An Introduction

Not too long ago a new purple box hit the market and I was instantly intrigued because of the man behind it -Roger Linn. The box was called the Adrenalinn and since it's debut it has received countless awards as well as accolades from guitarists and even Electronica producers. In the short time the Adrenalinn has been out it has also penetrated into the music charts with its distinctive sound in songs from artists like John Mayer.

I purchased my original Adrenalinn not too long ago and when I heard that Roger Linn Designs had announced a new version -the Adrenalinn II (this time the box is yellow), I couldn't wait to hear it. Recently I upgraded my original Adrenalinn to the new version II with a simple IC chip swap and here is the report.

What’s New

The Adrenalinn II has taken the great sync based effects and amp models of the original and made them even better as well as increasing the available delay time. All of this improvement has been accented by a new user interface that allows for even easier operation and control. Let's check it out.

So what does this box do exactly? To be honest, the best aspect of the Adrenalinn II in my opinion is that it is an idea creator. It has well thought out presets that will have you playing your guitar in ways you haven't thought of before. Beyond this, here's a quick breakdown of what Adrenalinn II has to offer:

A Couple Of Important Points

The Adrenalinn II gives you 24 amp models and has an improved sound over the original. I've compared some new recordings of the Adrenalinn II with some older recordings tracked with the original Adrenalinn and I do hear a difference between the two. This is a subjective opinion, but overall the Adrenalinn II just sounds more natural and not as "brittle" as the original. Keep in mind that even the manual states that the amp models are not intended to be exact models of the originals, but rather are inspired by the amps they are emulating, and it sounds great.

The Beat-Synced Effects allow for very powerful and original sounds. This can go from something as simple as a tremolo effect that is actually synced to your playing, to very elaborate sequenced filter effects that can turn your guitar (or bass, synth, and sampler sounds), into crazy arpeggio-like effects. The Adrenalinn II has it's own filters as well as filters modeled after Moog and Oberheim style filters. Along with all the effects, the Adrenalinn II has increased the delay time to 2.8 seconds so you can even get away with some simple looping.

The Drum Machine section of the Adrenalinn II is a nice addition to an already great box. The 40 plus drum sounds run the gamut -you get some classic rock based sounds, it nails the New Wave/Electro 80's sounds, and even has some great Lo-Fi sounds that could lend themselves towards glitch style, or chip-music based productions. With the drum machine you can have the tempo change based on which drum patern you choose, or you can keep the tempo constant independent of which drum pattern is playing. You can also very easily change the tempo with the turn of a knob, and Swing variations are available to give your beats a more “human” feel.

But How Do I Use the Thing

The Adrenalinn II has a newly designed interface that makes for easy tweaking. Basically, you have a Matrix grid of various parameters. Simply push on the up or down button and "Enter the Matrix". Once in, the four endless rotary knobs on the top of the unit will affect the horizontal row you have selected via the up/down keys. There's a convenient LED light to show you which row you have selected.

The matrix has three basic groups –one for presets, one for drum patterns, as well as one for MIDI. You can easily edit filters, delay times, amp models, the level of say, your kick drum, as well as MIDI parameters such as Clock In and Program change.

You also have 100 of your own User presets that you can modify and organize to your own liking. Once you have the modified preset or drum program you want you can save it to any of the 100 user slots within a couple clicks.

Summary

The Adrenalinn II can work in a myriad of different ways. Personally, I use mine everyday. When I'm working on new songs I can set up the Adrenalinn to send my guitar signal to the left channel while the drum machine goes to the right. I set up a simple Kick/Snare program and practice my song to get my timing down, and I can do this without being tethered to my DAW. Then I can track my scratch guitar (usually on a clean preset) into Logic while listening to both my guitar and the drumbeat (instead of an annoying metronome) without having to worry about latency. Once inside Logic I can start working on overdubs and specific guitar tones/effects. I can also send out signals from Logic back into the Adrenalinn for processing. It's a great system that has made everything from song creation to finishing touches a fluid process. Of course, I can always go back and re-track my parts with a real amp -but the tempo synced effects as well as some great distortion sounds and ultra clean presets always seem to make it to the final mix, and more than once have become the focal point or distinctive tone of the song. In short, this box is a unique and fun tool to create with –check out some audio examples for yourself here.

For more information about this or any other product on our site, please write us at:
doug@audioMIDI.com

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