Sound Performance Lab Kultube Model 2049 manual

Model 2049 Manual S tereo Compr essor[...]

2 Kultube (Model 2049) Manual Ve r s i o n 1.1 – 11/ 2004 R & D: Ruben Til g ner The i nforma tio n in this document ha s been c aref ully verif ied and is a ssumed to b e cor rec t . However Sound Per formance L ab ( SPL) re ser ves the rig ht to modif y the product des cr ibed in this manual at any time. Changes w ithout notice. This do cum[...]

3 Introduction .............................................................................................. 4 Pa rt icular Feature, Equi pment ................................................................... 4 Hookup & Securit y Ad vices ........................................................................ 5 Po wer Supply ..............[...]

4 Th e Kultube is an e x trem ely vers atile compres sor wi th a broad r ange of control f acili ties that cover all t ypic al compressor applic ations . From improved ste reo m ixes in the “MIDI Studio “ to surround mas tering with s everal dev ices connec ted, all jobs c an be under taken to the hi ghe st deg ree of sound qualit y . Yo u c a [...]

5 Car eful ly se lect a place for set ting up the Kultube. T he unit should be situated away f rom heat s ources and direc t sunlig ht. Avoid inst allation in env ironment s expos ed t o vi br ations , dust , heat , cold or moisture. Keep the unit away f rom tran sfo rmers or mo tors or an y oth er un it th at c oul d ge nerat e lar ge vari atio ns[...]

6 Connections Re ar Panel/Wiring Fu r ther Kultubes as slaves in multi- channel link mode 2 1 3 Pin wiring XLR Input: 1=GND 2=Hot (+) 3=Cold (-) 1 2 3 Pin wiring XLR Output: 1 = GND 2 = Hot (+) 3 = Cold (-) Pin wiring Stereo Jack Connector: T ip = Hot (+) Ring = Cold (-) Sleeve = GND Connection to console: Insert Sends > Analog Inputs Insert Ret[...]

7 Aga in , wh i l e K ul t ube‘s hou s ing is EMV-proof and protect s ag ains t HF-inter ference, placement of the unit is ver y impor t ant since it amplif ies microphone sig nal s as well a s ot h er unw a nt ed si g n al s . B ef or e c on ne c tin g t h e Kultube or any other equipment turn of f all power . A djust the volt age se t ting on t[...]

8 Sidec hain inp ut s Thi s ja ck i s used as a s i dechain input for connec ting an e x ternal audio sig nal to con t rol th e Kultube (e. g. an equalizer for f requenc y dependent proce ssing ). It is conf ig ured as a s tereo RC A jack , wi th the lef t channel on the tip and the righ t cha n nel on the ring. Id eally you should use a nor mal in[...]

9 Switches Control Elements Please not e al so the inf ormat ion on var ious cont rols under „Under st anding and enjoying the Kultube“ star t ing page 12. RED / V U Thi s swit ch cha n ges the VU met e r over to Gain R e duct ion mode. Th e indicator needle then jumps to the 0 dB value and moves to the lef t with increasing compression. T he s[...]

10 Progressiv e Time Contro l: A T T ACK Thi s functio n al lows t o s w i t c h i n a n a d j u s t a b l e a u t o m a t i z a t i o n o f t h e t i m e constant s which is s et up with the A T T ACK cont rol. Pu t simply you can now inf luence the compression intensit y for rapid sig nal increas es, or w hen the f unct ion is turn ed of f deter [...]

11 Controls Contr ol Elements THR ESHOLD Th e Threshold con trol deter mines t he compress or thresh old value. T he value scale fo r the THRESHOL D control indic ates th e level in dBu. T ur ning f ully CCW provides no con trol , and f ully C W prov ides compres sion star ting at a level of approx. – 40 dBu. RA T I O The RA TI O control is u sed[...]

12 TUBE HARM ONICS The TU BE HARM O NICS cont rol allows you to dr ive the tub e output s tage inf i- nitely variable to desperat ion: the more the cont rol is tur ned in, the f ur ther the tube get s into sa turation and the more har monic s are produced. The o utput lev e l of this stag e is automatically adjus ted, ti.e. it keeps vir tually the [...]

13 The R atio c ontrol As in d i ca t ed a bo v e, t hi s determine s the ratio b et ween the in - and output level above the threshold s et ting. T he pres et value specif ies how the input dynamics sh ould behav e wi th resp ec t to the output: a ratio of 1 to 2 means that only half of t he dy nami c c h ang e wi ll b e p r esent on the output. A[...]

14 Operating Understanding and enjo ying the Kultube In the lat ter ca se the r atio changes depending on the in 0ut sig nal. A s the preset t hreshold v alue is approached the r atio is compar ati vely small (1: 1 . 5) and doesn’t reach the preset ma ximum value until high input le vels are present . T he result is much le ss conspicuous compre [...]

15 Proc essed in this way , dr ums ge t more s elf ass er t ion and sound ‚f a ster ’ . The be st settin g is not alw ays ea sy to f ind, since you usually need to f ind a compromise. Ver y f a st s et ting s r un the r isk of producing audible dis tor t ions – especially in the ca s e of low f reque ncies, since the compress or now tr ies to[...]

16 Fi g. 5 s h ow s the cont rol behav ior using a sinus burs t as an e x ample. In var ious settings it is cle arly t o see that the bu rst s igna l re mains almost unchanged in its f or m; only the intensit y changes . The PT C feature can provide out st anding results not only f or percus sive signal s but al so f or many other music al signal s[...]

17 Operating Understanding and enjoying the K ultube The re leas e parameter is al so for the mos t par t responsible for unobtr usi ve compression. T his means it is hard to f ind the per f ec t set ting as w ith the A t ta ck control – p ar t icular ly in the c a se of comple x summed signal s a f i xed relea se time ma y hard ly be usa ble . A[...]

Operating Understanding and enjo ying the Kultube For settings with la rger averages the ch ange in the relea se time is eas y to recog nize. Wi th ver y small values t h e control volt age for the Gain Cell “st ick s” to th e r ec t if ie d sig nal and work s almost like an envelope follower . Fi g. 8 o n th e ne x t page show s the var ious e[...]

Understanding and enjoying the K ultube Operating Fig 8 „Rel ea se – P TC “ Summed sig nal pro cessing The ma in application area f or the Kultube is in stereo summed sig nal compres- sion together wi th an analog mi x ing console. Here the Kultube is looped into the inser t p aths ( „Inser t S end/ Return“). The i nser t pa ths are gener[...]

Sidec hain Use of th e SIDECHA IN input s ex pands the p ossibilities for cont rolling compression. A t ypical applic ation is f re quenc y-selec t ive compres sion, whereb y an external equ ali zer is used to raise the f requencies at which the compressor sh ould resp ond or to f ilter out the f requenc y band you w ish the compress or to ign ore.[...]

Using and enjoying the K ultube Multi- channel an d 5 .1 surroun d appl icatio ns The Ku ltub e lets you use the MUL TI CH ANNEL L INK f unction to link any number of dev ices f o r multi- channel or surround applic ations. Simply def ine a master for c ontro lli n g all the other units (slave s). Each slave mu st b e def ine d as a slave using the[...]

22 Mea sur ement s Frequen c y range (1 0 0 k H z = -3 dB) .......... 10 Hz-1 50 kHz Common mode rejec tion (@ 0 dB u) ......... 1 kHz: › 8 0 dB / 10 kHz: › 65 dB THD & N (@ 0 dB u) .................................. › 82 dB S/N (A-w ei gh ted ) .................................... 9 0 dBu Inpu t s Input impedance ........................[...]

23 SPL elec t ronic s GmbH ( h ereaf ter called SPL) pro duct s are w ar ranted only in the countr y where purchase d, through the author ized SPL dist r ibutor in that countr y , ag ains t defe c t s in material or work manship. The sp ecif ic per iod of this limited war rant y shall be that which is descr ibed to the or iginal ret ail purchaser b[...]

24 Kultube – Manual Y our notes .................................................................................. .................................................................................. .................................................................................. ...................................................................[...]