Comments about BLUE ROBBIE - Class-A Single Channel Mic Preamp:

The Robbie adds a noticeable roundness (in a good way) to recordings. I use the DI quite a bit. Here's one setup: I'll run a VSTi synth in Ableton Live and record it through the Robbie. The audio signal goes out from the RME DigiPAD's high quality DA converters to the Mackie 16420-VLZ mixer, routed to the Robbie DI, conveniently located on the front. I send the signal at a low volume and then use the Robbie's preamp to boost it, turning the volume knob a 3rd to halfway up. At this point the sound goes back in to the mixer from the Robbie and is routed to the main recording path into the RME DigiPAD's inputs (again, very nice A/D conversion), back into Ableton Live. I mention the A/D and D/A conversion as I would not recommend doing this with inferior audio interfaces, as it would deteriorate the sound. But in my case, it sounds lovely.

After recording it back in, I can compare the original VSTi track versus it being routed through the Robbie and it has a noticeable softening and roundness.

My next project is to playback the the left and right channels of a VSTi one at a time through the Robbie separately, recording them individually and then recombining later. In this way, I can get a stereo signal without having to buy two Robbies (however much I would like to!).