Page 30 - The score

KAUSTUBH RAVI & SIVANESH BABU
TIME TO MONITOR

YOUR SOUND!

Monkey Banana Baboon 6
Active Studio Monitor
WHY FIT IN WHEN YOU CAN STAND OUT?
Studio monitors usually invoke a pretty boring and standard
image of a speaker. There haven’t been many interesting design
variations and while this works for most people, here are a few Prodipe Pro 5 V3 Active Studiomonitor
products that might add a little colour to your studio, a little
aesthetic touch. Active Studio Monitor
The Monkey Banana Baboon 6, as the very name suggests, is GREAT WAY TO BEGIN!
quite the quirk in studio equipment. The case shape is unusual French company Prodipe surprise us on a regular basis with
- and very embellishing for a home studio. The manufacturer's the quality, value, and pricing of their pro-ducts. Their latest
logo on the front is backlit in soft orange when the speaker is contribution to the table is the Prodipe Pro 5 V3 Studio monitors.
on. The rather oddly shaped active studio monitors have an Air On our previous month’s issue, we had featured the overly
Motion tweeter (7.4 inch AMT) and a Kevlar woofer (6.5 inches). impressive Prodipe TT1 Dynamic microphone for the quality
It features a biamp module with 60 watts for the low-frequency that it delivers for the price. Have the French makers managed to
range and 30 watts for the high-frequency range. The German level expectations with these moni-tors?
com-pany is just making an entry into Indian markets as a mid-
range priced product. Appearing fairly plain at first sight, the build quality is quite
good with a well-finished exterior, making it ideal looking for a
On the input side, it features an XLR:1/4 inch combo jack and S/ professional studio environment. The bass reflex port in the front
PDIF inputs as well. These feautures are aimed at the hi-fi audio finishes the look and makes it easier to position the speaker.
market, allowing them to digitally connect to high-quality audio
interfaces. There is a continuous volume knob, which snaps at Moving on to sound, the speaker performs well for its price.
the median position, along with an LP filter adding between - 6db A beginner-level producer is certainly going to enjoy these.
and +6db at 100 Hz and an HP filter adding between - 6db and +6db They have a very non-fatiguing and soft sound profile. Ideal
at 10Khz. for programming, you can find yourself working on tracks for
extended periods of time. The bass response is good but could be
The frequency response maybe described as controlled and soft. a little tighter.
Some may feel the bass could use some more oomph compared to
other speakers in the price range, but otherwise the bass sounds The speakers may come off as too soft for mixing, with the top
quite tight and full. The ribbon tweeters bring quite some detail end being a little too smooth taking away some accuracy in those
without being too harsh with some tweaks of the HP filter. The regions. We also noticed that the speakers don’t get too loud for
sound field was also impressive with a good deal of separation their size, compared to a lot of the other products in the range.
and clarity. To sum things up, these are great monitors for beginner producers.
There are better speakers in this price range for those looking for You can work on them for extended periods of time and makes
more bass and oomph, but the Mon-key Banana does deliver quite for an enjoyable programming experience. However, if you are
a bit in the sound department while being quite the showpiece looking for a loud speaker with very tight bass and sparkly highs,
in a stu-dio. It is certainly an ideal monitor for professional you might have to look elsewhere.
recording and mastering.

28 The Score Magazine
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