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

[fragletrollet]

Probably during summer...

Getting  awfully autumnish over here....

 

[JPK]

I am sorry, the temp was so nice here this week that I didn't notice we left summer.
Seriously, we will release the TS500 any time now, just waiting for a batch of PCB's.

 

[fragletrollet]

Any more juicy details for us?

 

[JPK]

TS500 is ready, please look at page 1.

 

[kante1603]

TS500 is ready, please look at page 1.

Sadly no like button here anymore,so congrats Jean-Pierre! 


Best regards,


Udo.

 

[sonus]

Awesome !!! I want two of these...!
Are the in and out pots stepped for easy stereo matching ?
About a year ago I purchased the MC-624 kit and all I have to say is that it'is a fantastic monitor controller. I couldn't be happier!
I 'm sure the tape simulator isgoing to be killer too.

 

[hazel]

I assume Stereo Tape Simulator standalone/rack version is discontinued, isn't it?

I'd be interested if you have a little stock of them before getting into 500 series

 

[slipperyflax]

Got the TS500-kit the other day. Haven't put it together yet, it will be my weekend project. But I must praise Sound Skulptors and J-Ps extremely fast service! I ordered (and paid) at roughly 9 am Monday morning and on Tuesday afternoon I got the kit in my hand! From the south of France to the north of Sweden in just 31 hours. A+++! 

 

[finbase]

Got the TS500-kit the other day. Haven't put it together yet, it will be my weekend project. But I must praise Sound Skulptors and J-Ps extremely fast service! I ordered (and paid) at roughly 9 am Monday morning and on Tuesday afternoon I got the kit in my hand! From the south of France to the north of Sweden in just 31 hours. A+++! 

That's my experience too: Sound Skulptor has been extremely nice little company to deal with! A+++! Excellent customer service and treatment IME. Please slipperyflax, keep us informed how these things sound when the time comes (ie. when you have assembled the kit.) These little beasts are super interesting!

A few questions to the designer himself too.

I was actually just about to order a pair of RN 542 units when the TS500 was released. So I started to hesitate...

The specs seem to be very similar on the paper: bulky trannies, constant current driven tape heads etc. I've seen the guts of 542 and they even look pretty similar.  I suppose that there's quite a lot of inspiration taken, although I greatly doubt that a mere copy or clone has been the target (ts500 is your sts successor, right?

Just out of curiosity: has portico 5042 and 542 affected to ts500's design? How would you describe the similarities and differences between your ts500 and RN 542? Did you want to capture some of 542's sonical charm and sound to your ts500 too (and hence the transformers)?

Hopefully my questions and observations don't feel derogatory, they're definately NOT meant to be like that...

Oh, and one nitpicking question... What trannies are you using? I can't regognize the brand. Some esoteric custom wound stuff, allowed only to the chosen few?

 

[slipperyflax]

That's my experience too: Sound Skulptor has been extremely nice little company to deal with! A+++! Excellent customer service and treatment IME. Please slipperyflax, keep us informed how these things sound when the time comes (ie. when you have assembled the kit.) These little beasts are super interesting!

I certainly will! My plan is to assemble, love it, and then buy another one  8)

 

[finbase]

I certainly will! My plan is to assemble, love it, and then buy another one  8)

Not bad... 

 

[slipperyflax]

Assembled, all setup and just tried it on lead vocals for color. Love it!  8) Although.. I'm the kind of guy who hasn't experienced real tape machines, I just like to put the plug-ins on everything to simulate it. This IS a subtle little box  but and don't do drastic, except for drive which it does beautifully to my ears. I am very pleased so far and now I'm gonna go try it on a mono mix! (will get another one in a month)

Cheers mates!

 

[LJEM]

Hi,

Can anyone help me with a Sound Skulptor EQ573 kit I just built please?  I am new to this forum so this might be the wrong place, if so sorry.

I have just powered it up to test via XLR switch setting and the low shelf does not seem to be working, or only marginally. When I switch from  to bypass the whole low end picks up but when I switch back to XLR is all  goes tinny again. A frequency analisers shows the low cut to be working and I can hear that the mid and high are working when switched in and boosted/ cut but low shelf seem almost none existant even at the extremes of boost and cutting.

Where should I start to look for a fault?

ATB - Mark

 

[finbase]

Hi,

Can anyone help me with a Sound Skulptor EQ573 kit I just built please?  I am new to this forum so this might be the wrong place, if so sorry.

I have just powered it up to test via XLR switch setting and the low shelf does not seem to be working, or only marginally. When I switch from  to bypass the whole low end picks up but when I switch back to XLR is all  goes tinny again. A frequency analisers shows the low cut to be working and I can hear that the mid and high are working when switched in and boosted/ cut but low shelf seem almost none existant even at the extremes of boost and cutting.

Where should I start to look for a fault?

ATB - Mark

Hi Mark!

If I were you I'd start a new thread in the project specific discussions, and there filters/equalizers. Start a new thread there and ask for help. Although there might be a dedicated 573eq thread somewhere, I'm not 100% sure...

As far as your topic is concerned, unfortunately I'm not able to help... But I suppose that everybody will suggest the basic troubleshooting first. You know, the usual suspects: how's your soldering, are all the components in the right places, orientated right etc. Quite often the problems are due to some silly build mistakes. I just made my gssl smoking spectacularly, and it was due to a n op amp that was installed backwards.... Dumb, but it happens!

 

[LJEM]

Hi Finbase and thanks for the quick reply.

I have taken a break and comeback with fresh eyes and a jewellers eye glass and checked my solder joints and re-soldered  some that looked suspicious and yey!! it now works!.

Many thanks - Mark

 

[finbase]

Hi Finbase and thanks for the quick reply.

I have taken a break and comeback with fresh eyes and a jewellers eye glass and checked my solder joints and re-soldered  some that looked suspicious and yey!! it now works!.

Many thanks - Mark

Congrats!

 

[Phrazemaster]

Just a question, was the original STS prone to clipping easily? I built 2 units, they are lovely, but I can never turn the gain past about 1.5 or 2, otherwise I get bad distortion on either left or right. Of course yes I can turn up the gain and turn down the output, but I still get distortion. If I leave the gain very very low, I also have to turn the output up to high to get decent signal (makes sense), but then I'm barely able to use the unit.

Any ideas JPK? I know I was very careful in the build, it's just I can hardly engage the unit without having distortion.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[fragletrollet]

Hello,
Just built 2 (out of 4) Ts-500 units, but C64 is missing in both kits (47pf). Also missing from the bom supplied with kits, but its mentioned in the build guide and bom found on the webpage. There's a spare 100n... is it supposed to be the substitute?

 

[JPK]

This is a very recent modification which came out after your kit was manufactured.
Please contact me and I will mail the cap to you.

 

[fragletrollet]

2 units up and running, calibrated and working in it`s full. Sounds great from the little testing I was able to do on the little monitor I had set up in my mother`s spare bedroom  8) (My studio is all packed down at the moment, first time ever since I started building it 15 years ago)