What is the best slide fader money can buy ?

I need a pristine slide fader for doing fades, for mastering purpose.

For doing fades manually.

What would be the best choice if money is not an issue ?

2 channels balanced, needless to say ...

thanx

malice

Not sure if it's easy to find a quad fader--www.pennyandgiles.com/docGallery/76.PDF would be my recommendation for a high quality dual part. www.pennyandgiles.com/docGallery/83.PDF would be available up to 8 channels if you don't mind turning pots instead of moving faders. An active gain fader (and I don't mean VCA or some other active gain control device, just using a pot/fader for the opamp feedback path) would provide better tracking and allow the use of linear laws which might be easier to source in a quad configuration.

Samuel

some people swear on the old Maihak fader modules

[quote author="jensenmann"]some people swear on the old Maihak fader modules[/quote]

Yes, or these Neuman W444 faders.

I saw these beeing used in record cutting facilities. I think they're actually active faders, with trannies in them and all...

[quote author="malice"]2 channels balanced, needless to say ...
[/quote]

I wouldn't trust the element match to be good enough for balanced use. Thermionic did some tests on an RF15 and found incredibly good tracking, but I still wouldn't trust it. If it's a short run to the next stage it may not matter.

If you insist there are plastic things that slip over the slider cover to gang two or more faders together.

Thanx for all the good advises.

I realise going passive will be a PITA.

I'm gonna investigate the active solutions.

time to Google search a bit.



malice

Unless you want to get into VCA territory, or so-called 'digital volume controls', my suggestion (and pretty much the only one I can envisage that'll have sufficient matching to keep CMR good in a balanced scenario) would be to employ a pair of balanced relay attenuator networks. 128 steps would give you a pretty smooth fade - you could do it in 0.5dB steps, giving you a seemless fade over the top 64dB, muting when you go below. You could also go to 256 steps easily if the muting bugs you.

The attenuator could then be driven by a single-track linear fader of your choice.

There are a few relay attenuators on the audio DIY groups. I can put you in touch with someone who has a very nice one that I've tested (loud, in a treated room - no clicks or pops, seemless, just like a potentiometer), but I warn you - it's an expensive toy... It might be better to try the DIY groups. MCS (a member here) has a design you can feed from a linear fader.

According to research that I've performed, a decent relay network based on gas-sealed relays is second only to a Shallco in terms of performance; better than a conventional potentiometer and certainly miles nicer than a VCA (when I say 'second to Shallco', I'm talking theoretically, tested on a high-bandwidth analyser - if you can hear the difference, join the CIA as a 'human bugging device').

Justin

+1 for P&G faders. Pricey but nice stuff..

JR

The P+G RF15 I have as master in my control preamp never deviates beyond 0.28dB L/R matching at any position. However, I can't see that being good enough for balanced operation - great though it is as far as faders go - unless anyone else knows better?

I would've thought you'd be better off going unbalanced if you use a passive fader (John or anyone?).

Personally, I think a single-track P+G feeding a relay network would be the ticket. Obviously, you don't need a quality fader to control a logic circuit, but those RF15s have an unbelievable feel!

What about Paignton faders? You could get perfect matching there, but 4 gangs for balanced operation...hmmm...

Justin