sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
So this Story actually starts in this thread here:
Hittin’ The Road Again...
So go check that out and then come back here.
Some of you might be wondering why I'm getting another console...I mean, I've got the Tascam M-__ prototype 12 x 8 console, I've had a Tascam M-520 and M-512, Soundtracs MX32, MCI JH-416, and Teac 5B mixing consoles...I think there have been some smaller ones in there too...Tascam M-106...A Mackie...ummm...couple Allen & Heath. They've all been projects to to lesser or greater degrees...mostly greater I think...but I've put a lot of effort into the Tascam M-__ even to the point of collaborating with some really smart people to redesign the output line driver to better interface with my Ampex multitrack machine. So, what gives with the Studer? Unlike most everything else I've purchased audio equipment wise, the Studer was relatively expensive (still got a REALLY great deal on it compared to what I see elsewhere in the market), and it needs relatively little to be fully operational. Well, its like this...probably the main reason has to do with the Ampex tape machine. I'd like to be able to run the Ampex in 16-track trim. At 12 main input channels, the Tascam isn't really setup to easily mix and monitor 16 tape returns. It could be done, but it would be a kludge. The Tascam is wonderfully unique and I'm pretty attached to it. I don't imagine it will be going away, but in all the collaborative work I've been doing the past year or so to beef up the outputs, with the things I'm learning I'm realizing even with all the mods and tweaks, it will never be what something like the Studer is. And that's always been gnawing at me. I mean NO disrespect to Tascam and I hope that's clear. The Studer was, I think, something like maybe $60,000 or $70,000 new in 2000. Its in a different class. There are beneath the skin differences in the construction, materials, design (physical and electrical)...its a different animal designed with different priorities. Teac has done such a great job over so many years innovating features, innovating ways to bring features to consumers that otherwise would not be able to access them. They also have produced some very seriously professional products. The Tascam M-__ is purposely in a particular class. The Studer is, from a feature standpoint, a better match with the Ampex. And I know the Ampex isn't going away. So...Ever since I let go of the MCI project a few years ago (because I finally admitted it was too big a project than I wanted or felt I could complete), I was really settling in a way for the Tascam, telling myself I would probably just run the Ampex as a 1" 8-track, and ignoring what I really wanted. All the while I troll eBay, Reverb, craigslist...I had devised a pretty specific list of features I wanted a mixer to have, and pretty much had decided that it was out of reach. Then the Studer came along on craigslist. The seller and I turned out to have a mutual respected friend who's also an electronics genius...and the operations and service manual is readily available as a download online. So there was about a week of chewing on all that and consulting with my friend...and bouncing it off of others including miroslav. It was WAY not in the budget. But I talked with my wife about it. Folks, something is changing. I've spent so much time tinkering and fixing and refurbishing, there's no music being made, and my priorities have shifted...I've learned A LOT in the process. But all the fixing stuff keeps making the end goal look like its getting further away; not what I want to be doing...not how I want to spend my time so much. That will still be a piece of things always...I really enjoy that. But its become bigger than I can see through...all the work left to do on the Tascam M-__ and I knew it still wasn't going to be "it" for me. And spending time with my wife and the kids too is my favorite thing nowadays...tinkering takes away from that. And my wife likes the the music making part. So my wife encouraged me as did others, to pull the trigger, and off my son and I went to get it. I won't repeat what's in the prequel thread linked above...it was a memorable trip. So that's how I came to the decision, and I'm not regretting it.
So far the tinkering to do on the Studer aside from detailing it at some point, includes some work to do on the power supplies (but SIMPLE stuff...new quieter cooling fans, the lids are missing screws), and the power supply umbilicals need reinforcing. The console itself needs one of the master buss meters looked at...its dead. That may be ALL.
This Studer 928 was commissioned for one of my local state universities in 2000 or 2001. The Studer 928 is built to order with up to 8 mix busses, and a maximum number 96 input modules. I'll put up a link to the sales brochure at some point. But anyway, the university is where this one lived, probably in a broadcast or performance facility until it was put on the university auction block in 2015...probably replaced by a digital console. That's when the fella I bought it from brought it home to his home-based production facility. He's a busy Seattle area engineer/producer and has put out some great stuff. He's going a different direction with his studio and so the Studer went into clean heated storage nearly a year ago.
Now some pictures.
Here's the master section...four mix busses each with assignable stereo returns, onboard linkable and patchable compressor/limiter, hybrid opamp/transformer balanced output, clean +23.5dBu balanced output at 600ohm, 40ohm nominal...dual masters have onboard stereo limiter, and also have the same hybrid output. The control room and studio control modules to the far right have tons of super useful monitoring and talkback control features, and also house the four VCA group master faders...all the faders are VCA controlled which means no scritchy ever from the P&G faders. And then there's the handy and very useful TT patchbay...always wanted a console with its own patchbay...all inserts are balanced.
The meter bridge...its all modular. Mine comes with meters for the groups, dual masters, and switchable stereo correlation meter, and meters for the 8 AUX groups (10 meters...6 mono AUXes and 2 stereo...) plus there are gain reduction meters for all of the dynamics processors (4 mono and 2 stereo), and again its modular, like a horizontal rack for meter modules...any 900 series analog or digital meters will mount up:
And here are some mono and stereo input channel modules:
And here is the backplane...All XLR I/O, except for in the master section some of the I/O is grouped on to 39-pin DIN 41622 connectors (I think most commonly referred to as Tuchel connectors, but they are made by a number of companies and come in a variety of pin counts, but DIN 41622 is the official connector type):
ALL of the I/O is balanced, including the I/O on the DIN 41622 connectors, and as mentioned above the patchbay is balanced...and even though only the group and dual master buss outs have the transformers (which give a *little* step-up boost), all of the outputs have plenty of drive...everything is +6dBu nominal and even the electronically balanced direct outs can push +21dBu at 200ohms with ultra low distortion.
I love the backlit switches...and the switches are really high quality. Most of the switching is electronic...in other words signal doesn't pass through the switch, the switch controls logic which does the actual switching...this eliminates any pops and clicks when switching signal in and out, especially problematic as the switch ages. Any circuits where logic switching wasn't feasible, gold contact switches were used. So...yes...this console is full of logic chips, which usually scares me away, but its all 4000 series logic...and I've gotten a lot more comfortable with that in trying to figure out some stuff on my Tascam console...but I like lights...and they're all LED...low maintenance and long-life:
The 928 uses a strategic combination of opamps...The mic transformer is followed by a 5534...I am a fan of the 5534 and 5532. The single 5534 opamp is nice because the compensation is externally adjustable via one of the pins, so you can tune the opamp for the given circuit. The rest are dual opamps, again, the 5532, and a lot of 33078, TL072, and 2142 parts. "They did their homework" says my really smart electronics friend. All the components are high quality, and the component layout appears to have been designed with a certain aesthetic in mind.
As I mentioned early in the post I need to do some work on the power supply umbilical cables...they are *okay*, but when the fella I bought it from got it in the university auction, whoever decommissioned it didn't retain the original cables, so they needed to be built, which he did. There are three power supplies, each power a section of the frame. At the supply end the connector is a circular 10-pin connector that is supposed to have a threaded locking collar. Those are missing from the connectors the seller sourced, and one is missing the strain relief as well. And the cable is too big for the entry into the cable mount plug. So, not all sure how deep I'm going to go, but as it stands the plugs are relatively easy to pull out and I see that as a safety issue...and I don't like how they look. I haven't started working on finding the missing parts or new connectors altogether. But I'm not concerned. This is what I'm working with...no discredit to the seller...these are functional...I know the parts are hard to source...and I'm very particular:
At the other end there are 30-pin DIN 41622 connectors...two of them. The seller found the connector blocks themselves, but not the hoods, which provide a safety barrier, strain relief, and latching between the two connector blocks. The seller said the parts were impossible to find. He doesn't know what I'm capable of...buddy...YOU try finding the parts to make a Tascam M-520 umbilical...
You can actually find the stuff new, but no joke its like $60 for each set (connector block and hood)...I've already got the blocks for the power connectors obviously, but no hoods at all for the power connectors OR the audio I/O connectors, and only 3 of the 6 connector blocks for the audio stuff...until yesterday...For about $90 shipped I found what I needed from a fella in Germany...he was selling bundles of 4 hoods with connector blocks, you tell him what you need and he digs through his box to see if he has it...the price was right so I didn't haggle about only needing 3 39-pin connector blocks and all the hoods...and I wanted a spare hood, so I got 9 hoods with connector blocks...spares for everything and that's $10 per set. And this is why something needs to be done...look at this...because the cable is so stiff, the power connectors have to be periodically checked and reseated...that's no good:
I'm trying to think of what else to say...there's a lot on my mind about it just because there's so much about it that I like...its going to be a great fit with the rest of my gear. Oh and here's another thing that seems to be changing with me...I have a bad habit of getting something and then wanting to do some impossible reconfiguration with it to make it something it wasn't necessarily intended to be...sometimes this turns out pretty good, other times it just takes a LOT of time and patience and ends up compromising something. Well I originally had it in mind, since the frame is assembled of 3 buckets, to swap the master section into the middle to make a true split console...12 mono input modules on the left, master section in the middle, 16 mono/stereo line modules on the right for tape/DAW returns or whatever...the more I look at this I see how "made to order" these things are...I mean, they ARE modular, but all the patchbay and armrest labeling is actually etched...the motherboards configured for input or master section modules...the backplane same thing...there would have to be a MAJOR tear-down and reorg of the whole frame assembly to get it to work, and I'm sure I'd need to make custom cabling to extend connections...and then I might be compromising the build...and labeling wouldn't line up...the patchbay would become a confusing place. Leave it alone I decided...which is huge for me. If you haven't ever checked out my Soundtracs MX32 Story thread look at what I did there...turned it from a 32 x 8 x 2 console into a 24 x 8 x 2 x 8...meter bridge panel and ribbon cable mods...rivets drilled out, frame bins separated and reassembled...it was a huge project. I think it was a better console after that was done especially with the ground scheme redo...but this is a whole different animal. There are four vacant slots in the frame...they have blanks...I decided to put two blanks in between the mono modules and 16 stereo modules, and between the stereo modules and the master section. It creates the visual separation I'm looking for to segregate the functions of the control surface. Done. Massive time wasting risky project averted. You can see the minor difference in the before and after below:
And for now I leave you with this...this console is so cool it even cares for you emotionally...when you're in the middle of the session and you've lost your mojo, look no further than this button over in the studio control module...press it and you'll be feeling fine...genius!
Okay...gotta run...now that I've verified the console powers up and things are more or less working, the next step is to just hear how audio sounds through it...I rarely have time to play so off I go!
Hittin’ The Road Again...
So go check that out and then come back here.
Some of you might be wondering why I'm getting another console...I mean, I've got the Tascam M-__ prototype 12 x 8 console, I've had a Tascam M-520 and M-512, Soundtracs MX32, MCI JH-416, and Teac 5B mixing consoles...I think there have been some smaller ones in there too...Tascam M-106...A Mackie...ummm...couple Allen & Heath. They've all been projects to to lesser or greater degrees...mostly greater I think...but I've put a lot of effort into the Tascam M-__ even to the point of collaborating with some really smart people to redesign the output line driver to better interface with my Ampex multitrack machine. So, what gives with the Studer? Unlike most everything else I've purchased audio equipment wise, the Studer was relatively expensive (still got a REALLY great deal on it compared to what I see elsewhere in the market), and it needs relatively little to be fully operational. Well, its like this...probably the main reason has to do with the Ampex tape machine. I'd like to be able to run the Ampex in 16-track trim. At 12 main input channels, the Tascam isn't really setup to easily mix and monitor 16 tape returns. It could be done, but it would be a kludge. The Tascam is wonderfully unique and I'm pretty attached to it. I don't imagine it will be going away, but in all the collaborative work I've been doing the past year or so to beef up the outputs, with the things I'm learning I'm realizing even with all the mods and tweaks, it will never be what something like the Studer is. And that's always been gnawing at me. I mean NO disrespect to Tascam and I hope that's clear. The Studer was, I think, something like maybe $60,000 or $70,000 new in 2000. Its in a different class. There are beneath the skin differences in the construction, materials, design (physical and electrical)...its a different animal designed with different priorities. Teac has done such a great job over so many years innovating features, innovating ways to bring features to consumers that otherwise would not be able to access them. They also have produced some very seriously professional products. The Tascam M-__ is purposely in a particular class. The Studer is, from a feature standpoint, a better match with the Ampex. And I know the Ampex isn't going away. So...Ever since I let go of the MCI project a few years ago (because I finally admitted it was too big a project than I wanted or felt I could complete), I was really settling in a way for the Tascam, telling myself I would probably just run the Ampex as a 1" 8-track, and ignoring what I really wanted. All the while I troll eBay, Reverb, craigslist...I had devised a pretty specific list of features I wanted a mixer to have, and pretty much had decided that it was out of reach. Then the Studer came along on craigslist. The seller and I turned out to have a mutual respected friend who's also an electronics genius...and the operations and service manual is readily available as a download online. So there was about a week of chewing on all that and consulting with my friend...and bouncing it off of others including miroslav. It was WAY not in the budget. But I talked with my wife about it. Folks, something is changing. I've spent so much time tinkering and fixing and refurbishing, there's no music being made, and my priorities have shifted...I've learned A LOT in the process. But all the fixing stuff keeps making the end goal look like its getting further away; not what I want to be doing...not how I want to spend my time so much. That will still be a piece of things always...I really enjoy that. But its become bigger than I can see through...all the work left to do on the Tascam M-__ and I knew it still wasn't going to be "it" for me. And spending time with my wife and the kids too is my favorite thing nowadays...tinkering takes away from that. And my wife likes the the music making part. So my wife encouraged me as did others, to pull the trigger, and off my son and I went to get it. I won't repeat what's in the prequel thread linked above...it was a memorable trip. So that's how I came to the decision, and I'm not regretting it.
So far the tinkering to do on the Studer aside from detailing it at some point, includes some work to do on the power supplies (but SIMPLE stuff...new quieter cooling fans, the lids are missing screws), and the power supply umbilicals need reinforcing. The console itself needs one of the master buss meters looked at...its dead. That may be ALL.
This Studer 928 was commissioned for one of my local state universities in 2000 or 2001. The Studer 928 is built to order with up to 8 mix busses, and a maximum number 96 input modules. I'll put up a link to the sales brochure at some point. But anyway, the university is where this one lived, probably in a broadcast or performance facility until it was put on the university auction block in 2015...probably replaced by a digital console. That's when the fella I bought it from brought it home to his home-based production facility. He's a busy Seattle area engineer/producer and has put out some great stuff. He's going a different direction with his studio and so the Studer went into clean heated storage nearly a year ago.
Now some pictures.
Here's the master section...four mix busses each with assignable stereo returns, onboard linkable and patchable compressor/limiter, hybrid opamp/transformer balanced output, clean +23.5dBu balanced output at 600ohm, 40ohm nominal...dual masters have onboard stereo limiter, and also have the same hybrid output. The control room and studio control modules to the far right have tons of super useful monitoring and talkback control features, and also house the four VCA group master faders...all the faders are VCA controlled which means no scritchy ever from the P&G faders. And then there's the handy and very useful TT patchbay...always wanted a console with its own patchbay...all inserts are balanced.
The meter bridge...its all modular. Mine comes with meters for the groups, dual masters, and switchable stereo correlation meter, and meters for the 8 AUX groups (10 meters...6 mono AUXes and 2 stereo...) plus there are gain reduction meters for all of the dynamics processors (4 mono and 2 stereo), and again its modular, like a horizontal rack for meter modules...any 900 series analog or digital meters will mount up:
And here are some mono and stereo input channel modules:
And here is the backplane...All XLR I/O, except for in the master section some of the I/O is grouped on to 39-pin DIN 41622 connectors (I think most commonly referred to as Tuchel connectors, but they are made by a number of companies and come in a variety of pin counts, but DIN 41622 is the official connector type):
ALL of the I/O is balanced, including the I/O on the DIN 41622 connectors, and as mentioned above the patchbay is balanced...and even though only the group and dual master buss outs have the transformers (which give a *little* step-up boost), all of the outputs have plenty of drive...everything is +6dBu nominal and even the electronically balanced direct outs can push +21dBu at 200ohms with ultra low distortion.
I love the backlit switches...and the switches are really high quality. Most of the switching is electronic...in other words signal doesn't pass through the switch, the switch controls logic which does the actual switching...this eliminates any pops and clicks when switching signal in and out, especially problematic as the switch ages. Any circuits where logic switching wasn't feasible, gold contact switches were used. So...yes...this console is full of logic chips, which usually scares me away, but its all 4000 series logic...and I've gotten a lot more comfortable with that in trying to figure out some stuff on my Tascam console...but I like lights...and they're all LED...low maintenance and long-life:
The 928 uses a strategic combination of opamps...The mic transformer is followed by a 5534...I am a fan of the 5534 and 5532. The single 5534 opamp is nice because the compensation is externally adjustable via one of the pins, so you can tune the opamp for the given circuit. The rest are dual opamps, again, the 5532, and a lot of 33078, TL072, and 2142 parts. "They did their homework" says my really smart electronics friend. All the components are high quality, and the component layout appears to have been designed with a certain aesthetic in mind.
As I mentioned early in the post I need to do some work on the power supply umbilical cables...they are *okay*, but when the fella I bought it from got it in the university auction, whoever decommissioned it didn't retain the original cables, so they needed to be built, which he did. There are three power supplies, each power a section of the frame. At the supply end the connector is a circular 10-pin connector that is supposed to have a threaded locking collar. Those are missing from the connectors the seller sourced, and one is missing the strain relief as well. And the cable is too big for the entry into the cable mount plug. So, not all sure how deep I'm going to go, but as it stands the plugs are relatively easy to pull out and I see that as a safety issue...and I don't like how they look. I haven't started working on finding the missing parts or new connectors altogether. But I'm not concerned. This is what I'm working with...no discredit to the seller...these are functional...I know the parts are hard to source...and I'm very particular:
At the other end there are 30-pin DIN 41622 connectors...two of them. The seller found the connector blocks themselves, but not the hoods, which provide a safety barrier, strain relief, and latching between the two connector blocks. The seller said the parts were impossible to find. He doesn't know what I'm capable of...buddy...YOU try finding the parts to make a Tascam M-520 umbilical...
You can actually find the stuff new, but no joke its like $60 for each set (connector block and hood)...I've already got the blocks for the power connectors obviously, but no hoods at all for the power connectors OR the audio I/O connectors, and only 3 of the 6 connector blocks for the audio stuff...until yesterday...For about $90 shipped I found what I needed from a fella in Germany...he was selling bundles of 4 hoods with connector blocks, you tell him what you need and he digs through his box to see if he has it...the price was right so I didn't haggle about only needing 3 39-pin connector blocks and all the hoods...and I wanted a spare hood, so I got 9 hoods with connector blocks...spares for everything and that's $10 per set. And this is why something needs to be done...look at this...because the cable is so stiff, the power connectors have to be periodically checked and reseated...that's no good:I'm trying to think of what else to say...there's a lot on my mind about it just because there's so much about it that I like...its going to be a great fit with the rest of my gear. Oh and here's another thing that seems to be changing with me...I have a bad habit of getting something and then wanting to do some impossible reconfiguration with it to make it something it wasn't necessarily intended to be...sometimes this turns out pretty good, other times it just takes a LOT of time and patience and ends up compromising something. Well I originally had it in mind, since the frame is assembled of 3 buckets, to swap the master section into the middle to make a true split console...12 mono input modules on the left, master section in the middle, 16 mono/stereo line modules on the right for tape/DAW returns or whatever...the more I look at this I see how "made to order" these things are...I mean, they ARE modular, but all the patchbay and armrest labeling is actually etched...the motherboards configured for input or master section modules...the backplane same thing...there would have to be a MAJOR tear-down and reorg of the whole frame assembly to get it to work, and I'm sure I'd need to make custom cabling to extend connections...and then I might be compromising the build...and labeling wouldn't line up...the patchbay would become a confusing place. Leave it alone I decided...which is huge for me. If you haven't ever checked out my Soundtracs MX32 Story thread look at what I did there...turned it from a 32 x 8 x 2 console into a 24 x 8 x 2 x 8...meter bridge panel and ribbon cable mods...rivets drilled out, frame bins separated and reassembled...it was a huge project. I think it was a better console after that was done especially with the ground scheme redo...but this is a whole different animal. There are four vacant slots in the frame...they have blanks...I decided to put two blanks in between the mono modules and 16 stereo modules, and between the stereo modules and the master section. It creates the visual separation I'm looking for to segregate the functions of the control surface. Done. Massive time wasting risky project averted. You can see the minor difference in the before and after below:
And for now I leave you with this...this console is so cool it even cares for you emotionally...when you're in the middle of the session and you've lost your mojo, look no further than this button over in the studio control module...press it and you'll be feeling fine...genius!
Okay...gotta run...now that I've verified the console powers up and things are more or less working, the next step is to just hear how audio sounds through it...I rarely have time to play so off I go!
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Your Trident is relatively more straight-ahead. 