The mighty Sound Devices 788T sure does squeeze a lot of digital recording power into a compact unit, but unless you're shooting on location in Malaysia, it's going to be hard to find foley ops with small enough fingers to manipulate the tiny controls. That's where the Sound Devices CL-8 comes in: it adds easily accessible rotary faders and push buttons for control over the most basic functions on the 788T, meaning no more child-labor lawsuits. The CL-8 is sure to save your production, even if it doesn't save this article from being completely tasteless.

Housed in the same rugged aluminum and steel chassis as the 788T, the CL-8 adds mixer-like control over many of the most-use functions on the 788T. Each of the eight control channels has a large trim pot for gain control as well as buttons for engaging each input’s high-pass filter, limiter, polarity, mute status, and routing options, including routing inputs to the left/right mix tracks and Aux1 and Aux2 tracks. There's also a dedicated button for activating the 788T's integrated "slate" microphone.

Not only does the CL-8 provide instant control over these functions, but the included firmware adds additional record tracks to the 788T which can be monitored in headphones, recorded, and routed to 788T outputs. The CL-8 connects to the 788T via USB and is bus-powered. You can either mount the CL-8 directly to the 788T, or -- if you prefer not to mix business and pleasure -- it can be used to operate the recorder remotely.

The SOund Devices CL-8 retails for $985.00 USD, and is shipping now.