¿can a person be sued for designs?

[MidnightArrakis]

Back in May of 1979, I met up with Paul Buff of ALLISON Research, the designer of the "Gain-Brain" comp/limiter at the "63rd AES Convention". ALLISON Research and Mr. Buff were there at this AES Convention to introduce the new "Gain-Brain 2" as they were discontinuing the original "Gain-Brain". For those who may not know and/or remember, the "Gain-Brain" was available as an up to 16-Channel unit housed in a 4U rack-chassis with each individual channel sliding into a card-cage assembly. Pretty slick for its time.

Because ALLISON Research was discontinuing the original "Gain-Brain" in favor of the new "Gain-Brain 2", Mr. Buff both agreed to and had no qualms about selling to me 2 bare PCB's of the original "Gain-Brain" with no components for $25!!! I thought that that was a terrific deal even then!!! Those original "Gain-Brain" PCB's were -- single-sided -- layouts that were manually hand-designed, probably by Mr. Buff himself.

Since at that point in time in my audio design engineering career I was just beginning to get into and learn about the process of designing PCB's on my own, as soon as these PCB's arrived at where I lived at the time, I immediately went about the process of "Reverse-Engineering" the "Gain-Brain" PCB on a large hand-built "light-table" I had built specifically to design PCB's at home. When I had that process completed, I took my PCB artwork to a local PCB-fabricator and had 12 PCB's fabricated. I then took 2 of the PCB's and created a "Stereo Gain-Brain" in a 1U rack-chassis that I still have even today!!!

What all of this -- rambling -- is leading up to is.....now that I design rack-mount chassis and PCB's using modern CAD-design programs, I have often thought of replicating the original "Gain-Brain" schematic using my CAD-design software and then designing a 1U rack-chassis that could house either 8 individual channels or 4 - Stereo Pairs of "Gain-Brain" comp/limiting. My idea being somewhat akin to that of what "Pucho" is thinking of doing.

But.....I have often thought that maybe "Valley People" (the new ALLISON Research company) just might come knocking at my door with some kind of legal action. However, I have also thought that: 1) I was personally sold the original PCB's by the then-owner of the original company, 2) The "Gain-Brain" was considered -- discontinued -- back in 1979 and, 3) The "Gain-Brain" has not been in production for over 40-years, 4) My creation of the schematic, the PCB's, the rack-chassis sheet-metal design and other details would all be of my "work" and would not be similar to the original product in any way, shape or form!!! And.....5) During my various hopping trips across the Internet, I have come across some other audio forums where their members still favor the comp/limiting action and sound of the "Gain-Brain" and have expressed a desire to purchase one.....-- IF -- they were still available. Ergo.....my interest in fulfilling a possible need. But, I don't wanna get sued!!!

Any ideas???

/

 

[JohnRoberts]

Any ideas???

/

Paul Buff RIP....

JR

 

[MidnightArrakis]

感謝您對產品改進的指導。

Using the English language will more than likely get you a response of some type because basically nobody on this forum can read whichever Asian language your post is in. SORRY!!!

My 2-cents.....

/

 

[pucho812]

Alison research became valley people when Alison and Paul buff divorced.

 

[Brian Roth]

Alison research became valley people when Alison and Paul buff divorced.

And PMI eventually bought "what was left" of Valley:

https://pmiaudio.com/history/

Bri

 

[pucho812]

And PMI eventually bought "what was left" of Valley:

https://pmiaudio.com/history/

Bri

They did.
They even tried to reissue a module or two to fit the api 500 series format

 

[pucho812]

Back in May of 1979, I met up with Paul Buff of ALLISON Research, the designer of the "Gain-Brain" comp/limiter at the "63rd AES Convention". ALLISON Research and Mr. Buff were there at this AES Convention to introduce the new "Gain-Brain 2" as they were discontinuing the original "Gain-Brain". For those who may not know and/or remember, the "Gain-Brain" was available as an up to 16-Channel unit housed in a 4U rack-chassis with each individual channel sliding into a card-cage assembly. Pretty slick for its time.

Because ALLISON Research was discontinuing the original "Gain-Brain" in favor of the new "Gain-Brain 2", Mr. Buff both agreed to and had no qualms about selling to me 2 bare PCB's of the original "Gain-Brain" with no components for $25!!! I thought that that was a terrific deal even then!!! Those original "Gain-Brain" PCB's were -- single-sided -- layouts that were manually hand-designed, probably by Mr. Buff himself.

Since at that point in time in my audio design engineering career I was just beginning to get into and learn about the process of designing PCB's on my own, as soon as these PCB's arrived at where I lived at the time, I immediately went about the process of "Reverse-Engineering" the "Gain-Brain" PCB on a large hand-built "light-table" I had built specifically to design PCB's at home. When I had that process completed, I took my PCB artwork to a local PCB-fabricator and had 12 PCB's fabricated. I then took 2 of the PCB's and created a "Stereo Gain-Brain" in a 1U rack-chassis that I still have even today!!!

What all of this -- rambling -- is leading up to is.....now that I design rack-mount chassis and PCB's using modern CAD-design programs, I have often thought of replicating the original "Gain-Brain" schematic using my CAD-design software and then designing a 1U rack-chassis that could house either 8 individual channels or 4 - Stereo Pairs of "Gain-Brain" comp/limiting. My idea being somewhat akin to that of what "Pucho" is thinking of doing.

But.....I have often thought that maybe "Valley People" (the new ALLISON Research company) just might come knocking at my door with some kind of legal action. However, I have also thought that: 1) I was personally sold the original PCB's by the then-owner of the original company, 2) The "Gain-Brain" was considered -- discontinued -- back in 1979 and, 3) The "Gain-Brain" has not been in production for over 40-years, 4) My creation of the schematic, the PCB's, the rack-chassis sheet-metal design and other details would all be of my "work" and would not be similar to the original product in any way, shape or form!!! And.....5) During my various hopping trips across the Internet, I have come across some other audio forums where their members still favor the comp/limiting action and sound of the "Gain-Brain" and have expressed a desire to purchase one.....-- IF -- they were still available. Ergo.....my interest in fulfilling a possible need. But, I don't wanna get sued!!!

Any ideas???

/

1. Don’t call it a gain brain. Call it something else like the baseball bat compressor because it smacks.
2. Don’t make any association to it other then inspired by, or some other wording. Even then be careful. Some companies are not as forgiving as others.
3. Change it up a little. Not sure how one would. But little changes can prevent a person from saying stolen. Maybe add some balancing transformers or a balancing circuit on the output.

(Side note on the gain brain)
have 4 x gain brains that came from Zappa’s UMRK. The rack housed 8 originally but when I got them it had 4 and no power supply. So I put a plate over where the 4 missing ones were and mounted a psu to that. I then added a power switch. It still says UMRK and looks great. For whatever reason the rack is not standard ru size, meaning if I have it in a rack, it’s like 6.5ru tall. Not 6. Which gets annoying.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Paul Buff was brilliant. His grasp and execution of log gain control circuits was amazing.

I spent some time with him after he moved to Nashville. His second career in photography strobe lighting was also notable.

JR

 

[Brian Roth]

Paul Buff was brilliant. His grasp and execution of log gain control circuits was amazing.

I spent some time with him after he moved to Nashville. His second career in photography strobe lighting was also notable.

JR

I recall many years ago when I first traveled to Salina for projects, I toured the offices at Acoustic Sounds here. They had (still have) a small, but very professional, photo studio for taking pictures of gear, LPs, etc. for their website and paper catalog. The strobes were from Paul Buff, Inc.

Bri

 

[Brian Roth]

1. Don’t call it a gain brain. Call it something else like the baseball bat compressor because it smacks.
2. Don’t make any association to it other then inspired by, or some other wording. Even then be careful. Some companies are not as forgiving as others.
3. Change it up a little. Not sure how one would. But little changes can prevent a person from saying stolen. Maybe add some balancing transformers or a balancing circuit on the output.

(Side note on the gain brain)
have 4 x gain brains that came from Zappa’s UMRK. The rack housed 8 originally but when I got them it had 4 and no power supply. So I put a plate over where the 4 missing ones were and mounted a psu to that. I then added a power switch. It still says UMRK and looks great. For whatever reason the rack is not standard ru size, meaning if I have it in a rack, it’s like 6.5ru tall. Not 6. Which gets annoying.

I don't recall if the original Gain Brain or Kepex modules were balanced in or out. Did the original Gain Brain also use neon bulbs for the gain reduction metering as found on the original Kepex? That also required a separate 90 VDC (?) power rail. There would be another obvious change!

Bri

 

[pucho812]

I don't recall if the original Gain Brain or Kepex modules were balanced in or out. Did the original Gain Brain also use neon bulbs for the gain reduction metering as found on the original Kepex? That also required a separate 90 VDC (?) power rail. There would be another obvious change!

Bri

The one I have are unbalanced in and out.
They run off a single 24vdc supply.
But I never took one apart as they work well.

 

[Brian Roth]

The one I have are unbalanced in and out.
They run off a single 24vdc supply.
But I never took one apart as they work well.

Tis been tooooo many years...lol. How did they do the gain reduction metering on the Gain Brain?

Bri

 

[pucho812]

Tis been tooooo many years...lol. How did they do the gain reduction metering on the Gain Brain?

Bri

A bunch of led’s. I would have to look at a schemo

 

[MidnightArrakis]

Tis been tooooo many years...lol. How did they do the gain reduction metering on the Gain Brain?

[How did they do the gain reduction metering on the Gain Brain?] -- Like this.....



>> I need to dig out of a closet an older computer of mine that -- just might -- have my redrawn OrCAD schematic on it. That version of the "Gain-Brain" schematic is much easier to read because I had also saved it as a PDF file.

[The one I have are unbalanced in and out] -- That is one of the main items that I had also wanted to include into my "updated" version of the "Gain-Brain". With today's studio environment now mostly being balanced circuitry, I wanted my version of the "Gain-Brain" circuitry to be fully-balanced "IN & OUT". Is adding this circuitry enough to prevent anyone from coming after me??? REALLY???.....

I was also thinking of offering my "8-Channel A&P* Comp/Limiter" as a kit for DIY'ers to build themselves. Whaddya think of that? (* -- A&P = "Allison & Paul")!!!

Let me go take a look for that old schematic now!!! See ya!!!.....

/

 

[Brian Roth]

Well.....at least Paul Buff moved away from using multiple neon lamps (probably NE-2's) like he did on the Kepex!

Bri

 

[Ó Draighnáin]

Using the English language will more than likely get you a response of some type because basically nobody on this forum can read whichever Asian language your post is in. SORRY!!!

My 2-cents.....

/

I was curious and did an online translation. Must have taken me all of 10 seconds. For what it is worth, he was thanking Ian for the advice.

 

[MidnightArrakis]

Well.....at least Paul Buff moved away from using multiple neon lamps (probably NE-2's) like he did on the Kepex!

I don't know when the KEPEX was designed, but I understand that the "Gain-Brain" was designed in 1969 or slightly earlier. Now.....if you think about it for a second or two.....using LED's in a metering circuit back in 1969 had to be relatively -- WAY BEFORE -- its time, as LED's were a new semiconductor device unto themselves!!!

>> Thanks to Nick Holonyak, the first visible-light LED was born in 1962. But it wasn’t a random invention, so where does the science behind LEDs come from? Surprisingly, the history of LED's is over 100 years old!

The first usable LED products were HP's LED display and Monsanto's LED indicator lamp, both launched in 1968.

Monsanto was the first organization to mass-produce visible LEDs, using Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) in 1968 to produce red LEDs suitable for indicators. Monsanto had previously offered to supply HP with GaAsP, but HP decided to grow its own GaAsP. In February 1969, Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP Model 5082-7000 Numeric Indicator, the first LED device to use integrated circuit (integrated LED circuit) technology. It was the first intelligent LED display, and was a revolution in digital display technology, replacing the Nixie tube (RIP) and becoming the basis for later LED displays.

In the 1970s, commercially successful LED devices at less than five cents each were produced by Fairchild Optoelectronics.

/

 

[sahib]

..... His second career in photography strobe lighting was also notable.

JR

Good products they were. I was recommended to them to be their service centre for UK/EU. We had a few e-mail exchange with (I would guess) Mr Buff's number two (who is also a member here) but it did not materialise.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Good products they were. I was recommended to them to be their service centre for UK/EU. We had a few e-mail exchange with (I would guess) Mr Buff's number two (who is also a member here) but it did not materialise.

I recall Paul sharing stories about testing high voltage capacitors that could blow up while being charged if faulty.

JR

 

[sahib]

I repaired a few power packs for my late photographer friend. Utterly lethal. I am now helping his wife to dispose his equipment with another friend. I took two of this overhead gantry power packs down last month. 5kW each. I have not weighed it but probably around 40-50Kg. So, imagine the size of the capacitors.