Sound Performance Lab 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 T ilg ner The i nforma tio n in this document ha s been c aref ully ver if ie d and is as sumed to b e co r re c t . However S ound Per f or mance L ab (SPL) re ser ves the rig ht to modif y the product de scr ibed in this manual at any time. Change s without notice. This [...]

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 t remely vers atile compre ssor w ith a broad r ange of control f ac ilities 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 ever al devices 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 t ing up the Kultube. The 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 mot ors or any oth er u nit that co ul d gene rate large vari atio ns in [...]

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: Inser t Sends > Analog Inputs Inser t R[...]

7 Aga i n, 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 o th e r un w an te d sig nal s. Be f or e c on ne c t i ng t h e Kultube or any other equipment turn of f all power . A djus t the voltage s et 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 dep endent processing ). It is conf igured as a s tereo RC A jack , with the lef t channel on the tip and the righ t ch an nel on the r ing. Id eally you should use a nor mal ins[...]

9 Switches Control Elements Please no te also 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 swi tch ch an ges the VU mete r over to Gain R educt 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 ca[...]

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 w hich is set up with the A T T ACK control . Pu t simply you can now inf luence the compres sion intensit y for r apid sig nal increas es, or w hen the f unc tion is tur ned of f dete[...]

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 C C W provides no control , 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 se[...]

12 TUBE HARM ONICS The TUBE HARMO NICS cont rol allows you to dr ive the tub e output s tage inf i- nitely variable to desper ation: the more the cont rol is tur ned in, the f ur ther the tube get s into s aturation and the more har monic s are pro duced. The o utput lev e l of this stag e is automatically adjus ted, ti.e. it keeps vir t ually the [...]

13 The R at io c ontrol As i n di c a t ed a bo v e, t h i 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 s hould behav e wi th respec t to the output: a ratio of 1 to 2 means that only half of t he dy nam ic ch an ge w ill b e p r esent o n the out put[...]

14 Operating Understanding and enjo ying the Kultube In the lat ter ca se the r atio changes dep ending on the in0ut sig nal. A s the preset threshold v alue is approache d the r atio is compar ati vely small (1: 1 . 5 ) and doesn’t reach the preset ma ximum value until high input le vel s are present . T he result is much le ss conspicuous compr[...]

15 Pro ces sed in this way , dr ums ge t more self as ser tion and sound ‚f as ter ’ . 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 c as e of low f reque ncies, since the compre ssor now tr ies to [...]

16 Fi g. 5 s ho w s the control 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 it s for 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 u sive compression. T his means it is hard to f ind the per f ec t se t ting a s wit h the At tack control – p ar t icular ly in the c a se of comple x summe d sig nals a f i xed relea se time ma y hard ly be usa ble . [...]

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 “s tick s” to t he r ec tif ie d signal and wor k s almos t 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 ces sing The ma in applic ation area f or the Kultube is in stereo summed sig nal compres- sion together w ith an analog mi x ing console. Here the Kultube is looped into the inser t paths ( „ Inser t Send/ Retur n“). The i nser t pa ths are gen[...]

Sidec hain Use of th e SIDECHA IN input s e xp ands the possibilities for cont rolling compression. A t ypical applic ation is f re quenc y-sele c tive compre ssion, whereb y an external equ ali zer is used to raise the f requencies at which the compress or should resp ond or to f ilter out the f requenc y ban d you wish the compress or to ign ore.[...]

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

22 Mea sur ement s Frequen c y r ange (10 0 k H z = -3 dB) .......... 10 Hz-15 0 k Hz Common mode rejec tion (@ 0 dB u) ......... 1 k Hz: › 8 0 dB / 10 kHz: › 65 dB THD & N (@ 0 dB u) .................................. › 82 dB S/N (A- we ig hte d) .................................... 9 0 dBu Inpu t s Input impedance ......................[...]

23 SPL elec t ronic s GmbH ( h ereaf ter called SPL ) produc t s are war r anted only in the countr y where purchase d, through the author ized SPL dis tr ibutor in that countr y , ag ainst defec t s in mater ial or work manship. The spe cif ic perio d of this limited war rant y shall be that which is descr ibe d to the original ret ail purchaser b[...]

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