Ok, I've been starring at the picture of the hedd on crane songs website for the last half hour and just realized it is exactly the new piece of gear I need. Great ad and da conversion with pentode, triode, and tape emulation, oh ya.

So anyone who has one please tell me all about it. What have been your favorite things to use it on, favorite settings, and most common uses etc, etc...

Also, how does the ad/da conversion compare to the usual suspects... such as apogee, benchmark, lavry, etc...

Anyone using it specificaly as their monitoring da on a daw rig?


Thanks in advance. heh

It rules. Buy 4 of them thumbsup

It has green knobs.

Whoops. Forgot to mention that it sounds killer. One twist of the Pentode knob and you'll never want to go back. Really.

It's a great box. Zero complaints (rare for me).

But seriously folks.....


Great conversion. A little bit colored in the lower mids and on the top. Very nice though for rock and anything with attitude. I've lent mine to a friend for some classical recording and it sounded quite fine for that too (no process engaged of course).

The process is great. I tend not to use it while tracking as I don't want to overdo it before mix time (it can make some mix mud when it starts to stack up). On mixing it adds total character. A great back end to a DAW, even in all digital mode. I use it as the converter for the 2 mix off a summing buss and apply the process to the A/D. I've got some settings (Tape 3.5, Pent 4-5) that I start with and mix to it because it's very much like 2-buss compression in many respects. I was actually a bit disappointed with the process at first but the top rate A/D kept me hooked. Then I really discovered how to use the process to get what I like.

In all truth, I like to abuse it. To me, it's one of the best peak limiters I've ever heard. But in order to get it to that place I find you've just got to CLIP the hell out of it! Seriously. If the red light isn't coming at least every second on certain slammin rock mix types, something's wrong. I put a smart C2 buss compressor immediately before it which has something like 20 dB of makeup gain on it in half dB steps which is perfect for driving it. The process just seems to round off the edges. Don't ask me how but it does. BUT, this is obviously not appropriate for all kinds of mixes (most in fact) so be careful. Also, if you're going to mastering, for god's sake print a mix at a lower level so the mastering engineer has something to work with if they don't care for your overgrown HEDD print.

I have used it for D/A. Better than the digi HD192 D/A, not as good as my benchmark DAC1. I've heard rumours that the upgrade to 192k is supposed to be beneficial in that area though. Certainly passable.

Conclusion? Great box. Buy 4 thumbsup

I just started using my hedd (and head) differently. I love the a/d, but when I tried using the pentode/triode/tape knobs on a mix it often sounded too muddy.
For a change, I tried tracking with it on acoustic guitars and it sounded great - warmer and bigger than unprocessed tracks - kind of like a great compressor but the tracks didn't sound compressed, just more meat. Again, conservative settings - triode 4, pentode 3, tape 2. I probably have to do a lot more experimenting as people seem to love it on the mix.

Here is what I plan to use it for the most...

I have a lynx aurora16 on order which I plan on using with a fulcrom and my tg-2 and mp-2nv for analog summing... I will be comming out of the box at sample rates of either 24/48 or 24/96 and need a really nice ad as a front end to my masterlink to capture the mixdown at 24/44.1 for cd mastering... also the tube and tape processing is a big draw for me as I would love to mix down to tape but at this time havn't found the right deck.

Also does the processing create any latency when tracking?