Channel strip design

Does anyone have the design for thought for a group DIY Channel strip. Best of all worlds so to speak. Neve/API preamp, 1176/SSL compressor, Pultec/sonotec EQ, Iron in iron out, Out put with make-up gain. maybe switchable topology. Kind of a Dream come true. (wakeup) This may have been covered somewhere else, my apologies to greater minds or earlier suggestions. I remember Stephan having a super cool combo box with this idea NEVE, PULTEC or NEVE, 1176 I think. Can we(YOU, since I'm no brainiac) Design or replicate(without ripping off) a stage gain compatible, in the same box channel strip? I think the different voltage requirements alone would be an obstacle from my point of view but I have no real electronics background. I know the argument would ensue over which pre/ compressor/ EQ/ combo would be best but that's a great platform to argue and vote on. Or if someone has a design a great time to shut up and beg for the information. Anyway I just woke up and this hour of typing has me beat. Purolator knocked, woke me up and left right away leaving me nothing but a stickey sheet.....waiting for power xformers for G9's. Stupid dog could have signed for it.....leave the stuff man, leave the stuff! My day is ruined!!

wow you are talking about expensive and LARGE channel strips... think of the PSU.... how about all tubes too.. and all iron I/O...

I think someone here could handle designing a project like this. Maybe even design it so the person building it could select which mic pre/compressor combo they would want. How about throwing an EQ in there as well? Sort of like Group DIY "producers channel strip". Jakob? could this be a possibility in the future? :guinness:

It seems that you would actually be saving quite a bit in this type of design, because some of the redundant compenents would be eliminated (.i.e. only one input transformer instead of 3 and one output transformers instead of 3). Also, some gain stages would be saved for the same reason.

Regarding tubes, the 1176 doesn't use tubes. Many of the EQ designs out there don't have many gain stages and again these would be redundant since the mic preamp would serve as the input gain stage, and would also have an output stage included.

oppps I can't even reply to my own topic. I posted this as a "what have I done" new post. Sorry, really am, (while misting up) any way cut copy and paste. here it is.



I may have been still drunk when I posted. The Pultec can be the solid state like Steffans(spelling??) I think I was negligent on that statement. Most simple EQ's I've seen(maybe not the best sounding) don't have much to their design. I am building a G9 right now and thought the extra tube voltages would cause power problems or induce noise somewhere else. Maybe a remote power supply?The Compressor should be line level same as the EQ. final make up gain?? I should just toss the stone in and wait for the waves to settle but I'd thought that I'd say keep it either solid state or Tube(add LA2A) before we drown in a million options. Reminder to take your medication before you Write. Or right. rite?

I think you'll have a really hard time getting people to agree to what such a strip would actually contain. There is nothing whatsoever stopping you from building such a unit in any case...as at least in theory you really just shove things in the same box. The trick is to somehow combine functionality and options in a way that works for you and possibly everyone else if it is to be a project.

Even if you start with a fairly simple combination like an API style pre and a G1176, you still end up with lots of options...consider just the connection between the two.

1. No transformers, with the pre op-amp feeding straight to the input pot of the G1176. Unbalanced insert point between the two if you like. Cheap, but no iron sound.

2. Transformer on the pre, feeding the electronically balanced G1176 input. Balanced insert point, and more iron...potentially include a switch that bypasses the transformer like in (1).

3. Fully transformered link, with transformer balanced insert. Maybe a switch that selects linking as in (1), (2), or maybe the pre op-amp driving the G1176 transformer input...lotsa options!

Stick an EQ in there and there's lotsa more fun, like again where you want inserts and how to do them, as well as having EQ before or after the comp.

To make a long story short, I don't think you would get enough people to agree to a configuration for it to be worth persuing...but you can always try !

Bjorn

Oringinal Message deleted !

New Message :

Hey great Idea! There are some products by big names out there that you can look at for reference and feature sets.

Great to see someone taking such a big project on!

Get everyones opinions (POLL feature on board) and go from there

-Chuck

Right now I am waiting for my input TXs from Sowter, but my plan is to take 2 SSA N72 mic amps an inbetween the BA283 stages insert an SSL buss comp and 2 Elecrodyne 610L Eqs. Stereo channel strip...I am doing it in stages, starting with the N72s and the EQs. Next the comp. Iron in, iron out. God bless you all!

-BH

I agree with Bjorn, taste is simply too different to make a "recording channel" worthwile as a DIY-project. Everyone would want their own modifications - and whu shouldn't they? After all they are the ones building it..

The only reason would then be to make a "kit" that non-technically minded DIY'ers could follow to make an inexpensive good-quality unit, but I think that we already have some good projects for those people. And once they get the DIY bug, they'll want to decide on options for themselves..

Jakob E.

Honestly I think channelstrips is a dumb idea. I know they're hugely popular, but they always seem compromised to me. I never heard any that really sounded good. Granted I haven't heard the Gyraf or Fairman, but I have heard the Producerpack and the TubeTech, they sound okay, not stellar. I'd MUCH rather have the full flexibility.. I doubt any other designer can figure out all the crazy ways I connect gear sometimes.. :green:

Skipping all those trannies wouldn't be that smart, would it :?: :wink:

I guess being married to one path is limiting, does save on power supply, input output Xformers repeat topology etc. Combo box with compressor and shelving EQ, filter section. Nah. I think I'll concede this one. Channel strips are not DIY. Don't tell me they are now.
or.....

:?

Paul

Oh, I do think channel strips are DIY. Even easier than seperate boxes. But its' not good DIY, imo :wink:

I agree to a point with the notion of channel strips not being such a good project, but it seems that a mic preamp/EQ might be something that is worth while.

I am no electrical engineer by any means, but I have thought of some cool features for something like this.

I have been intrigued with implementing a variable resistor on the cathode of the preamp tubes in order to bias the tubes hotter or colder on the fly. It would be pretty cool to be able to get a bit of saturation on the preamp just by a spin of the dial. I don't know if this would throw everything else out of whack, but it sounds like fun.

Just a few thoughts.

I agree, having built one for my home rig (ISA 110 clone with SSL EQ card, VCA comp and gate). It was far too fiddly to want to repeat, even though you save on transformers and power supplys, I had to put relays everywhere to change the order of things blah blah. Stick to seperates. But I do like the sound of mine.

I think that channel strips are not such a great idea from an esthetic standpoint. It's important, if at all possible, to try different combinations of mic, mic pre, EQ, and compressor and see what sounds best with whatever source you're recording. Especially vocals. All-in-one units tend to force you into using what's there in front of you, not what sounds best. I've never found a one-size-fits-all signal chain, and I'm often surprised by what combination sounds best (or worst) on a given voice or instrument. Also, if they break your whole signal chain goes down. Just a thought.

Id personally focus on laying out a joy to use patchbay to connect all my stuff rather than figure out which amplifiers should share a common power supply in one box. Any kind of "recording" channel I'd want would have to have four different power supplies in it anyway... Thats just my opinion in case anyone cares.

If you KNOW what you want, kick out the jams! But if you dont, its so much more effective to have the flexability at the cost of buying redundant parts, and even though the parts are "redundant" in theory, if you have lundahl transformers on one, jensens on another and sowter on a third, theres gonna be nothing redundant about the sound of those transformers, dig?

dave

The quality where quality counts does make sense. :shock: I thought of the savings in parts instead of the sound. :sad: Where I work there are chicken heads everywhere and I will say they don't all sound good. Not poultry chicken heads either. Good parts used in bad equipment. :sad: Spare parts for me though. :grin: Heh heh heh.. OK before I get the typical answers, what about the already inexpensive green pre with a what compressor. Oh yeah bad idea right, right, yeah. :roll: Not even if it outperformed a...yeah right bad idea. Hey thanks for the answers.

Straycat,

Check out this post RE the Green Pre and What Comp: http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=8397

Cheers

Matt

Matt,

Check the dates of the previous posts.. :razz:

Jakob E.

Hah hah!

Thanks Jakob! Better late than never, LOL! I am always the person to
come in at the tale end of a conversation... In this case... A year later,
Hah hah!

Thanks for pointing it out :thumb:

Cheers

Matt