In this video review for Pro Tools Expert, Technical Editor James Ivey takes a look at the new Zen Tour USB and Thunderbolt interface from Antelope Audio. The Zen Tour is a compact portable high-quality interface with built-in effects giving you 4 guitar or DI inputs, 4 stunning quality mic pre amps and up to 16 I/O via 2 ADAT optical connections.

The Grand Tour

James starts by showing us around the unit. There are 2 configurable headphone jacks with their own dedicated mix and 2 re-amp outputs to allow you to easily take a DI guitar track and run it through your favourite amp. The front panel is also where you can plug in 4 guitars or instruments which can be routed via the Ten Tour's built in effects. 

Around the back you will find 4 XLR combi-jacks for microphone or instrument input. The 2 pairs of monitor outputs (A & B), 8 line outputs on a 25pin D-Sub connector, SPDIF I/O, the USB and Thunderbolt connections and the input for the PSU.
On the left of the unit you find 2 pairs of ADAT optical I/O.

Get In Touch

The Zen Tour in very much a hands on unit with its LED touchscreen and large encoder pot, it is very easy to use and navigate. However, if you have an iOS or Android device you can download the free controller app and control the 4 guitar line ins and the 4 mic pres even when you step away from the unit. 

Guitar Effects And More

The latest firmware version has introduced loads of new effects to the onboard DSP. James tries out some of the new guitar amp emulations to see which will be the perfect fit for the track to complete this demo. 

Tracking Session

James completes this demo with a session completely recorded using the Zen Tour. No other mic preamps, signal processing or amps were used in the production. A little plate reverb was added to give the track some space but that is all.