Cranborne Audio 500R8 USB Audio Interface and 8-Slot 500-Series Rack Kit with Two Camden 500 Preamp/Mojo Modules

Analog Character Meets Digital Precision

Upgrade your studio with convenience and powerful expandability through the 500R8 USB Audio Interface and 8-Slot 500-Series Rack Chassis from Cranborne Audio, a complete studio in a box that provides comprehensive I/O, high-spec digital conversion up to 192 kHz, and the ability to grow your 500-series module collection while being easy to reconfigure on the fly for your needs. With full-featured monitor control and talkback facilities, an 8x2 summing mixer, a powerful low-latency headphone mixer with dual dedicated outputs, and reference-quality audio performance and internal clocking, the 500R8 is an ideal central brain for your studio that can be picked up and carried to your next session.

The eight 500-series module slots deliver 250mA per slot, with 2A total for all slots, ensuring the best possible performance from your precious rack modules. The audio interface features 28 inputs and 30 outputs with high-stability low-latency USB 2.0 and plenty of further options for expanding your connectivity including ADAT (up to 16 channels), S/PDIF, 5-pin MIDI, and Cranborne's proprietary C.A.S.T. ports, which use Cat 5e, Cat 6, or Cat 7 cabling for connecting to breakout boxes to eliminate excess cabling or to increase available channels with modules like the 500ADAT or a second 500R8. The 500R8 includes an external power supply, an IEC power cord, 16 module mounting screws, and an allen key.

Configure 500R8 to suit your desired analog flavor. Fill it full of vintage-style 500 series preamps, when you're recording drums, clean and pristine preamps when you're recording strings, or EQ, compression, and saturation 500-series modules when it's time for mixing.

Connect 500R8 directly to your PC/Mac and capture every last nuance of your analog sources with reference-class AD/DA conversion and superior internal clocking. Effortlessly pass audio between analog and digital worlds without digital artifacts that color and degrade your recordings.

Switch between two sets of speakers (A/B), toggle Mono sum, Mute, Dim, and Talkback facilities with phantom power whilst monitoring the peak level of your mix with 28-segments of LED detail by using the built-in, high-headroom monitor controller. You get push-to-talk activation as well as automatic routing to all headphones. Finally, the front panel controls for all monitor controller functions are illuminated for easy access.

The 8x2 analog summing mixer provides you with +26.6 dBu of headroom, dedicated ADC, and balanced 1/4" outputs. Sum your 8 USB sources through your 500-series modules into the discrete analog mixer and record it back into your DAW as a stereo track. You can also use the C.A.S.T. link port for increasing your summing mixer to a 16x2 using the Cranborne Audio 500ADAT.

Monitor live sources in the analog domain with zero latency using dedicated mix level and pan controls per channel combined with Cranborne's seriously high-powered headphone amps. Use the DAW return blend controls for the perfect tracking mix. Each of the two headphone outputs feature independent blend and level controls.

The 500R8 integrates with all of your analog/digital hardware. Patch in 500R8 with your own converter or integrate your 19" rack gear with dedicated TRS insert jacks per slot.

• Eight balanced XLR inputs, one per module, plus one 1/4" insert per module input
• Eight XLR direct module outputs
• Stereo XLR and balanced 1/4" speaker outputs
• Stereo 1/4" pairs for Mix Output, Aux Output, and DAW 2 Input
• XLR Talkback Input with phantom power
• Two high-powered 1/4" headphone outputs
• Dual optical ADAT inputs and outputs (16-channel max capacity)
• 3.5mm S/PDIF I/O
• BNC Wordclock input and output with DIP-switch controls for clock settings
• 5-pin DIN MIDI input and output
• USB-B 2.0 host connection
• Four Cat 5 C.A.S.T. ports with extra C.A.S.T. link port for second 500R8 system

Mix and match your 500-series modules to find the best combinations during recording, and mixing to help create your own signature, analog sound. Repatch your 500R8 at a flick of a switch.

Dedicated source select switches for each 500-series slot adjusts the signal routing to send analog, C.A.S.T., or USB sources through each of your modules. Bypass unused 500-series slots using 500R8's dedicated slot-bypass switch and you can use all of the available analog paths for recording whilst you continue to build your 500-series collection.

Expandable via C.A.S.T.

Fitted with Cranborne's C.A.S.T. system, the 500R8 is compatible with the N22 and N22H C.A.S.T. breakout boxes that cast away excess cabling spaghetti and offer a cost-effective, low-maintenance, plug-and-play solution to rewire your studio. C.A.S.T. transports 4 channels of balanced, analog audio over shielded Cat 5e, Cat 6, and Cat 7 cable directly to the location where it is needed in your studio.

Create vocal booths, isolation booth, or run our a microphone to the hallway for ambience, C.A.S.T. is the best way to expand your 500R8 and get the most out of your studio space. If you have preamps installed into the 500R8, C.A.S.T. can transport their 48V phantom power through the C.A.S.T. connection via Cat cables and directly to condenser or active microphones connected at the end point. C.A.S.T. is completely plug-and-play and works at distances up to 328' for maximum flexibility and convenience.

Versatile Ergonomics

The 500R8 is not only versatile in function, it also has a convenient physical design. With the included, prefixed 19" rack ears, you can easily pick up the 500R8, carry it to a recording session, and even mount it directly onto a traditional equipment rack. Now you have 8 rack modules taking up only 4 RU of rack space.

Key Features

• Fully discrete, transformerless design, featuring custom ?Camden? preamp topology
• Optimized for and fully compliant with the 500-series format, Camden 500 is not a 19? unit shoe-horned into a 500-series module, it has been designed from the ground-up to perform under the low-voltage power rails and supply current limitations of the 500-series format, whilst delivering groundbreaking performance
• Performs at the near-theoretical limits of noise, distortion, and phase/frequency linearity at all gain settings
• Optimized input impedance and input headroom for Mic, Line, and Hi-Z sources
• Mic preamp, instrument DI, and?thanks to Mojo?line-level analog saturator
• Custom ?Mojo? analog saturation circuit with variable control, true bypass, and 2 discrete styles?Thump and Cream
• Reamp tracks from your DAW through Mojo to apply analog saturation to your stems, VST, and stereo mixes
• Thump excites low-end content by boosting lower odd/even harmonics from a range of 160 to 20 Hz and below
• Cream boosts odd/even harmonics, whilst also reducing the amplitude of the fundamental frequencies and applying typical transformer-style transient taming
• Gold flashing on backplane contacts for increased conductivity and durability
• Designed and engineered in the United Kingdom

Precise, Clean, and Natural

Camden 500 provides the utmost clarity and detail when it is most required. Its custom 'Camden' topology achieves stunning low-noise and low-distortion performance. It also sets a new standard for frequency and phase linearity. The sum result is the most natural sounding preamp you've ever heard.

Vintage, Warm, and Colored

Camden 500 features "Mojo", a custom analog saturation circuit that transforms Camden 500 into the fattest, warmest, and most colorful mic preamp in your arsenal. Designed to introduce harmonics and saturation effects that our favorite vintage gear produces, Mojo can be subtle, it can be exaggerated, but best of all, it can be bypassed.

Impeccable Modern Clean Performance

Designed from the ground up by the director of engineering, Edward Holmes, Camden 500 was created to be the ultimate recording front-end for the modern studios and withstand the rigors of modern workflow and production techniques. Designed to excel with any input source, Camden 500 features a completely original, custom-designed preamp topology that achieves stunning low-noise and low-distortion performance and frequency/phase linearity at any gain setting from unity to 68.5 dB.

• Stepped gain control
  • Camden 500 features a premium, 12-way switch gain control that applies up to 68.5 dB of clean, transparent preamp gain in 5.5 dB steps. This makes it easy to recall gain settings and easy to match the gain of two Camden 500's for stereo applications.
• Stereo matched
  • With carefully selected modern components, any two Camden preamps are completely stereo matched to within 0.1 dB. Every Camden preamp also passes through a rigorous frequency response test at the factory that ensures it performs the same as the last.
• Progressive-slope high-pass filter
  • Camden's high-pass filter features a progressive slope where low end is rolled off initially at around 6 dB/octave and then increases to 12 dB for the lowest octave, preserving the low end you want and cutting what you don't.
• 3-way input type switch
  • Tailored input impedance and headroom for Mic, Line, and Hi-Z sources means punchy and full-range line recording with +26.5 dBu of input headroom as well as alive and natural sounding DI'd instruments with its unique BJT design and 1.5-megohm input impedance.

Vintage Mojo on Tap

For moments when you want that gooey, vintage vibe on your recordings, Cranborne developed Mojo, their own custom analog saturation circuit that adds the familiar tone of transformers, valves, and vintage equipment onto your Camden's preamps for recording or mixing. Record through Mojo to add that vibe on the way into your DAW, or add the Mojo during the mix phase. Mojo adds tons of analog saturation to all audio signals.

Thump

• Excites low-end content by adding harmonics to the signal in the 20 to 100 Hz range, resulting in fuller low-end on smaller speakers. As Thump is not EQ-based, the additional harmonic content is shaped by the source and its existing low-end frequency content, resulting in a natural addition of extra ?Thump?.

Cream

• Introduces a vintage smoothness and edge that is similar to how valves and tubes impact the sound of a preamp. Cream drastically increases harmonics and dynamically smooths-out the low mids for increased HF emphasis. Like Thump, Cream is completely dynamic and will vary its effect, based on the input level and source material.

Variable

• Unlike transformer or valve preamps, Mojo is variable and can be dialed in to taste. Transformers and valves are integral parts of certain preamp designs and so cannot be removed from the signal path or altered for different effects. Mojo on the other hand can be dialed in to taste or crucially bypassed when you need a clean and pristine recording.

Vintage vibe without compromise

• Transformers and valves sound great, but they have a flavor that can't be removed. The phase shift, noise, and THD added by these designs give them their sound, but that sound sometimes isn't always suited to a particular source. Camden gives you 3 discrete tonal flavors that allow it to excel on any source or instrument.

Key Specs

General

Signal Processing

Connectivity