Steinberg

Sitting somewhere around the middle of
Steinberg’s range of audio interfaces, the
UR242 is a no-frills 4-in/2-out USB 2.0 box
featuring Yamaha DPre preamps and zero-
latency monitoring with efects. Their new
URRT2 is basically the same thing, but with the
remarkable addition of a pair of genuine Rupert
Neve… transfomers to the main inputs. You
thought we were going to say ‘preamps’, right?
Well, sadly not – a full Neve pre would
presumably have pushed the price too high.
However, the input (and, indeed, output)
transformer of any preamp – assuming it has
them, as they don’t have to – plays a very
important and beneicial role in its colouration
and, ultimately, sound; and that famous ‘R’ on
the URRT2’s fascia makes an undeniably
attention-grabbing irst impression. For the last
50 years or so, the Neve name has been
synonymous with high-end preamps,
compressors, EQs and mixing consoles, and this
is the irst time founder Rupert Neve, who’s very
selective about where the company places its
circuitry and electronics, has elected to
collaborate in the design of an audio interface.
That’s a pretty big deal in itself, and we’re
delighted to see the partnership come to
fruition, even if it’s currently restricted to the
conines of a ‘workhorse’-style interface, rather
than an entirely new and more ittingly ‘special’
unit. The transformers are a custom design
speciically for the URRT2 and its larger sibling,
the URRT4 (£558), which is similarly built on the
foundation of the existing UR44. The DPre
preamps they feed into are the same as those in
Steinberg
UR-RT2 £343
What happens when one of the biggest names in recording technology
joins forces with one of the leading manufacturers of audio interfaces?
“…that famous ‘R’ on
the URRT2’s fascia
makes an undeniably
attention-grabbing
irst impression”
all UR interfaces, based on an inverted
Darlington design that uses four transistors,
instead of the usual two, to enable very high
levels of input gain without distortion.
Heavy metal
The all-metal, reassuringly solid URRT2 just
about qualiies as a mobile interface, being quite
heavy (1.7kg), fairly large (198x208x47mm) and
externally powered (PSU included). It’s
compatible with Mac, PC and iOS, the last using
Apple’s Camera Connection Kit or a USB2-to-
Lightning cable.
The front panel is home to the two main XLR/
jack combi inputs. In 1 accepts mic, line or
instrument level signals, with the Hi-Z button
lipping between the latter two when a jack plug
is inserted; In 2 ofers only mic and line. Each of
the two inputs has its own Gain knob, but
phantom power is provided to either both or
neither, via a switch at the back. The
1
/4"
headphone socket has its own level knob, and
peak LEDs light up with input overs. The two
buttons above the Gain knobs switch the Neve
92 / CompUTeR mUsiC / September 2018
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CMU259.rev_urrt2.indd 92 19/06/2018 11:54