SB4000 Support Thread

[sheadstedford]

Production and sound design

 

[sr1200]

Lookin good jandoste!!!

 

[geoff004]

Just finished up mine today.
It works great and sounds nice.
Calibrating wasn't too hard either, especially once I turned my threshold knob the right way.

Can someone explain the T1 and T2 settings or tell me where I should have looked for an explanation?
I'm feeling like I need a manual to understand the whole thing better.

Thanks for the great project.

 

[ruckus328]

Glad to hear

Tilt1 / Tilt2 - They're a high pass & high shelf filter on the sidechain - simple explanation - they undercompress the lows and overcompress the highs.  Tilt2 is the more extreme of the two.  Really great on drums.

 

[sheadstedford]

Puty tang

 

[ruckus328]

wah-tah-tah ma hammy..... cap-a-chow......

 

[sheadstedford]

Too funny!

 

[Ptownkid]

"Pootie Tang will draw you a picture of how he gonna kick your ass, then mail it to you ten days in advance. The picture gets there right? You're goin', "What the hell is this?" and then Pootie Tang knocks on your door,promptly kicks your ass and you still won't know what happened to you!"

Such a classic!

 

[sheadstedford]

Haahhaaaa killing me!
Just got my meter through today and the screw holes for it dont match up properley!!
Just my luck ay!
Back out wit the drill then!
Meter is beautiful tho.
Finishes off the compressor nicely!
Just trying to find some non polarized caps for the tube stage now and im done!
Thanks again guys!
My first project has been really enjoyable bar the odd dickhead having a dig at the newbie
Now to choose the next one

 

[snipsnip]

its nobodys fault but your own if you havent got a clue what your doing... and not everyone is exited about your compressor as you are. Just try and remember that.

 

[Ptownkid]

its nobodys fault but your own if you havent got a clue what your doing... and not everyone is exited about your compressor as you are. Just try and remember that.

Nice attitude bud...

 

[sheadstedford]

its nobodys fault but your own if you havent got a clue what your doing... and not everyone is exited about your compressor as you are. Just try and remember that.

You really are a prik aint ya,
I let your last rant slip but you cant let it go!
Im pretty sure you werent born with electrical knowledge and ive always said i aint clued up on it and its my first build.
Its people like you that ruin forums wit your arrogance.
Gearsluts is that way
Dick head.
Sprry rukus but this guy needs a smack in the mouth

 

[sheadstedford]

And who asked you anyway?

 

[Neily]

its nobodys fault but your own if you havent got a clue what your doing... and not everyone is exited about your compressor as you are. Just try and remember that.

Everyone's gotta start somewhere man.

 

[snipsnip]

its nobodys fault but your own if you havent got a clue what your doing... and not everyone is exited about your compressor as you are. Just try and remember that.

You really are a prik aint ya,
I let your last rant slip but you cant let it go!
Im pretty sure you werent born with electrical knowledge and ive always said i aint clued up on it and its my first build.
Its people like you that ruin forums wit your arrogance.
Gearsluts is that way
Dick head.
Sprry rukus but this guy needs a smack in the mouth

jeesus - are you about 10 or something? Anyway you didnt 'let it go', you called someone (most likley me) a dickhead.

Your enthusiasm is to be commended, but your misplaced sense of self importance isnt.

Im far from an electronics expert, im just saying read the forum rules and start using google before asking questions like ''is this a power meter'', because you ruin other peoples enjoyment by flooding the forum with banalities.

Good to see people finishing these off anyway, with or without an eq section

 

[sheadstedford]

But you can flood the forum with YOUR own sense of self importance belittling newcomers and moaning.
You seem to be the only one with a problem with it.


Anyway Finished, you cant please everyone.
cheers rukus and ptown, im hooked.

 

[Songguy]

My .02
I have been in your shoes.
The First project is very exciting and quite an accomplishment on many levels. Well done!
The great thing about this forum is that many folks have a "pass it forward" mentality. However, within a given population there will be the odd antagonist who perhaps doesn't remember their first build and the inherent uncertainty of whether the build will actually work or not and the excitement of it ultimately doing what it should.

Enjoy your compressor and all your future projects.

Pm'ing is also good for board spats

C

 

[Adam Smith]

Mine is up and running. Bar meter is working properly, vu meter is working properly. It passes audio in bypass and comp mode. PSU, Unity trim and cv levels all calibrated correctly. However, I'm having a problem getting it to reduce gain. If I hit it w/ 20dBv and turn the threshhold to -20 w/ the ratio set to 2:1 I'll get about 4dBv of gain reduction. That seems to be the absolute max gain reduction it'll give. 4:1 and 10:1 get less GR, more like 2dBv, I'm checking GR using an external dB meter. The VU gives me an accurate reading of what little GR I'm getting BTW.

I'm starting by applying a 1kHz at +4dBv (1.23v) from the unbalanced out of my function generator and reading it using the unbalanced in of my Fluke dB meter. I up the amplitude of the signal from my generator until I see GR.

This is my first VCA project, so I'm not sure where to start looking.

Learned individuals, what are your thoughts?

 

[ruckus328]

The lower the signal the lower the threshold.  Sounds like either you're not feeding it a loud enough signal or your calibration is off or combo of the 2.  So we're speaking apples to apples ditch the unbalanced signal and talk to me in dbu.  If you used an unbalanced signal to calibrate and test this could very well be the source of the issue.  Feed it a balanced signal 1KHz test tone from your daw.  Adjust your output so you read about 1.23V RMS (+4dbu) with your fluke across the +/- pins of the xlr input (with the unit in bypass).  Then engage the unit and go through the calibration steps again.  Let me know if this resolves it.

 

[DanH]

First of all, I want to sincerely thank you for the time and effort you've put into this project. I hit a little snafu with one channel deciding to put out only a nasty +24 dBu 1kHz square wave, but managed to trace the problem to a faulty VCA. Mouser overnight shipping to the rescue.

Once fixed, the unit was easy to calibrate. I really like that it passes audio when powered off. Also, simply putting the compressor in circuit with no gain reduction or makeup adds a real nice, punch sparkle in the midrange that gives me chills. I work in radio in new York city, where we record 4-12 in-studio performances each week. I've normalled this unit to the master insert on our mixing desk!

Couple questions:

- Is it criminal to use only one winding from the transformer primary? (eg, blue and grey, on the standard bom transformer). I just heat shrinked the ends of the other two and stuffed them in the corner of the chassis. If I'm crazy or if I'm going to burn my studio down, please let me know..

- the 1mA meter shows RMS gain reduction, right?

Again, thank you! You're a rockstar in my book. And thanks p-town for dealing with the nightmarish parts kit.

Best,/img][/img]

Dan