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

[dagoose]

OK, just ordered a minikit!  ;D

 

[JPK]

To Spiritworks : no face-plate in the "full kit minus case".
To ChrioN : The mini-kit is the smaller kit on offer.
To daggose : That was fast, thanks!

 

[TheGuitarist]

Just by looking at the picture... This looks like a half size (horizontally) 1ru box. Do you have, or can you recommend any rack ears for it? Just be nice to have a nicely printed box instead of engraving it/printing it myself.

 

[dagoose]

Just wondering about the VU leds, how far away are they from each other? Asking this because i'm going to do a shaeffer panel with the led VU bars.
I will build the sts in a 1ru case with 2 deck 24steps in/out attenuators, so just one control for in and output, so no left/right but stereo.
Do you have a panel file available maybe?

 

[JPK]

The STS is 1U high but not exactly 1/2U wide.
To make a 1U rack case, it is possible to replace the current front panel by a 19" wide one.
Below is a Front Panel Designer file that will do that :
http://soundskulptor.com/download/sts/sts1-frontplate-19.fpd
From this file you can also see the panel cutout needed for the led meters.

 

[Spiritworks]

Will two STS fit side by side on a 1U rack shelf ? That seems the simplest solution to rack-mount.

 

[ChrioN]

Are the led meter PCBs included in the mini-kit?

 

[JPK]

If you want to mount 2 STS in a 1U rack case, use the case 1SL01170N here :
http://www.modushop.biz/ecommerce/cat066_l2.php?n=1
Then drill the face and back plates accordingly to these Front Panel Designer files:
http://soundskulptor.com/download/sts/sts2-frontplate-19.fpd
http://soundskulptor.com/download/sts/sts2-backplate-19.fpd
*** Warning : Not tested yet ***
The STS case is a little wider than 1/2 of a 19" rack.

The LED meters are included in the mini kit.

 

[dagoose]

My kit came in today, looks great! the board is bigger then i expected and looks cool!

Just wondering, what is the purpose of glueing the diodes D3/D4 to the transistors and what will happen when you just solder them in? is it because of heat measuring or something like that?

 

[JPK]

The diodes are used to set the idle current in the power transistors. If they are not tied to the transistors, a temperature increase will increase the current, which will increase the temperature and finally cause a thermal runaway, blowing the transistors away.
When the diodes are tied to the transistors, an increase in temperature will cause a current decrease which in turn will lower the temp. The result is temperature and current stability.

 

[dagoose]

OK, cool, so basically just as i thought. 
Makes sense to me.
How hot will the transistor/diode run in practice? can i use a gluegun to glue then together or will that melt because the of the hotglue temp? i love hotglue you know  ;D

 

[JPK]

I would not use hot glue. I doubt it is a good thermal conductor and it is not very well adapted to very small works. I'd recommend a drop of super-glue (cyanocrylate).

 

[dagoose]

I glued the 1n914's to the transistors with superglue, wasn't that hard indeed, have to put on some caps, inductors and then the maninboard is done.  8)
The only thing is that 'm waiting for the 24 steps switches to come in (from Finland) so i can have it done with stepped in/outs but i have enough pots to test it, might also come in handy to see how they react so stepped switches are easier to set right.
I will also have a hardbypass (relaybased) instead of the onboard bypass.
I think i will use a 317/337 based PSU for it, i like them more then 78/7915 psu's and since i have a board left for that it's quite easy to do.

Still wondering about the 1n914, why did you go for the 914 instead of the 1n4148 since these are basically the same (google says it's the same) instead of the current it can handle.
Or is it that lower current of the 1n914 that is used for the temp/load compensation? i know.. i'm curious.  ;D

 

[dagoose]

I made a 'supporttopic' to keep this thread a bit clean:

http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=38353.0

 

[naths101]

any word on a 500 series version?
cheers

 

[Script]

the board is bigger then i expected

What's the width/depth of the board in cm?

 

[Script]

I agree that we need more sound samples. I am moving up this task in my priority list.

Nag nag nag

 

[JPK]

STS board dimensions: width 200 mm, depth 169.5 mm.

 

[reanimatorstudio]

do you sell the peak meters pcb seperatly? I need at least 20 of them for racking old preamps and compressors.

 

[JPK]

Yes,
15.89€ (19€ VAT incl.) a pair, shipping to EU included.