Valve/tube technology has long been considered an elegant means of reproducing music. Until now, the large dimensions of the traditional 19-inch rack mount valve/tube pre amps have been a consideration, especially in the touring market where space is often at a premium. Not to say tubes sound better but they do colour the sound of a vocal or a particular instrument and make it sound different. Typically, sound engineers like to experiment, so they insert them into their systems to provide characteristics they can’t otherwise get from either analogue or digital mixing consoles. The new DiGiCo D-TuBe presents a unique alternative to this traditional technology by making it part of a digital console. This is true valve/tube-based technology, not a software emulation.

The D-TuBe was developed in conjunction with TL Audio and supplies no less than eight channels of tube pre amp. It has been designed to fit neatly into existing DiGiCo systems by simply replacing the last input module on a stage rack and moving the output module along one. This keeps the full complement of 56 inputs to the stage rack, with the last eight inputs now being TuBes.

As the D-TuBe is able to slot into the Stage DiGiRack, it has the shortest cable length between the mic and pre amp possible, giving exceptional signal to noise ratio. It has the same facilities as its solid state counterpart, including analogue and digital gain controls with Gain Tracking™. As the analogue gain is inserted before the D-TuBe it also acts as a drive control, and with digital gain after the D-TuBe a wide variation of colouration (DiGistortion™). And, as is standard on all DiGiCo products, these settings can be saved as part of the consoles snapshots and sessions.