Trident 24 London - my "new" console

Thanks guys!

Atkron205 said:
Thats really cool! I love old analog stuff. I was drug kicking and screaming (by Jimmys69) among others into the DAW age.
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I got into digital over 20 years ago. I use a DAW all the time....but I never completely crossed over from analog to digital, and I feel that a hybrid setup is truly the best of both worlds. So I'll use my DAW for a lot of stuff, but I still like to mix back out through an analog console.
I certainly could stay all ITB...but I'm too deep into the analog stuff, and I like the result of combining tape and OTB mixes with DAW editing and processing power...and why I opted to go even deeper with this somewhat larger console for a typical project studio setup.
Now I'll probably never go 100% ITB. I'm hoping to get a lot of good years out of this baby. :)
Not to mention...it just looks so friggin' bad ass. :D and it has that real old-school "Rock & Roll console" vibe. :cool:
 
I was going to post this on my Tascam M3500 thread, but it is apt to what you've just said Miro....

My new RME UFX converter arrived today and I'm gob-smacked.

I haven't used RME stuff since about 2005 when I bought a 2nd-hand Carillon PC which had a Hammerfall 9652 card in it. At the time I'd moved onto the AKAI DPS24 and used it for a good few more years so never used the Hammerfall much, but I was impressed how well it clocked, whether it was master or slave, it always worked.

FF to today and the sound has just blown me away, even working at 44.1 / 16 bit. It could well be the combination of the sound of the M3500 as well, but everything has a life to it that I've strugled in the past to achieve. I really think I'm going to get some good results by tracking onto tape, shoving it in the computer and mixing it from there. For the moment I think I'm going to remove the MACKIE Ultramix out of the line up as I think I don't really need the added noise (not much but it was there) and I think I'm going to be able to get what I want from Reason and the M3500. Reason has definitely never sounded this good.....there is a body to the sound now and evrything just sounds clearer, more spacious, but not tinny or glassy. Those clever Germans know how to make things. It wasn't cheap, but with a 5-year guarantee thrown in, I'm going to bed now a very happy camper.

Al
 
altruistica said:
I really think I'm going to get some good results by tracking onto tape, shoving it in the computer and mixing it from there. For the moment I think I'm going to remove the MACKIE Ultramix out of the line up ...l
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I've been doing it like that for awhile now. It took a bit of time to dial it all in, but now I would never go back to doing just a straight analog mix off the tape, or all ITB, as long as I had the option to go hybrid tape-to DAW and then mix from DAW though the console, and then I go to 2-track and dump it simultaneously back to DAW right of the PB head.
You could rewind the 2-track and then drop the stereo mix back to DAW...but I just do it all in one shot.

The 3500 isn't shabby, IMO, when used like this. I just wanted more from the EQ, and notch up the summing quality...and that's really why I got the Trident...but you could still work with the 3500. What I was doing more lately was getting my EQ done in the DAW rather than the 3500 on critical stuff, and then I would use the 3500 EQ just to tweak rather than anything really major. The Trident has a sweeter EQ than the TASCAM...even in the Series 65/75 models. So I'm hoping it will fill that role so I can EQ at the console more.

How were you using the Ultramix...?
I don't see where it would be needed now.
 
altruistica said:
I was going to post this on my Tascam M3500 thread, but it is apt to what you've just said Miro....

My new RME UFX converter arrived today and I'm gob-smacked.

I haven't used RME stuff since about 2005 when I bought a 2nd-hand Carillon PC which had a Hammerfall 9652 card in it. At the time I'd moved onto the AKAI DPS24 and used it for a good few more years so never used the Hammerfall much, but I was impressed how well it clocked, whether it was master or slave, it always worked.

FF to today and the sound has just blown me away, even working at 44.1 / 16 bit. It could well be the combination of the sound of the M3500 as well, but everything has a life to it that I've strugled in the past to achieve. I really think I'm going to get some good results by tracking onto tape, shoving it in the computer and mixing it from there. For the moment I think I'm going to remove the MACKIE Ultramix out of the line up as I think I don't really need the added noise (not much but it was there) and I think I'm going to be able to get what I want from Reason and the M3500. Reason has definitely never sounded this good.....there is a body to the sound now and evrything just sounds clearer, more spacious, but not tinny or glassy. Those clever Germans know how to make things. It wasn't cheap, but with a 5-year guarantee thrown in, I'm going to bed now a very happy camper.

Al
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I'm an absolute convert to RME. I bought my Fireface UCX after trying an upgrade from a Delta 44 to a MOTU hybrid (great hardware, worse than awful drivers). After spending a solid week fucking with the MOTU to get it to work correctly, I sent it back and got the RME. It's like the Colt 45 of the audio interface world. IT WORKS EVERY TIME. Solid as a brick shithouse, clean as a whistle, utterly painless installation and operation. Damn I love that thing. And it's fast as hell, to boot. About 3ms latency each way via USB. Faster than my old Delta PCI card. Yes, a USB device that's actually faster than a pretty solid PCI device. Simply amazing.
 
Tadpui said:
... it's fast as hell, to boot. About 3ms latency each way via USB. Faster than my old Delta PCI card. Yes, a USB device that's actually faster than a pretty solid PCI device. Simply amazing.
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One of the side benefits of tracking to tape, dumping to DAW is the zero concern for any converter latency. :)

That said, I've added direct-to-DAW tracks on occasion to my transferred tape-DAW tracks...like when I just want to add some ear candy, and I'm not about to fire up the 2" tape deck just for that...so I'll just track to the DAW.
I've never notice any latency at all, but the, I monitor right off the card's soft console.
I dunno...to this day, the way I've been working with it...I've not had a latency issue even once.
 
I'm jealous. I worked (years ago) in a TV studio with the small Trident and really enjoyed working on it.

I'm not sure whether it's the effect of this thread but I had a very vivid dream last night about finding a 2 inch multitrack in our (rather messy) garage. Alas, I woke up.
 
miroslav said:
How were you using the Ultramix...?
I don't see where it would be needed now.
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I was perfecting the mix running the Fostex D2424LV hard disk recorder, to save wear and tear on the multitrack. Once the mix was perfected the D2424LV was unpatched from the patchbay, returning the multitrack's mormalised outputs to the mixer and doing a final pass from the multitrack. This way I had automation of the mix (albeit just levels, mutes and groups) which could be repeated. That said, I find that more time is spent dialling in EQs and pan positions rather than levels per se, so it was always going to be swings and roundabouts whether there was any real benefit. The thing is, I wouldn't of course paid £2000 plus for the Mackie Ultramix (I think I paid £140) but now I've tried it I know how it can fit in and what it brings to the table.

Do you master back to the 2" or back to the computer.....I was a little confused?

Al
 
I mix "through" the 2-track back to the DAW...kinda like the CLASP thing....in real time.
The the tape mixes don't matter once it's back in the DAW, which happens all at once, so I'm not first tracking to tape...then setting up another session to transfer from the 2-track to the DAW.

I've been wanting to get one high-end A/D/A converter to use for that, rather than my multi-channel converter, which is working already converting from DAW through console...but hasn't been much of a issue. I mean, it sounds good to me, and the converter doesn't have a problem converting a bunch of tracks to analog, while at the same time converting the 2-track to digital.
 
I'm very ashamed. Pathetically shameful it is.
Imagine that, people with a knob and fader fetish. Utterly disgusting.

Miro, I'll bet you can't wait to twiddle some knobs on your new console, eh?

:D
 
Hey thanks guys!

So here's some progress shots (don't know why the single thumbnail also shows up at the bottom...?).

After pulling all the channels...I went through each one cleaning/lubing any scratchy pots and the connectors. I use a small injector needle (like the kind they use to refill inkjet cartridges) to precisely place only a drop or two of the cleaner right into the small openings on the back of pots.

Trident24London_Clean01.jpg



As I checked each card, I pulled and tossed all the caps/buttons into a bucket and soaked them overnight with just some dish soap and water.

Trident24London_Clean02.jpg



One by one the cards went back in.

Trident24London_Clean03.jpg



Finally all the cards were back in and the caps/buttons installed all nice and clean...and I finally powered it up for the first time, and happy to say that all the meter bulbs work, and all LED button lights but one SOLO button LED light up (might just be a loose wire on the card) and everything appears to be working as it should. Now I'm going to run some audio checks on each channel. I was a bit nervous powering it finally after having it for a whole week...but the Acopian PSUs are great.

Trident24London_Clean04.jpg
 
sr71rules said:
It's painstaking work...
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You're telling me. :facepalm:

I spent all weekend, starting Friday night....and also most of Monday...to first go through the chassis, tighten and clean everything inside and all the jacks on the back, then go through each channel, clean it up some...put it all back into the chassis, and 2.5 hours just to put all the damn knobs/buttons back. The little buttons have to (well, they should) face a certain way.

Once I get the console actually installed where it needs to go and wired up...at some point...down the road...I'll probably end up doing some additional mods on the channels. I want to shift some of the EQ frequencies from stock, plus I may do some re-capping, as only some of the console was re-capped, but I want to first work with it a bit and see where it's at.

This weekend I have to remove the old console, and then literally cut out the center section that it sat on between two racks (all as one unit that I custom built)...that way I will just have the free standing racks, and no center section, since the Trident has it's own stand, and it will sit between the two racks. Kinda like my current setup, but wider and not as one unit any more.

After that, I'll start doing the cable runs, and even though the console came with 5 pre-wired patch bays (THANK GOD!!! :D)...I'm still going to have to redo at least a couple of my old patch bays, and then move all the bays to a different rack from where I use to have them. So I'm going to be moving a lot of gear around and moving a lot of cable around....and I may have to make some new snakes and do a bunch of soldering.

I figure at least 5 more weeks before the studio is back to a usable state, since most of the work is getting done only on the weekends...but I'll get there. :)
 
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