Originally revealed as a prototype back at NAMM 2024, the Channex Studio channel strip represented a bold new product for elysia, bringing together an assortment of their praised hardware designs and introducing remote control and recall. By NAMM 2026, the unit had almost progressed into a final production unit, and now, it’s finally available!

The unit’s signal chain begins with a high-quality mic preamp that’ll accept mic, line- and instrument-level signals and delivers up to 64dB of gain, and includes switchable high-pass, polarity and 48V phantom power. Next up is a four-band EQ which, unusually for a hardware unit, offers full dynamic operation across all bands. A dual-stage compressor/limiter follows, and includes the gain-reduction limiter function that features in the company’s other compressor designs, helping to preserve dynamic range when using more enthusiastic compression settings. Finally, a Flavor dial offers five saturation modes designed to impart incoming signals with some vintage-inspired character. 

A monitor section kitted out with a pair of headphone amps offers built-in zero-latency monitoring, and allows up to three independent mixes to be created and routed to the unit’s Artist/Engineer headphone outputs and stereo monitoring outputs. Hands-on controls allow users to adjust the level of DAW playback, preamp signal and a built-in reverb for each of the three mixes — there’s also a talkback connection for communication between the engineer and artist. An insert point then makes it possible to hook up other gear, and thanks to the Channex Studio’s  flexible routing architecture, it’s possible to place the external processor at various places in the unit’s signal path.

Although its signal path is entirely analogue, the Channex Studio is digitally controlled, and as well as offering control via the front panel, everything can be controlled remotely from a computer using a companion plug-in. As well as making it possible to store and recall settings along with a DAW session — different configurations can be called up directly on the hardware, too — the move means that it’s possible to automate any of the unit’s parameters. 

As for connectivity, the unit’s rear panel includes dedicated mic and line-level inputs on three-pin XLR and XLR/TRS combo sockets respectively, along with a preamp out equipped with both XLR and TRS connectors; a Hi-Z instrument input is available on the front panel. Another set of XLR, TRS and combo sockets cater to the insert point, playback input, main out, effects in and a talkback input, while another four TRS sockets handle engineer and artist headphone outputs and a stereo monitor output. 

The Channex Studio is available now, priced at £6440 including VAT.

www.elysia.com/channex