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History of the Model 2192
In 2000, legendary audio engineer Bill Putnam Sr.
was awarded a Technical Grammy for his multiple
contributions to the recording industry. Highly
regarded as a recording engineer, studio
designer/operator and inventor, Putnam was
considered a favorite of musical icons Frank
Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, Duke
Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and many, many more.
The studios he designed and operated in the 1950s
and 1960s were known for their sound and his
innovations were a reflection of his desire to
continually push the envelope.
In addition, the companies that Putnam started—Universal Audio, Studio Electronics, and UREI—
built products that are still in regular use decades after their development. In 1999, his sons Bill Jr.
and James Putnam re-launched Universal Audio and merged with Kind of Loud technologies—a
leading audio software company—with two goals in mind: to reproduce classic analog recording
equipment designed by their father and his colleagues, and to design new recording tools in the spirit
of vintage analog technology.
One of the most exciting of these new recording tools is the 2192 Master Digital Audio Interface, the
first product to combine UA's long history of creating high-quality, analog gear with its advanced
digital technology. Providing two channels of analog to digital conversion, two channels of digital to
analog conversion, digital format conversion, and a master word clock generator/distribution amp for
an entire digital hardware array, the 2192 is the perfect front end for Pro Tools and other digital audio
workstations.
While advances in digital technology have made tracking, mixing and recording a much easier
experience, the sound of digital had yet to aspire to the sound of the analog recording until very
recently. The 2192 was built to deliver the very best audio fidelity possible. To that end, only the
highest-quality analog components are used, and all the latest advents in digital technology are
supported, such as high sample rates (up to 192KHz) and full 24-bit conversion.
Today Universal Audio is bridging the worlds of vintage analog and DSP technology in a creative
atmosphere where musicians, audio engineers, analog designers and DSP engineers intermingle and
exchange ideas. Every project taken on by the UA team is driven by its historical roots and a desire to
wed classic analog technology with the demands of the modern digital studio. The 2192 truly sounds
analog, but not necessarily like tape; and yet it somehow retains the neutrality necessary for a digital
converter. But it does this without the wow and flutter, phase, crosstalk, and other baggage you'd
expect with tape. In the words of famed producer Eliot Mazer, "...anyone hearing a 24-bit/192kHz
recording can't believe how great it sounds. When I get music into Pro Tools|HD at 192kHz with
external converters like the Universal Audio 2192, it sounds analog. Analog to me is not hearing the
system, it's music that sounds natural. I'm no longer distracted by the limitations and distortions of
low sampling and bit rates."
"
...anyone hearing a 24-bit/192kHz recording
can't believe how great it sounds. When I get
music into Pro Tools|HD at 192kHz with
external converters like the Universal Audio
2192, it sounds analog. Analog to me is not
hearing the system, it's music that sounds
natural. I'm no longer distracted by the
limitations and distortions of low sampling
and bit rates.
- 25 -
The Technical Stuff
"
— producer Elliot Mazer
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