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Comment by kadoban | Hacker News Reader

Is there a box you can plug an xlr mic into, and have it apply effects like this and output a usable signal? I'd like to move towards a real mic, but setting up filters on each of my work machine, home machine and phone sounds really annoying.

Is this something an rpi would be good for? Is there a writeup somewhere of how to do something similar?

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> Is there a box you can plug an xlr mic into, and have it apply effects like this and output a usable signal? I'd like to move towards a real mic, but setting up filters on each of my work machine, home machine and phone sounds really annoying.

Yes but you won't like the prices xD

An RPI with a soundcard, a DAW and possibly some plugins can do that. Daws that work on a raspberry pi:

- Ardour

- Reaper

- Renoise

- Tracktion Waveform

- that easyfilter tool

If you don't need stereo there are some multieffects box/pedals for guitars and synths:

https://www.boss.info/uk/categories/multi-effects/

https://www.zoom-europe.com/en/multi-effects

There are also warming/effects units such as the Oto Boum or the Elektron Heat range:

https://www.otomachines.com/product/boum/

https://www.elektron.se/us/analog-heat-mkii-explorer

https://www.elektron.se/us/analog-heat-fx-explorer

And most mixer/audio interfaces have some effects/filters:

https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/proaudio/mixers/mg_series_...

https://tascam.com/us/product/model_16/top

The box is called an "audio processor", but in my usage, all I care about is a compressor/limiter. For a mic, probably also a gate. You can get those functions pretty affordably, here's an example I found with a quick search:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MDX2600--behringer-c...

This isn't really my field of expertise so I can't recommend specific gear. I suspect you could do it with a PC/SBC but latency would be a concern.

I like Schiit audio products. You'd probably need a DAC and an amp of some sort.

DAC ($249) https://www.schiit.com/products/modius

Headphone amp ($199) https://www.schiit.com/products/magnius

(Upon rereading the parent comment I probably misunderstood the question)

Presonus revelator io44/io24. You have built in dsp so the effects (noise gate, compressor, eq, and limiter) run on the box. And you can save your final effects chain as a preset so next time you plug it in they should just work. An alternative is the elgato wave xlr which lets you install your own effects but your audio chain is a little less portable.

https://musictech.com/guides/buyers-guide/10-best-audio-inte...

There's a ton of effects pedals that do that. If you're a DIY type the Pedal-Pi[1] is a nice afternoon project. It comes with a default effects set but you're free to put Puredata, Cabbage, whatever LV2s you want, etc. on it

[1] https://www.electrosmash.com/pedal-pi

You might want to buy a programmable audio DSP board. Achieving low latency on generic hardware can be tricky.

If you don't mind something on the expensive side, it is what the Universal Audio Apollo line does: https://www.uaudio.com/audio-interfaces/apollo-solo.html

Personally I use the cheaper Volt line and Easy Effects for meetings and it works very well but I only have a single machine.

There is also the possibility of using analog effects between the mic and the interface. For voice you realistically only need an EQ and a compressor but that can turn into a deep rabbit hole.

Opened kickstarter to see if there is anything like this, and there is a campaign running right now https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/menura-audio/mdmx-world...

RME makes terrific audio interfaces with onboard DSP. Like the Apollo systems below, they are not cheap. (I've used both).

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