New Music Gear Monday: Audient Nero Desktop Monitor Controller

Let’s face it, if you have a home studio then you probably need some sort of monitor controller. There are plenty out there to choose from, but very few emulate the features or layout that a big analog or digital desk provides. Audient makes some of those large consoles and the company knows what needs to be in a monitor controller, and that’s what you get with its new Nero controller.

Nero features 4 stereo analog inputs, including two line level inputs, a dedicated cue mix input, one aux input (RCA or Mini Jack) and both optical and coaxial SPDIF inputs to give you a wide variety of connectivity options.

These can be fed to three stereo speaker outputs (with the ability to set and match volumes), one assignable sub output, and four headphone outputs.
It also has something called Smart Touchpoints that enable you to customize Nero’s outputs and monitor controls to create monitoring combinations that suit your needs. All you have to do is hold down a Smart Touchpoint to put it into setup mode, select your routing options, and press it again to save.

There are a lot of other features as well. User Defined Dim allows you to set your attenuation using the volume knob; latching buttons activate Dim, Mono or Talkback with either a tap (latch) or a tap and hold; a Sum and Difference switch so you can use this classic trick to quickly hear your stereo information; and a Smart Mono Mode that lets you permanently assign a mono speaker without preventing stereo functionality on other sources.

Plus there’s a precision matched level control that matches the volume of the left and right channels of your stereo signal using Audient’s custom Precision Matched Attenuation Technology. Unlike other monitor controllers, this prevents any deviation in volume between your left and right monitors or unbalancing of your stereo image, which is a pet peeve of mine with some controllers.

Be aware that what Nero doesn’t have is a digital port like USB to directly connect to your computer’s DAW. This is an analog device to be connected after your D/A convertor.

The Audient Nero has a retail price of $499. You can read more here, or watch the video below.