User manual

resolution July/August 2014
38
GEAR MODULAR PROCESSING SUPPLEMENT
ShinyBox
The Guillotine is a Digitally-Controlled Analogue
High/Low Pass Filter module. Using a 12dB/
octave lter, it provides a means of returning to
exact settings. The Guillotine has 32 selectable
frequencies per band and provides visual
feedback for the high (15Hz-1.4kHz) and low
(28kHz-450Hz) bands using cascading LEDs —
32 for each band.
www.shinybox.com
Shadow Hills
The Shadow Hills Dual Vandergraph
is a direct descendant of the Shadow
Hills Mastering Compressor. This
stereo compressor’s discrete audio
path is Class-A and features Shadow
Hills’ custom Iron Transformers. The
Dual Vandergraph’s Compression
and Output controls are Swiss-made,
24-position attenuators. The Ratio
switch selects between 1.2:1, 2.5:1, 4:1,
and 8:1. In addition to changing ratios,
each selection changes preset attack and recover times. The
Sidechain Filter Matrix controls the frequency sensitivity of the
sidechain with positions for 90Hz, 150Hz, 250Hz, and Bandpass.
www.shadowhillsindustries.com
XQP
The 535 Program EQ provides basic 2-band
EQ with two frequency choices per band.
Based on the active version of the Baxandall
circuit, the 535 includes an amplier for each
band to avoid interaction. The slopes of the
535 are of the very gentle shelving variety.
A maximum of 4dB/octave is achieved at
full boost/cut. The 541 Optical compressor
is a feedback-style compressor, designed
for smooth, unobtrusive gain reduction. It
uses Silonex optocouplers for gain reduction
and subtractive metering. Its control set is
minimal, comprising a ten-segment LED
gain reduction meter, a threshold control
operating in a dbx-style counterclockwise
direction with an arbitrary
orientation, and make
up gain. The 545 Optical
Disrupter is an optical
compressor that creates an asymmetrical
waveform as it compresses low frequencies,
resulting in smooth, second-order harmonic
distortion without clipping and associated
harshness. The 570 Mic Preamp is a simple
design featuring a Lundahl LL1576 input
transformer and a continuously variable gain pot (ranging from
28-65dB), 20dB pad, phantom power switch with LED, and ten-
step LED peak meter.
www.xqpaudio.com
Valley People
The Dyna-mite in its peak limit mode is a fast limiter that does
not ‘squash’ the programme as it can respond to transients in
around 6ms, allowing some of the fast rising waveforms to pass
through. There is gain recovery coupling in the control, so it
works as a high ratio compressor when the threshold is set below
0dB. Thanks to an auto-release circuit that prevents the release
circuit from interfering with the attack portion of the control
waveform, the Dyna-mite also works as an expander and gate.
The output circuitry is servo balanced and capable of driving
600Ohm into +24dB.
www.valleypeople.com
Moog Music
The Ladder is a Dynamic Transistor
Ladder Filter that is based on Bob Moog’s
original ladder lter designs. It sports a
smooth sounding, all-analogue LP and
HP lter section and variable Attack and
Release controls allow the envelope to
be opened and closed. The Amount
control in Positive or Negative mode
allows for mid to extreme sound shaping
and manipulation. There’s a Resonance
control. The 2-Pole/4-Pole switch allows
users to select how aggressive the lter
slope is. 2-Pole is equal to 12dB/octave
and 4-Pole is 24dB/octave.
The Moog Analog Delay is a MIDI-synchable module with
an analogue signal path, front panel MIDI, and an assignable
Tap Tempo/CV jack. It oers between 35-800ms and also has a
6-Waveshape LFO that allows users to create time-based eects.
The LFO can be accessed via MIDI or the free VST/AU/RTAS Analog
Delay plug-in editor.
www.moogmusic.com
Alta Moda Audio
The successor to the AM-20 equaliser, the AM-25 is
a 4-band parametric equaliser module. It oers four
continuously variable and overlapping frequency
bands: shelving or peak/dip Low Band, continuously
variable from 20-120Hz; parametric Low Mid Band
with variable Q (65Hz-2kHz); parametric High Mid
Band with variable Q (1-7.5kHz); shelving High Band
with variable Q (4-20kHz).
Alta Moda’s rst mic preamp,
the AM-30, is discrete Class-A
transformerless and can be smoothly
overdriven by increasing input level or gain,
The Gain control is an 11-position rotary
while the Output control is a continuous
fader with an additional 6dB of overall
boost. A direct input on 1/4-inch jack is
included. The Hippo is a high-performance bus compressor
based on VCA topology. It features attack, release, and ratio and
a six-position HPF on the sidechain while a six-position Warmth
control adds harmonic distortion to fatten tracks.
www.altamodaaudio.com
Spotlight: Crane Song
The Crane Song Falcon is a valve compressor and has three attack and three release settings,
hard and soft knee choices for compression or limiting, two dierent audio path sounds, wet-
dry mixing for parallel compression and can be linked. The audio path colour is changed by
modifying the tube circuit for negative feedback while the optical-like quality of the compressor
adds more versatility.
Syren is a classic sounding tube preamp built using a dual triode circuit with a 12AX7 tube. It
features a dual gain stage circuit and allows overdrive eects. A switch selectable Hi-Z input is
included. The low cut lter is at 90Hz and is 24dB/octave. The pad has -15dB and -25dB settings to
allow a wide input range of signals.
www.cranesong.co
Tonelux Designs
Tonelux Designs’ MP5A is a discrete mic
preamp with Direct Input on the front panel.
This is transformer coupled and has a 20dB
Pad switch that affects both the mic and
direct input, a 48V phantom switch, and a
Polarity (phase) switch. The Combo XLR/
Direct input is for use with Hi-Z instruments.
The Tilt control works with the Mic input
and Direct input has its own Tilt EQ In
switch. When turned up, the tilt control has
a 0-6dB boost on the high end while cutting the low end by the
same amount. If it is turned down, the tilt will boost the low end
up to 6dB and cut the high end up to 6dB. Included with the
MP5A is the ability to PFL the output to an external preamplier
or to the mixer/master section for previewing the signal directly
o the mic pre output.
The EQ5P is a discrete parametric equaliser.
Its front panel does not have a dedicated Q
control, but Q control is in relation to the
Boost and Cut controls, using a Constant
Energy Curve (or Proportional Q) to keep the
bandwidth wider at lower boost or cut levels
and narrower at higher or boost or cut levels.
The high frequency control has a shelving
button instead of a peak button. With 4 bands
of controls, each of the lower ones have
slightly dierent frequencies, allowing the
lower band to go to 16Hz, while the upper 2 bands are identical.
The TX5C is designed to address complex compression issues.
Its ability to handle in-module parallel mixing of the dry and
compressed signals means that users can sidechain an instrument
with itself to come up with a blend of the original and compressed
signal. The TX5C uses a proprietary all-discrete TX-240 Op-Amp
and all-discrete TX-260 output stage together with a TX-280
transformer. It includes the ability to fade between feed-back
and feed-forward compression using the Type control. The TX5C
has the ability to over-compress with the Ratio control causing
the compressor to reduce the gain at a higher ratio than the
gain being fed into it. The Ratio control allows the compressor
to compress an increase in signal of 10dB with a gain reduction
of up to -8dB. By inserting a Tilt control into the sidechain of the
RMS detector, users can increase the highs and decrease the lows
going into the RMS detector.
Tonelux also
manufactures
the V4 Roadster,
a self-powered
500-Series
racking system
that can power
up to eight modules with the X4 Expander.
www.tonelux.com
Roger Schult
The V2350 line amplier module is matched with
the API 500-Series and can be integrated into any
conguration. To provide for fast settings, the
V2350 is equipped with a central mode 11-step
switch with which the source selection can be
made and amplication adjusted in 10dB steps.
A separate 41-step level control allows additional
fine adjustment to be made with 0.25dB
resolution. The V2350a is a low-Z-matching
amplifier module for a wide range of signal
sources with low impedance. A continuous
impedance potentiometer allows adjustment
of signal sources between 10Ohm to 2.5kOhm.
The impedance pot works logarithmically and
its impact can be increased by a factor of four up
to 10kOhm. Conversely, the V2350b is a Hi-Z-matching amplier
module for a wide range of signal sources with high impedance.
www.rs-mastering.de