Reviewed by Mike Levine – full article
Seamless Integration of Outboard Hardware Into DAW Sessions
If you’ve ever tried incorporating hardware processors into your DAW sessions, you know it can be a frustrating exercise requiring I/O reconfiguration and multiple latency adjustments. Some DAWs make it easier than others, but I’ve not found a workflow that was anything other than tedious. That is, until the folks at Freqport sent me a FreqInOut FO1 (Mac/Win) for review.
I was shocked by how easy it was to integrate outboard gear into my DAW—everything from line-level rackmount units to guitar pedals—and make it possible to use hardware processors just like I would plug-ins. The integration is remarkable, although there are some limitations regarding rendering and recall.
GETTING STARTED
The half-rack FreqInOut FO1 is bus-powered but also features a port for an optional rear-panel 12 V DC adapter, which is included for situations where no USB power is available.
It has no hardware controls or indicators on the front panel other than a status LED, giving it a “black box” look. All controls and visual feedback come through its included software, predominantly the FreqInOut plug-in (AU, VST3, AAX), where you can set up and adjust levels, configure the connected hardware, and more.
You must also install an application called Analog Hub, which runs in the background and shows the unit status, while also allowing for buffer-size adjustments and a few preference settings. It’s the same application used for the company’s FreqTube, which allows you to run DAW tracks through an analog-tube circuit.
Besides the DC power port and the USB-C port, the rear of the FreqInOut FO1 features four ¼″ TRS line inputs and outputs, corresponding to its four channels of I/O. These connectors can support both balanced and unbalanced connections; the unit is designed to handle everything from line-level processors to high-impedance stompboxes. The hardware you connect can be mono or stereo. You can patch in up to four mono outboard units or two stereo ones, or any combination up to four.
Freqport touts the quality of the FreqInOut FO1’s ESS converters, which support sampling rates up to 192 kHz. To my ears, the unit’s sound quality is transparent—precisely what you’d want for a device you’re patching into your system.
If you have two FreqInOut FO1 units, they can be used simultaneously. A button in the upper-left of the GUI allows you to switch instantly from one to the other. I had only a single review unit so I couldn’t test two working in tandem.
CONFIGURE IT
To create a session with the FreqInOut FO1, start by connecting desired outboard gear to the rear panel. Next, insert an instance of the plug-in on the channel or bus to which you wish to apply the processor. The plug-in offers a setup wizard to guide you through the configuration and will prompt you to open the Global Hardware Configuration window, where the software routing is set up.
Four slots, one for each of the I/O channels, reside in the center, with the outputs shown on the left and the inputs on the right. This is where you configure and name each hardware device. If you’re using a stereo unit (or units), you can link their channels here. Input and output trims are provided for each of the four channels, and global Send and Return sliders—each overlaying a stereo LED meter—allow you to monitor and adjust the signal going in and coming out of the plug-in. Once configured, you can turn a device (or devices) on or off in a particular instance of the plug-in from its Device Enable area. You won’t receive any signal through a channel (or pair) until you enable it.
The Analog Matrix feature lets you chain connected processors in series, routing signal through enabled devices and allowing you to change a device’s position in the chain. Some issues to consider when configuring: Each device can be enabled in only one plug-in instance at a time—so, for example, if you have a stereo reverb and insert it via the plug-in on a track, it won’t be available to another track unless you turn it off on the original one.
However, you can process multiple tracks simultaneously by inserting the plug-in on an aux bus. It’s an efficient way to apply effects like reverb and delay that, by default, use parallel processing. But even if you’re using the plug-in as a track insert, you can dial in parallel processing via the Hardware Mix knob, which lets you alter the wet/dry balance going to the output.
There’s also a Mid-Side option when using a stereo-linked device through it; you can use mid-side processing even with a hardware unit that doesn’t provide it as a physical option.
BOUNCE AND RECALL
The most significant difference between a software plug-in in your DAW and the processing enabled in the FreqInOut FO1 plug-in is that the latter doesn’t support offline bouncing, but as long as you set your DAW for real-time rendering, your bounced mix or track will include any audio that passes through the FreqInOut plug-in. When processing individual tracks through the FreqInOut, I often found it helpful to render them in place so that I could free up the hardware for use on other tracks in the mix.
The other limitation of the FreqInOut system is one you encounter whenever you use hardware processors: recall. Unless the outboard unit is digital or digitally controlled with the ability to save its settings, you need a way to write them down in case you want to recall the mix or session. Freqport offers an elegant solution.
First, take a picture of the outboard gear with the camera on your phone or tablet, ensuring that the positions of the knobs and switches are clearly visible. Next, click the camera icon in the upper-right section of the plug-in to turn on Capture mode. A QR code will appear in the GUI. Once you scan the QR code, you can upload an image from your device directly into the plug-in, and it will appear in the center of the GUI. Alternatively, you can upload an image from your computer.
Either way, once the image is visible in the plug-in, rotation and cropping tools become available, and a Zoom feature allows you to enlarge specific sections of the image if needed. You can then save the image into your DAW session through the plug-in’s interface, and you also have the option to save it directly into the FreqInOut FO1. By doing the latter, you can easily recall your session settings on a different computer.
WORKING IT
One of the most impressive things I discovered when trying out the FreqInOut FO1 was how painless it made the integration of outboard gear into a DAW. There was no need to experiment with delay compensation settings—the FreqInOut automatically compensates for latency, and I never noticed any timing issues.
I had to adjust the input and output levels for some pieces of gear, using the global send and return sliders, and sometimes the same for the channel-based trim controls, but everything worked exactly as specified in the manual.
I tried the FreqInOut FO1 with a variety of outboard units. First, I used it to insert the Warm Audio Bus Comp, a stereo compressor, on the master bus of a mix. All worked as expected, although I had to turn up the global input slider on the FreqInOut FO1 to hit the compressor hard enough to get the desired gain reduction.
My next experiment involved inserting a Keeley Electronics Mod Workstation—a mono guitar pedal with modulation and distortion effects—on a guitar track. I was able to seamlessly add the various effects from the pedal.
In another situation, I inserted the Keeley and the Bus Comp on a stereo synth track and used the Analog Matrix feature to run them in series. I could then easily change their order via drag-and-drop.
I also connected a Line 6 POD Go, a digital guitar amp and effects modeling pedal, to a mono I/O channel on the FreqInOut FO1. I loved the flexibility of having the POD Go’s wide range of processor emulations at my fingertips during the mix. In the past, the only way I could use the POD Go in a DAW session was on input, where I had to commit to the amp and effects settings from the start.
The FreqInOut can enable your processor to work on multiple tracks simultaneously if you insert the plug-in on an aux bus. I tried this with a Universal Audio Heavenly Plate Reverb, a stereo effects pedal, connected through the FreqInOut to an aux bus in my DAW. I sent multiple tracks to it simultaneously, just like with a regular reverb plug-in.
I conducted my testing in Apple Logic Pro and Avid Pro Tools. As mentioned, I’ve experimented with using outboard gear through hardware inserts on my DAW mixer, but I found it quite frustrating and ultimately not worth the effort. This was especially true for Pro Tools, where accurately setting the latency compensation was torturous. In contrast, the FreqInOut system made the integration of hardware processing into Pro Tools a breeze.
If you’ve been eager to use outboard gear with your DAW sessions but haven’t found a suitable workflow, the FreqInOut FO1 will be a game-changer. Freqport has not only created a unique product, but has also clearly put a lot of thought into making it as user-friendly and powerful as possible.
