Sound Skulptor: Pre's, Compressors, Tape Simulator, Professionnal Audio Kits

Hi,

I have to say a massive thanks to JPK for the kit and service provided.  I'm glad the blog-post was useful too!  8)

I highly recommend these to anyone thinking of getting one.



Ian.

Its been a while since i finished my pair of MP573s. Just came to say i love them and its a very special and creamy preamp. Packaging, build guide and the way the build develops are second to none. Everything just fits like a glove and as you progress you keep noticing how much attention was paid to every detail. Hope to see new Sound Skulptor designs soon!

We just released a new '500' kit : the MP 5.12

Look on page 1 of this thread.

We just released a new '500' kit : the CP 5176 FET compressor.


Look on page 1 of this thread.

VERY INTERESTING!!!!

Any soundsamples in the pipeline?

Congrats!
Magnus

Are these Items compatible in 51X format?

Toure14 said:

Are these Items compatible in 51X format?

Click to expand...

Since these are 500 series lunch box format they will definetely fit 51x too.

Best,

Udo.

Hi.

Need to get a 1176 style compressor (or two!) at some point and was impressed by the options on the CP 5176. The product page includes most details, but there are a couple of other things I'm curious about:

It's 500 compatible, so it's presumably using the +/-16v rails. What does it operate at internally? Obviously I'm asking because there's another 1176 around that operates off +/-16v too, and converts to +30v internally, so just curious (though I'm currently leaning toward your unit due to better options).

Also, l noticed that there is a button that adds THD for an approximation of the "A" variant. Without that button, which variant does this unit most closely resemble?

Anyway, heard great things about your kits...

Cheers,

Kaz

Hi Kaz, thanks for the kind words.

The CP5176 creates a single ended +28V power rail out of the +/-16V to power the variable gain stage.
Because it uses a DOA, the output stage is normally powered in +/-16V.

The variable gain stage is based on the 1176 - REV D. The 'Dist' switch unbalances the FET distortion cancellation circuit and produces a few % of second harmonic distortion.

Wanted to say, I built a bunch of SS stuff the last couple of years, and not only the build quality was a dream, but Jean-Pierre's kind and thoughtful support was brilliant and spot-on. Not only that, I discovered recently I like the Stereo Tape Simulator so well I thought I would track vocals right through them...they naturally compress and I didn't even end up needing to use my other compressors. Awesome sounding! Liquidy, gooey, warm, golden, saturated tape goodness with smart controls and sharp-looking panel.

Thanks again Jean-Pierre! Hope you make some more new things I need...because I'm a DIY guy and I NEED to DIY more of your stuff!

Mike

i've been using my MP573 on a few sax sessions recently and it sounds AWESOME! smooth and warm, it really tames the brighter mics in my locker like the AT4033 and AKGC535. nice on everything else as well. Great work JP!

I'm digging into my build of the CP5176 and I've discovered that my kit came with a 331pF ceramic capacitor for C16 which is spec'd as a 330pF film capacitor.  I'm almost willing to assume that this is an acceptable substitution but.... better to ask than be sorry.  Anyone here know if it's cool?

Thanks

Sparqee said:

I'm digging into my build of the CP5176 and I've discovered that my kit came with a 331pF ceramic capacitor for C16 which is spec'd as a 330pF film capacitor.  I'm almost willing to assume that this is an acceptable substitution but.... better to ask than be sorry.  Anyone here know if it's cool?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Not an expert on this build (or any other!), but my kit came with the same spec'd part and it's been running fine.

Sometime capacitors have slightly different markings, of the format xxy, where y represents the number of zeroes to add on to the xx. This means 331 expands to 330, if that system is in use in this case. As I said, I'm no expert so I can't say when the system is employed and when it isn't so I might be wrong in this case.

If the forementioned system isn't being used, then the error introduced is only 1/330th of a picofarad which is well within the normal 5% tolerance of most of the capacitors we (groupdiy'ers) use in our (many other unrelated) builds anyway (obviously the lower and upper bounds for the component would be affected though).

Of course film vs ceramic might be more important, but I don't know anything about that...

Hope that helps.

Kaz

(edited for clarity and to avoid sounding like I'm affiliated with anyone...)

Please check the "important notes" document in the kit box.
The originally spec'ed 330pF Wima FKP02 cap has been out of stock for 10 months and will probably remain forever.
We have replaced it by a high quality COG ceramic cap with no measurable effect and no sound change.

Thanks JPK.  I must admit I didn't look at the paperwork that closely once I saw that it was pretty much the same as the PDF's I downloaded from the website.  Missing details like that can really bite you in the backside.

Hi guys!

Just wondering if there will be a full blown STS with all the mods that has been done to it? Especially transformers I/O and a 5 position switch with the different clipping settings?

Thanks! Keep up the good work!

Just a bump to say , I've built  a few sound skulptor things for friends that have been
well documented , supported & sound great. Good value in my opinion .

Thank you for all the kind words.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

Hi Jean-Pierre,

Just a few words to say how much i'm happy with my MP73... 4 years later, it's still my go to preamp for vocals !

By the way, any plan to release the 176 comp on the 1U rack system ?  ;D

Hugo.

Thank you for the nice comment.
Adapting the CP5176 to the rack system would require 2 slots because of the number of panel controls. This is not very desirable because it doubles the per module cost. So, while no final decision has been taken, we are leaning towards the "not doing" direction.