Spam!

[Gidge]

http://www.studioprojectsusa.com/upcoming.html

Alan, i see that this a a 8 channel preamp, but am i correct that it only has a stereo output?.......

[Blue Bear Sound]

Good one...

What would be the point of an 8-channel pre being bussed to only 2-channel outs???

Interesting... I guess it's to tap into the SoundBlaster market????

[atomictoyz]

Shure Microphones made sorta the samething in the early to Mid 70's. I don't recall the part number, but a advertisment came with a mic I bought in the early 80's. The ad was geared towards being a submixer/preamp for live vocal applications rather than studio applications. I imagine PC based DAW studios might use something like this for multiple mic vocals applications...Im not sure...

Peace,
Dennis

[atomictoyz]

Shure Microphones made sorta the samething in the early to Mid 70's. I don't recall the part number, but a advertisment came with a mic I bought in the early 80's. The ad was geared towards being a submixer/preamp for live vocal applications rather than studio applications. I imagine PC based DAW studios might use something like this for multiple mic vocals applications...Im not sure...

Peace,
Dennis

[Gidge]

C'mon Alan, lil help here......

[mixmkr]

You guys have never seen a Tascam mdl 1 line mixer...?

At $799, I guess it appears that the mic preamps make up the cost difference. For those that might want to record "in the field" to a DAT or sumpin (and figure no EQ is needed)??? just a guess.

"or the soundblaster market" ...good one

[TexRoadkill]

No inserts or direct outs?

[cominginsecond]

It's gotta have direct outs on each of those channels. I think that announcement was saying that you could sum to stereo as well as use each channel seperately.

Who would but it otherwise? Really?

[alanhyatt]

Originally posted by Gidge
http://www.studioprojectsusa.com/upcoming.html

Alan, i see that this a a 8 channel preamp, but am i correct that it only has a stereo output?.......

No Gidge, you are not correct, and why did you insist on using Spam as the subject line of this thread?


I will answer some questions on the SP-82, but it is not all cast in stone yet. It is a 1U, so space is limited. Front panel on each channel will hopefully have level and pan, mute, mic/line, 48V, and a tri- colored peak LED to show input and peak via green, yellow, and red color. We hope we can squeeze a 1/4" socket for a DI input on channel's 1&2.

On the rear is a combo XLR/1/4" jack for mic and line in, and another 1/4" output jack so all eight channels will have its own seperate output, but all 8 channels will mix down to two channels via a master stereo output pot. There will also be a 1/4" mono out jack which is summed from the L/R buss, but that will have no output control like the L/R buss will. We intend to use very high quality summing amplifiers on this unit.

We hope to have all 8 channels incorporate digital outputs via the Alesis chip, but we will see how much room we have, because we want a buss in and buss out jack so you can cascade three units together for 24 channels. We are using Burr Brown chips and DC offset technology so the mic pres will be very high quality. The applications for this is endless, but space is the biggest limitation on this one.

Just remember it is a 1U, so any suggestions or comments, now is the time before the design is finished.


Alan Hyatt
PMI Audio Group

[trebles]

Id love to see the comparison tests of the studio projects pres up against the fmr audio rnmp and the m audio dmp3 this should be a great test lets hope someone can round these three pres up for the testing

[Randy Yell]

Alan,it sounds pretty cool and I think there is definetly a market out there for a fairly inexpensive eight channel mic pre.It is out of my price range at this time but it sounds like it would be a perfect mate for my Roland VSR-880 so I will probably end up considering this unit before too long.Right now I have an Audio Buddy (which I really like) and a couple of minimixers that I use to get me eight simultaneous tracks.Not an elegant solution but it gets me through the night.

Meanwhile I'm still waiting for my B-3!! Actually I'm waiting til I sell my yami MD4s to buy anyhow so I think the timing of the release should work out fine for me.I'm probably going to get one online as the store that just started selling Studio Projects locally sells everything for list price.Speaking of,I was in that store last week and I mentioned that I had heard that they would be selling SP and that I had heard that the C-1 was a good LD condenser for the money and I was looking forward to the B series.He told me that the B series were dynamic mics and that the C-1 was originally a dynamic mic designed to fool people into thinking it was a condenser.This is an employee of the store selling your products, spreading misinformation about your product. Not too cool.Anyhow I won't be buying your mics there as I see no reason to pay list when street price is just a phone call away.Why pay more when they don't even have the knowledge you can obtain just reading a catalogue.Just my two cents.

[harley96]

Alan, how about phase reversal switches?

[alanhyatt]

Originally posted by harley96
Alan, how about phase reversal switches?

harley,

There just is not enough room for another switch. It has to have the 48V and mute switch. The mic/line switch could go and be replaced by the phase reverse, but that function is not often used. If there is an overwhelming response to incorporate the phase switch, we could loose the mic/line for it.

Trebles,

Comparisons will happen as soon as the VTB-1 is out, then again when this unit is out, but even the SP-82 is a different design than the VTB-1, and I am sure Mark at FMR uses another different design as well, so it will all boil down to personal preferences. Each design will have a different sound.


Randy,

My guess is the unit will sell for about $600.00 in the stores. The whole idea was to get the costs down by doing 8 channels. We are using an external supply because there is no room to fit one into the unit.

Its too bad about this new dealer giving wrong information. I sure would like to know who that is so our local rep can get in there and train these guys. This is another reason we do not use Guitar Center, MARS, and Sam Ash. Training all those stores only to find that the sales guy has left two months later is a real pain, because you have to train them all over again. I prefer to deal with less dealers who know more about the product, but it sounds like in this case, they need some of our help. So if you want to tell me who they are, we can get them assistance.

Alan Hyatt
PMI Audio Group

[Blue Bear Sound]

I would suggest that a phase reversal switch is essential... a good compromise would at least put it on half the channels, the other half could have the mic/line....

I could think of many applications where the convenience of a phase-reversal switch is a MUST!

Bruce

[alanhyatt]

Originally posted by Blue Bear Sound
I would suggest that a phase reversal switch is essential... a good compromise would at least put it on half the channels, the other half could have the mic/line....

I could think of many applications where the convenience of a phase-reversal switch is a MUST!

Bruce

Bruce,

Would you rather see the phase reverse instead of a mic/line switch?

Alan Hyatt

[harley96]

Originally posted by Blue Bear Sound
I would suggest that a phase reversal switch is essential... a good compromise would at least put it on half the channels, the other half could have the mic/line.

Bruce

Bruce, your amazing before I posted the phase reverse I thought it would be convenient to have it on every other channel.Man,now I'm starting to think like the pros...sweet.

[harley96]

Originally posted by alanhyatt


Bruce,

Would you rather see the phase reverse instead of a mic/line switch?

Alan Hyatt

Considering the msrp is approx. $799.00 for eight preamps your trying to market this as a alternative to buying 8 seperate preamps for $100.00 each..Most people on here atleast would rather buy 1 or 2 preamps for $200/300 altogether and be done with it and could care less about a phase reverse switch,but personally if I was going to spend $800.00 I'd like to see phase reverse on atleast 4 of the channels and on the other 4 you could put the mic/line switch.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally posted by alanhyatt


Bruce,

Would you rather see the phase reverse instead of a mic/line switch?

Alan Hyatt

My personal preference would be yes... I would have plenty of other ways of getting a line-level to my multitrack without using the pre, so the phase (actually, polarity! ) switch would be far more useful to me!

I think people would be buying it as a mic pre more than a combo mic/line mixer, so I would be gearing the design to mic-pre usage if it were up to me!

Bruce

[skippy]

Just another point of view: polarity reversal can be trivially done _at the mic_ with the cable (or by just adding in a little 12" long polarity-flipper cable like the ones I make for myself).

You _need_ the mic/line switch: it's a crime against nature to have both inputs active at once, and that will lead to hard-to-debug problems for folks who have things tied to both inputs (say, via a patchbay). My studio 32 had that, and it was a major negative for the prduct for me. However, I usually do the phase choice as I'm moving the mic around for final placement anyway- so to me it's second nature to toss a flip cable in if needed.

I'd vote for 8 mic/line switches, and no phase switches at all- I never had them before, and I can certainly live without them now!

[alanhyatt]

Originally posted by Blue Bear Sound
My personal preference would be yes... I would have plenty of other ways of getting a line-level to my multitrack without using the pre, so the phase (actually, polarity! ) switch would be far more useful to me!

Actually its original design was intended to be a high quality line mixer with quality summing amps, so people could get into 8 digital tracks with warmth. It has expanded since then.

Alan Hyatt

[Dolemite]

Originally posted by alanhyatt
...8 digital tracks with warmth

Oh boy...he busts out the 'W' word...

BTW, you can reverse phase easily enough in software, but I can see how it would be important when going to ADAT for example...which seems a logical application for an 8 channel mic pre.

Also, many mic pre's that I'm familiar with can detect mic vs. line/instrument. I have no idea how this is done, but it must be fairly easy to implement, being so common, and it would eliminate the need for a switch altogether. Some mic pre's even have the Neutrik combination XLR / 1/4" inputs, which would also save space.

Finally, I think you'd get more takers on a 2-channel unit @ $200ish than an 8-channel @ $600. I know you probably don't want to compete with your own products (VTB-1) but perhaps a slightly different price point and different marketing (along with the actual differences in the units of course ) could set the two apart.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally posted by alanhyatt


Actually its original design was intended to be a high quality line mixer with quality summing amps, so people could get into 8 digital tracks with warmth. It has expanded since then.

Alan Hyatt

Did you say that you were going to get Lightpipe I/O in there, Alan?

Bruce

[mixmkr]

Originally posted by skippy
Just another point of view: polarity reversal can be trivially done _at the mic_ with the cable (or by just adding in a little 12" long polarity-flipper cable like the ones I make for myself).

You _need_ the mic/line switch: it's a crime against nature to have both inputs active at once, and that will lead to hard-to-debug problems for folks who have things tied to both inputs (say, via a patchbay). My studio 32 had that, and it was a major negative for the prduct for me. However, I usually do the phase choice as I'm moving the mic around for final placement anyway- so to me it's second nature to toss a flip cable in if needed.

I'd vote for 8 mic/line switches, and no phase switches at all- I never had them before, and I can certainly live without them now!

I completely agree.

[alanhyatt]

Originally posted by Blue Bear Sound
Did you say that you were going to get Lightpipe I/O in there, Alan?

Bruce

We are looking at it only because the OEM license is cheap to use it. No promise, but if we can fit it in, we will probably use it.

Alan Hyatt

[Henri Devill]

Alan,Can you put the phase rev. on a "Push" "Pull" on the Channel gain knob?..Like a coil tap on a guitar or guitar amps like Boogie use push pull on alot of their amps ect. ..In and its norm. pull the pot and you've flipped phase...


Don