As sound engineer I would say - try Softube Console 1 + 2 Fader boxes.
I was always looking for ourboard gear (as most of us) and DAW controller to get some "feeling" back (coming from live sound, analog and digital consoles). Console 1 gives me the control and sound shaping to get ALL the sounds I want with a set of good and clean preamps. I completed my quest for outboard gear with Console 1 and KNOW I have everything I need.
As electronic engineer I would say - go for it! You will learn A LOT and it's great to bring stuff to life.
As EXPERIENCED electronic engineer I say - you have no idea what's in front of you. 🤓 Just one $ for every unfinished mixer project in someones drawer...
But when we all listen to the nay sayers the world would be pretty boring.
And one real advice - get access to good measurement gear! Try to find an Audio Precision around you (university?).
As Rupert Neve says - as long as it's not a 100% clean signal (hum, noise, hiss etc) he doesn't bother to even listen. Grounding is a huge thing here! Read the Pin 1 problem papers (Rane).
And I would advice to use passive summing for now. You could even switch preamps after the summing to get different influences.
And yes - the sound is in the iron. When you leave that out it will not be the same. Think about one way to add pleasing THD in your circuits.
Wish you all the best for that project!
I was always looking for ourboard gear (as most of us) and DAW controller to get some "feeling" back (coming from live sound, analog and digital consoles). Console 1 gives me the control and sound shaping to get ALL the sounds I want with a set of good and clean preamps. I completed my quest for outboard gear with Console 1 and KNOW I have everything I need.
As electronic engineer I would say - go for it! You will learn A LOT and it's great to bring stuff to life.
As EXPERIENCED electronic engineer I say - you have no idea what's in front of you. 🤓 Just one $ for every unfinished mixer project in someones drawer...
But when we all listen to the nay sayers the world would be pretty boring.
And one real advice - get access to good measurement gear! Try to find an Audio Precision around you (university?).
As Rupert Neve says - as long as it's not a 100% clean signal (hum, noise, hiss etc) he doesn't bother to even listen. Grounding is a huge thing here! Read the Pin 1 problem papers (Rane).
And I would advice to use passive summing for now. You could even switch preamps after the summing to get different influences.
And yes - the sound is in the iron. When you leave that out it will not be the same. Think about one way to add pleasing THD in your circuits.
Wish you all the best for that project!
Yes, I understand that this project is very large scale and overrated in my mind, but for me it's a real opportunity to give people a cool modern, I won't say it, live analogue instrument for their creativity. For me as an electronics engineer this is a giant challenge that I can't help but take on. I will read the material you recommended and hopefully I will find it very useful!
Not quite consistently. A preamp with an equalizer is a preamp with an equalizer. But after it, the user can assemble a chain of processing in which the second equalizer will be present, in order to additionally clean up the sound after all the processing. The Niva preamp with an equalizer will be almost like the original. By the concept of redesigned, I mean adapted the circuit to modern realities. That is, replaced some outdated elements of the circuit with modern and affordable ones. The reverb will remain analog. Probably on a spring or springs and will be located separately from the console and will only have controls on its panel.
Speaking about tubes, I will not use them in the circuit of the console itself. I am talking about radio tubes in the context of using additional sound processing devices built into the console, for example, Pultek and their passive equalizers, which I plan to build into the board a little later.
It doesn't make much sense to put so many transformers in your chain, you normally use them as link to the outer world to get your isolation. Driving 11 transformers will give a big mess ...
I would use an input transformer cause it opens cool possibilities, put a transformer to the summing amp (means a mic preamp with transformer and passive summing) to be able to drive this hard and MAYBE an output transformer if money is left. Most effective is of course the transformer in the summing amp cause you only need 2 of them and can drive them as hard as you need to get some sound out of it.
I prefer SSL EQ and dynamics for "real" mixing where I need to shape signals cause they are more precise and have more "impact" over older designs which sound nice but are not precise enough when you have e.g. a midrange resonance you want to tame (drums).
Btw - the new Console 1 is doing exactly what you describe. You have 2 EQs and 2 comps (and some other useful stuff) and one summing amp in every channel so you can "simulate" an analog recording chain of shaping the tone (preamp + filter + EQ + comp) and record, then mix (EQ, deess, comp, shape) and sum (distortion) in one instance. And every parameter has it's knob.
Thanks for the advice, I'll read the documentation. I know about Rupert Neve and his wanderings from Neve Electronics, which is now AMS-Neve, to Focusrite and Rupert Neve Designs. I know about transformers and their absence on the market, and I talked about them. The issue of transformers is especially relevant for me. It is important for me to have them in the circuit, but not to spend a lot of money on them. Most likely, I will exclude them from the circuits and replace them with something else, or I will look for circuits of these transformers for their own production.
Hah, I reinvented the wheel, it turns out. But the most important thing is that I understood it and can apply it to my console.
The summing amplifier in the SSL 4000 was likely a combination of Jensen’s long tail circuit and the 5534 buffer. However, when it comes to the SSL 4000, the DBX 202 VCA has a dominant impact on the sound quality, so I don't think the summing circuit itself plays a significant role in coloration.
You are so right IamJF!
Matthewmatthews, please don't take too seriously my teasing! 🙂
In no way i want to discourage you but as JF described about his experience i know what you'll face and you are not aware of by now ( i did maintenance too on those kind of consoles).
Go ahead but if i can give an advice go modular and each step after the previous one, starting humble and complexifies things later on.
I'll pm you in the next few days about other things to read i don't want to share in public that might help you.
I will most likely use the Niva circuitry, I would even call it logic, such a term unites for me routing and the like in the console device. But I will design the channel strip myself from several completely different devices. Well, mastering and groups will of course include Neumann circuits and the legendary ssl bus compressors (or the Glue compressor)
Thank you very much for your opinion. I have access to the equipment, I am a graduate student and there are many labs for this here. I will definitely use passive summation, since after reading the literature I did not see anything exciting in active summation. Yes, I understand that the project is not just huge, it is of supergalactic scale and I will suffer a lot in designing power lines for 8-15 completely different devices on each of the 16 channels, as well as other electronic isolation in the device, but still the planned result is worth it)
as I said, I will most likely replace the transformers with something else in the built-in devices, I can't afford too many and it is difficult to implement their harmonious operation. I think that I will be able to find the transformer assembly diagrams in the Neva 1081 preamplifier, since it is the input device. It has 2 transformers and the third one per channel, I will just put in the sum. I don't see the point in considering a hybrid circuit, since I am assembling the console not only for myself and my desires (although its entire concept is based on them), but also for other people! I want to make an analogue accessible and compact. That's all) This is my goal and the goal of this project.
by the way, yes, you can also look at the DBKS and their schemes for coloring in the adder, but again, the adder will remain passive.
I would be very grateful if you did so. I can also share my developments in terms of block diagrams of this console. I do not take offense at the jokes, there is nothing offensive in this, haha! I understand perfectly well that this project will take a looooong time and it is not a fact that it will work out.
Well, unfortunately I'm not a citizen of the European Union to buy them. It's unlikely that they'll be delivered to me)
AM ship all over the world. And their rates for postage are very reasonable. They've been going a long time and DIYers are their no.1 source of business. Ask them for a postal quote. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Thanks for the advice. I will definitely read up on their shipping terms and see how to order transformers from there.