I, for one, appreciate the 60’s style capsule. It was perfect for my early ‘60’s U67 recreation!
Soliloqueen's k87(k67) and k47 capsules
- Thread starter kingkorg
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On a totally different topic, I know you said they wouldn’t ship until January, and it’s only *just* January, but is there an ETA on cardioid-only K47V’s for those of us that ordered during the Black Friday sale?
i think i have enough here to ship at least half of them over the weekend, but the rest might have to wait until just before or after namm
Made me think about modern reproductions of classic analog synths. One of the main reasons they are now considered classics is their musical sound, which is in part due to the components and manufacturing being shittier than today's. Do a 1 on 1 recreation of a classic synth circuit with modern components and manufacturing technology, and it'll sound more behaved and sterile. I sold most of my vintage synths, because of low use, sky rocketing prices and maintenance requirements, but I will never part with my Soviet Polivoks. That thing sounds wild and dangerous, mostly because of its crappy manufacturing and components.
Looking at that capsule it's clear it's far from perfect. Maybe your crazy friend can come up with a way to unperfect them. Put'm together with some carefully selected gravel in a box and shake for 19 seconds and half, or do some barista style swirling in the metal alloy or something.
soapfoot
Well-known member
I never met a fully-working, healthy, original U67 i disliked
Even the reissues, once a proper tube is installed, are great to me (maybe I’m just easy to please)
Even the reissues, once a proper tube is installed, are great to me (maybe I’m just easy to please)
Hi Ari!
Some time ago you gave us a link to be able to view the FR of different batches of K87 capsules compared to the K67, K87v and K870 targets, if I'm not mistaken. I then saved some images, but in the meantime my smartphone exploded and I lost 250GB of information. From a post I recovered the picture I'm attaching.
I have a big request:
Can you please post a single FR graph with your targets above with unmatched signal levels to see the small differences between the k67/87/870 capsule generations? Yes, the FR only tells part of the story but provides useful information.
***
I like k67 capsules from the '60s for their sweetness, warmth, intimacy, feeling (I grew up in the '60s, that's when I started my musical and electronic adventure), but I also like the bite, the incisiveness, the impact of the mid-highs in the modern, dense, powerful mixes that most clients insistently ask me for, associated with the more modern U87.
In addition, each scenario requires microphones with appropriate characters.
So, I love microphones, but I prefer ones with nice mids, (maybe my dull ears don't like Highs, 'V' or 'Smile' equalization), I'm still nostalgic for the AM radio sound, when I used to listen to Radio Luxemburg 208, whole nights when I had propagation better.
In conclusion, I would be happy to have 87 microphones with all flavors, more vintage and more modern.
***
But maybe, without separately designing a distinct version of K87 with slightly more prominent 3...5kHz, you could just by simple selection according to tolerance dispersion, separate them into 2 categories, so that the buyer can choose according to preference. I know, it's not ideal, technically correct, but maybe people would be happy with the options.
Ari, thank you once again for your attention to detail, fairness, honesty and all this immense work.
May the new year bring you health, happiness, satisfaction, only good things, exceptional achievements!
Micolas from Romania
Attachments
Hi Ari!
Some time ago you gave us a link to be able to view the FR of different batches of K87 capsules compared to the K67, K87v and K870 targets, if I'm not mistaken. I then saved some images, but in the meantime my smartphone exploded and I lost 250GB of information. From a post I recovered the picture I'm attaching.
I have a big request:
Can you please post a single FR graph with your targets above with unmatched signal levels to see the small differences between the k67/87/870 capsule generations? Yes, the FR only tells part of the story but provides useful information.
***
I like k67 capsules from the '60s for their sweetness, warmth, intimacy, feeling (I grew up in the '60s, that's when I started my musical and electronic adventure), but I also like the bite, the incisiveness, the impact of the mid-highs in the modern, dense, powerful mixes that most clients insistently ask me for, associated with the more modern U87.
In addition, each scenario requires microphones with appropriate characters.
So, I love microphones, but I prefer ones with nice mids, (maybe my dull ears don't like Highs, 'V' or 'Smile' equalization), I'm still nostalgic for the AM radio sound, when I used to listen to Radio Luxemburg 208, whole nights when I had propagation better.
In conclusion, I would be happy to have 87 microphones with all flavors, more vintage and more modern.
***
But maybe, without separately designing a distinct version of K87 with slightly more prominent 3...5kHz, you could just by simple selection according to tolerance dispersion, separate them into 2 categories, so that the buyer can choose according to preference. I know, it's not ideal, technically correct, but maybe people would be happy with the options.
Ari, thank you once again for your attention to detail, fairness, honesty and all this immense work.
May the new year bring you health, happiness, satisfaction, only good things, exceptional achievements!
Nicholas from Romania
I do have measurements of each generation, without matching the sensitivity. Here:
Different comp curve from the chart you posted. A 60s unit, a unit from like 79 or something? And a modern k870. None of these units have the runout that I'm talking about though. All three of these units have in-spec plates. This is somewhat unusual in my experience.
In the past, I have binned capsules for people with different tastes, but I can't do that anymore because we've run into a serious problem with this approach with the new plates:
This is multiple units. The new plates don't vary enough to bin. We Are literally pushing up against modern Neumann Berlin tolerances with the new plates. It's really really difficult to engineer failure. Even if we somehow did, that would make the side to side matching worse because there would be no way to easily tell what the response of a plate would be. Separate drawings are definitely necessary and will probably happen.
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Ari, you are brilliant! So demanding, analytical,perfectionist!
This is exactly the comparison I was looking for. (Red represents K67 - '60 and
Green is K870? Are the relative output levels under the same conditions?)
! On the other hand, I am still amazed how the Neumann people still managed to achieve good consistency with technological means not so advanced as the current ones.
*I fully understand the reasoning behind the production of the Arienne K87v capsule.
We are also upset by the lack of correctness, honesty and technological discipline of the manufacturer of backplates, which has created so many financial and commercial problems for you.
I will be happy to use your capsules.
Many thanks!
Potato Cakes
Well-known member
Your attention to detail is clinically psychotic. I love it.
come on. i haven't been clinically psychotic in weeks...
egroys
Well-known member
I'm currently making a PtP 49, cardioid only, Moby traffo, with a 6S6B-V.
I'm considering one of Ari's 47s and curious of what folks think would be a better: flat or standard?
I'm considering one of Ari's 47s and curious of what folks think would be a better: flat or standard?
Barry Hufker
Well-known member
What are you recording? What will you record? What suits your sound source? What have you already tried? What have you heard that you liked?
egroys
Well-known member
I have M49s with Beesneez M7s but I want to keep those mostly on room duties and for this to be primarily for vocals. I have (all Poctop) 67, 87, 47, 251 so I suppose I want a dedicated vocal 49 that differs from my M7 49s.
Barry Hufker
Well-known member
Then it seems to me you don't want a flat 47 capsule, if I understand the situation correctly. To my understanding, a flat 47 should be like a 49 with M7 capsule. But that's just my opinion...
The flat and accurate k47 honestly aren't super different right now. The current accurate k47 is a lot like current production Neumann k47s which are kind of dark. Vintage ones are brighter because of the same run out I mentioned previously. I've been thinking of adding simulated run out to the k47v to distinguish it from the flat k47 more for a couple months. That and moving the flat k47 to the Neumann style rings and film. I need to move the flat k47 back to plastic rings to avoid long-term potential shorting issues but doing it with the current ring setup would require a second plastic ring mold which seems kind of like it would be stupid and a waste when I could just as easily Port the design to the Neumann style Rings instead and save about 5 grand. I would need some way to make it look different than the k47v though. Maybe black rings.
callgrlmusic
Member
sorry for off-topic: just came here to echo what others have been saying, which is that your attention to detail with this stuff is incredibly inspiring. that's definitely what's shot you up to the top of my list for parts on current and future projects.
Any thought of adding the UTM0567 to the fleet. I see so many uses for that one. I have simulated a few scenarios with it in tube and solid state circuitry. Today I planted a 6814 into a U47 style casing in anticipation of a flat K47.
international shipments are delayed for a hot second because fedex accidentally(hopefully?) terminated shipstation's discount.
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