. Most amateur/casual users will never need much more than what this thing has to offer, and even pros will find it useful for limited applications ... like monitor feeds for those insecure prima donnas who just can't seem to drag themselves on stage without a little "post-EQ" delay and reverb added to their voice ... For me, this gizmo fit the bill in every respect, and if your goals/needs are similar to mine, I think you'll be satisfied with the M350 too.

This isn't the most expensive reverb/effects unit you can buy, but it certainly does the job it's supposed to do. I have it set up so I can access the reverb and effects separately, but you can also configure it as a chain, so both effects and reverb are on the same channel all the time. The quality of both the effects and the reverb is good, and if you read the manual (recommended), the control layout makes a lot of sense. I haven't begun to test the limits of its flexibility. By the way, bear in mind that you can make ANY reverb or effects device sound like crap if you use it poorly, whether it's the M350 or a high-end custom-configured studio rig. The M350 is a tool, not a magic wand, and it still depends upon the operator to make the best and most musical use of it. For my part, I'm really glad I got it, the price didn't gut my budget, and I'm getting high quality results from it in my recording work. That does the job for me.

Hooked this baby up, plugged in the signal chain, Beautiful! To not see or hear the quality on this, you gotta be deaf! I almost bought a second one, might buy one next time they go on sale. I got Pro sound out of this. I have a TCE M2000 that I bought in 96, use it every day. Love it, love it but it only has 20 bit converters that I overdrive. I have an M40 on my DAW. These are not kid stuff. I recorded for hours on this little box and it fits my needs perfectly. I still perfer to do my effects before I go into the puter. Call me old fashion but I'm getting the old fashion sound that we are just now beginning to get after twenty years of digital. Just another note, TC Electronic audio intertaces are GOLD. I bought an Impact Twin and it totally blew my mind. My mind is really hard to blow! I've been listening to my music 24/96 for about 5 years. These old boxes are Not bad! Most people who hear this are amazed but to hear every detail of my DAW, 32bit 96 or 192 is music heaven. If you can affort it, buy the high end TC boxes. No kidding this 160 dollar box is delivering for me. Most hundred dollar stuff is junk. I've got masters that are stunning! 12/13 Buy the Eventide boxes, they are light years ahead of anything else. I no longer use this box.

Lots of white noise hiss. I bought this mostly for the compressor. I have a dedicated dbx 160A compressor in my rack and I figured this would give me compression plus some effects. The first thing I tried was the compressor. Instantly there was a little bit of hiss. I thought I might be able to live with it but then I saw that the compressor wasn't doing anything at the default settings (both controls at 12). I couldn't trigger any gain reduction from it. So it adjusted the controls to trigger compression and the hiss was ridiculous. My band would ban me for having that much hiss in the loop. At least it compressed and seemed to be okay. Without the hiss it would have been an acceptable replacement for my dbx. But the hiss was a deal breaker. Still, before boxing it up for return I ran some A-B tests with effects versus some pedals I wanted to eliminate. I first tried the Chorus versus a Boss CEB-3 bass pedal. Yuck! My band would hate it if I swapped the pedal for this unit's lame attempt. Some were okay. Tremolo was good. And these didn't have hiss. Only the compressor. Oh, and BTW, compression is on the same knob as all of the reverb effects! I don't see how that's a reverb effect! Bottom line is that you get a compressor OR reverb effects. I play 5-string bass so I need it all the time and was hoping to get a few effects for occasional use. But this unit is useless if compression is what you need.

I bought this mainly for reverb and it does not disappoint. It has a very nice sounding reverb. The unit is easy to operate and it's easy to find different effects a person might want. I use mostly reverb but also a bit of echo. its nice you can split the two. I only run the reverb on my guitar and both mixed how I like on my vocals. All are subtle but effective and much better than without. A good purchase I am happy with.

No Power switch Firmware is updated by MIDI cable, not USB Most MIDI hubs are not compatible Control software was written for Windows XP !!!!! I can not get the Vyzor control software to work on Windows 10 (even after the kluge firmware update process) I can't provide a decent review without a decent way to control it! This is 2020, not 1995! A lot has changed in the last 25 years! REALLY DISAPPOINTED !!

I was looking for a simple effects processor for my church audiovisual system, and of the many I found out there, this unit seemed to fit the bill. It was easy to hook up, and there are more than enough factory presets and combinations to cover most needs. I especially appreciate the separate controls for the reverb effects and the delay effects. The 'live' acoustics in my church have adequate reverb, so I'm able to turn off the reverb effects channel on the unit and just utilize the delay effects channel as needed. Great product for the price!

Many people are familiar with the high end names and high end prices of effects processing units. This unit has dual send and dual return for stereo compatible devices. however, you can push one button on back to make it compatible with one send/return. two effects engines run in series. so that is two different effects possible at same time. reverbs are all one one knob. compression delay chorus flanger, others are on first knob. very quiet. hands on adjustability. don't have to scroll a menu. but you can program if desired. 10 out of 10. perfect for ninety nine percent of users. Thanks

使用感が少なく良かったです。梱包ですが、本体よりかなり大きい箱に入っていて面食らいました。

Very happy with my buy, pure quality