Surpassing The Original

Dangerous Music invented the stand-alone analog summing mixer with the ground-breaking 2-BUS back in 1999, and now we’re redefining mixing yet again with the brand new 2-BUS+. With a redesigned analog summing circuit that exceeds previous specifications, the 2-BUS+ delivers unsurpassed imaging, dimensionality, punch and headroom. While the 2-BUS+ active summing sounds incredible on its own, it now includes three innovative custom color circuits that provide a vast array of flexibly routed tonal options. Harmonics is a euphoric odd- and even-order distortion generator; Paralimit is a hard-hitting FET-style limiter; and X-Former is a pair of Cinemag output transformers with an exclusive core-overdrive circuit. With it’s elegantly straightforward buttons and knobs, the 2-BUS+ puts endless combinations of robust analog sound at your fingertips. Meticulously developed by our hands-on team and brilliantly designed by the legendary Chris Muth, the 2-BUS+ embodies our dedication to sacrificing nothing in order to deliver the very best analog products available.

Unveil Your Sound With Active Analog Summing

Analog summing is a vastly misunderstood topic, but it doesn’t need to be. First, when multiple converters share the workload of getting your sounds from digital into analog, you’ll hear improved articulation and clarity across your mix. Once in the analog realm, these individual channels are electronically summed together with what’s called an “active analog summing circuit.” Unlike passive summing boxes that require huge amounts of make-up gain to restore the lost audio, or line mixers masquerading as “summing mixers,” the active electronics in the 2-BUS+ result in what Dangerous users describe as “a huge soundstage,” “holographic sound,” and “audible three-dimensionality.” Panning is wide and precise, reverbs spacious and deep, bass powerful and engaging, treble and mids articulate and interesting. The 2-BUS+ unveils all the details that bring your creations to life.

Emulation Impossible

Many analog processors – from delays and reverbs to EQs, compressors and more – have been beautifully modeled in the digital realm, but analog summing remains impossible to emulate digitally. We’ve all experienced the frustration of a mix collapsing when relying on a single digital master fader to handle it all. The middle gets crowded, panning becomes blurry, reverbs lose dimension, and soon the mix just lacks appeal. And despite promising ad campaigns, analog mix bus emulation plugins just add distortion to the master fader, actually making problems worse. By summing individual tracks or subgroups of tracks (often called “stems”) with the 2-BUS+, you get crystal clear sonic imaging and a wide-open soundstage. No matter how high your track count, all your recorded audio, software instruments, samplers, effects and plugins will sing with the detail, punch and clarity that only real analog summing can deliver.

Three Real Analog Tone Circuits

When it comes to adding analog color to your mixes, the design team at Dangerous has developed three totally original all-analog circuits: Harmonics, Paralimit and X-Former. Because these circuits are physically built into the 2-BUS+, you get a versatile selection of analog colors while never leaving the lush, open analog mixing environment.

Harmonics – Add the euphoric sound of an analog circuit on the edge of distortion to your whole mix, or to individual channel pairs. Carefully tuned to generate the perfect mixture of odd- and even-order harmonics, this effect runs parallel with the unprocessed signal so you can dial in just the right amount of tone. The top end subtly simmers, the bass gently growls, and the whole sonic image warms up in ways that only a real analog circuit can offer.

Paralimit – This is a FET Limiter set to stun. An original Chris Muth design inspired by the famous 1176 Limiting Amplifier “all buttons in” trick, you get an infinite ratio setting flooded with analog top-end. With its blend knob and assignment buttons, Paralimit gives you instant parallel compression, in stereo, in the analog domain, on the full mix or on a stereo stem – a flexible set-up that otherwise requires complex patching, careful level matching and significant amounts of analog outboard gear.

X-former – Last in line are a pair of customized Cinemag transformers with Chris Muth’s totally unique approach to driving the core. Switch them in for the solid, punchy sound that makes older analog consoles so loved, then turn up the X-Former knob to drive the core of the transformer in a way that’s totally unique to the 2-BUS+. X-former is all about dialing in just the right amount of classic analog console color whenever it’s called for.

Effortless Analog Parallel Processing

Because you can effortlessly assign Harmonics and Paralimit to the whole mix or to individual channel pairs, instantly flip their patching order, and blend them in with the original signal at the twist of a knob, the 2-BUS+ provides incredibly flexible parallel processing without any outboard gear or fussy patching. With the ability to switch in the on-board customized Cinemag transformers, as well as any outboard processors you like on the switchable stereo insert, you’ve got nearly limitless options all accessed from the uncluttered front panel. Whether you choose to run it pure and clean, blend in just a hint of delicious analog flavor, or push it into the red-zone, we’ve put the choice back in your hands when mixing.

Making The Analog Investment

When you buy analog equipment, you’re making a real investment that will hold its value for decades.  Analog technology is time-tested.  It wont need an expensive upgrade, become incompatible with your computer or DAW, or start crashing. No matter what music production system you’re using in ten, fifteen, twenty years, the superior summing capabilities and timeless analog tone processors of the 2-BUS+ will always be a relevant, compatible and valuable centerpiece in your studio.

Features

• 16 channels of the world’s best active analog summing, that even surpasses the original.
• Three distinctive analog color options: Harmonics, Paralimit and X-Former.
• Effortless routing and blending of analog color circuits via elegant user interface.
• Switchable stereo analog insert for easy outboard gear integration.
• Massive sounds, sacrificing no detail.
• Crystal clear sonic imaging and three-dimensionality.
• Endless headroom for modern digital signal levels.
• Stepped output gain control for exact recalls.
• Both XLR and D-Sub input connectivity.
• Audiophile-grade components throughout.
• Hand-assembled in the USA.