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Post by illacov on Oct 8, 2016 5:55:54 GMT -6
I'm curious about this. I have a Studer A800 MKIII 24 track machine, but it's quite expensive (and cranky) to maintain and feed with tape. I'm wondering how this sim box compares to the real thing and what the cost might be for 8-12 channels. I would, of course, be using it between the mic pre (or console) and converter, as I'm convincinced that recording digitally before going to tape loses something. Greetings John! We based our HiFi tape core on our freshly refurbed and calibrated Studer A810. There will be two versions of the rack and the 8 channel Zulu. Standard and Deluxe edition. Standard versions will be full passive like the Zulu we are releasing next month. Deluxe versions will feature added active circuitry such as a boost circuit, EQ bass and treble boosts and transformer balanced makeup gain stage. The fully passive options can still be utilized in the deluxe versions, but these added features can prove extremely useful to an engineer during tracking, mixing or mastering. Cost is TBD currently but we're aiming for an 8 channel active solution that will street below 3k. Thanks -L.
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Post by illacov on Oct 8, 2016 6:04:34 GMT -6
To give you all some nerdy banter to ponder here's the extremely abridged version of how Zulu functions.
Signal goes in. Comes out awesome.
Thanks -L.
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Post by illacov on Oct 9, 2016 18:53:54 GMT -6
BTW I hope the mods don't mind but for people who are having difficulty seeing the pre-order link on the handsomeaudio site, the top half of the screen on the website contains all the access points to the various areas of the page. Pre-order is about 3rd from the right and for posterity, the dashboard on the top follows you no matter where you are on the site. The link if you want a direct link is www.handsomeaudio.com/pre-order-zuluAgain you must be on a computer to pre-order. The security certificate on my form does not like mobile devices/phones or tablets. It must be done from an actual computer. Thanks -L.
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Post by mulmany on Oct 10, 2016 10:44:58 GMT -6
That must have been my issue. Thanks.
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Post by illacov on Oct 12, 2016 9:57:34 GMT -6
Added in one final control called HX. We were going to release this in the deluxe version but decided to have it exist in the desktop version of Zulu.
HX adds in super HiFI tape harmonics and clarity. Excellent for mastering engineers and record producers alike. Offers the ability to go brighter than the source, along with adding superior bass response and super rich upper mid range energy.
Yesterday I ran signal to my Wheatstone SP5A channels here in my studio. A pre-order customer sent me some drum loops to run through Zulu with a specific request to slam Zulu's inputs.
I sent signal into the line ins on my Wheatstone and set the trim to allow for the most gain possible before clipping (on the channel strip of the SP5A). I then sent signal to Zulu via the direct outs of the board and proceeded to send something along the lines of +15db into the inputs of Zulu. The input transformers in Zulu are like tiny Clydesdales, they don't mind the weight. The cores of the input transformers were obviously dancing at this point but not to the point where they were cutting out. I had Zulu set to a preset I like to call Sushi.
ProFi deck (we used our Tascams here to be the modeling platform for this), ProFi Headroom, 50% dark Bias (12 oclock position), HX off, set to TK mode and Enhance set to 50% as well. This blends in some of the dry super funky input mojo with the tape saturation and bounce. The ghost notes on this one particular drum loop were super fuzzy but in that 70s pushed way and then by blending in some of the cleaner input signal you got punchy kicks, with a pronounced snare hit with crunchy ghost notes. This sort of setting made what was a pretty standard sounding drumloop, sound like a really produced and interesting sounding rhythm. In many instances, I've found that what's missing from vibey productions is actually the vibe of the old school gear when the circuits are bent, straining to please the mad scientist running the session. While there are some pretty amazing plugins out there when you consider how convenient they are, there's still the missing piece of the puzzle which is the results you want beyond the norm.
Plenty of people used tape simply in the archival sense, capture information, replicate (as best possible) information.
But when you listen to the veteran engineers (at least in my travels), you'll learn that just calibrating a deck, plunking signal to the channels and playing it back was the tip of the iceberg. I've had these guys brag about slamming decks with a vocal at +20db! Sure it was more than the deck contributing at that point but that IS the point. If you're already recording instruments and you already own mic pres, then you're 90% of the way there. All you're adding with a device like this is the medium for that distortion to live in. During tracking the rules are the same. Since you can peg Zulu with your mic preamps (if that's something you're into) then where you'd normally need to attenuate the output of the mic preamp, you can leave that puppy wide open if that's your vision.
For cleaner stuff then of course you wouldn't go to such extremes, but, some really bush-wacked drums with cleanish guitars and marbley bass with a velvety yet clear vocal was a damn fine sound and still is.
I've been collecting records that I consider super tapey, one of them is Kate Bush's "The Kick Inside." I just completely adore the way this record sounds, everything has this amazing round tone to it that's got a delicious dose of syrup on the mid range. Things are solid without being over the top and its got this perfect marriage of talent, space, console electronics and tape butter phat.
Anybody else have some super tapey records they're spinning lately?
Thanks -L.
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Post by illacov on Oct 12, 2016 15:09:32 GMT -6
https%3A//soundcloud.com/tod-levine_handsome-audio/sp5-50-enhance-sushi-tk-50-drk-full-comphttps%3A//soundcloud.com/tod-levine_handsome-audio/sp5-100-tape-sushi-tk-50-drk-full-comphttps%3A//soundcloud.com/tod-levine_handsome-audio/sp5-50-enhance-sushi-mx-50-drk-full-comphttps%3A//soundcloud.com/tod-levine_handsome-audio/sp5-100-tape-sushi-mx-50-drk-full-compI ran some of my own tests with the Wheatstone SP5A smacking up the inputs of Zulu. These are more on the moderate extreme side but for creating some cool tones or adding character to drums in a mixing or tracking situation, these are definitely things to make you reach for Zulu. They definitely aren't examples of how I'd use Zulu for a Steely Dan or Joni Mitchell style of record but if I were doing some Led Zeppelin influenced stuff or Radiohead, anything that required some real analog character with an attitude, I'd be very inclined to use Zulu. Again whether you're coming from a computer signal or just the mic into the mic preamp into Zulu, these same concepts apply. Mic preamps unless you're mixing on a console, sit idle during most ITB mixing sessions, so put em to use! Wake up that digital audio with some analog tape phatness and lively energy. There's several ways to check this out. There's short clips in this set where its the dry clip, which is a drumloop I made from several bits to form the loop. Then there's the resultant clips after I sent the signal through Zulu. As well, I've posted the 4 full length clips where the dry signal is compared to the Zulu print, first with the dry and wet peak matched, then with the dry and wet RMS matched. Here's the link to the soundcloud playlist! soundcloud.com/tod-levine_handsome-audio/sets/zulu-sushi-drums-zulu-demoThanks Please enjoy the examples and let me know your thoughts! Thanks
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 12, 2016 17:24:55 GMT -6
The mod doesn't mind lol
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Post by ragan on Nov 16, 2016 18:25:34 GMT -6
Just listened to the per control clips on the handsomeaudio site and I got all excited again. That's a cool way to hear what this thing can do. illacov any update on timeframe, Langston? I know we're not past your last predicted timeframe, I'm just eager
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Post by illacov on Nov 17, 2016 11:59:25 GMT -6
Just listened to the per control clips on the handsomeaudio site and I got all excited again. That's a cool way to hear what this thing can do. illacov any update on timeframe, Langston? I know we're not past your last predicted timeframe, I'm just eager We are still expecting our cases circa 11/23 per the case factory's lead time. If there's a change in plan, I of course will let everybody know. Part of the culture of working with US factories is that they celebrate holidays! The crunch before Thanksgiving always is a variable and a touch unpredictable. I'm fully committed to manufacturing in the USA, sometimes this means delays. This is also part of why rather than doing the Kickstarter model of business where we collect everything up front and then people hope and pray everything goes well, we decided to front every dime of this process ourselves and the only investment we need from our pre-order/reserve family is just their time and patience. When I say that we have gone to every measure to ensure you're getting a quality product, I mean it. While we haven't disclosed the name of our transformer manufacturer, I can guarantee you that its a WELL respected name in the industry that makes iron for some extremely respected names in the music industry. The Triads while they were nice, are actually pale in comparison to what we accomplished with our custom coils. The overall build quality and sonic benefits of using these new pieces is well worth the weight and investment. One thing that I will be working on in the coming days is releasing some new promotional videos as well as some new audio that demonstrates the Calibration modes. The modes are basically preset configurations that are part of the secret sauce behind how these classic machines were setup. Based on my research, tests and simple observations, this is component that's missing from tape simulations. Not necessarily the ability to "calibrate," the tape sim, but the ability to actually adjust the parts of the building blocks that matter to the end user. In a day and age where turn around time is a major factor in record production, it just made more sense for us to design 4 fantastic sounding calibrations for Zulu that not only park you right in Swiss, Japanese or Cassette Multitrack territory but also the ability to go beyond those deck behaviors and enjoy texture and behavior that exists on other machines that we've used. We of course can't sit and model every tape machine and try to squeeze it into Zulu but because we've really got the core of what makes the 3 machines we modeled in Zulu, we could then take those cores and get existential with those core functions and tonality. So the Calibration switch gives you more like 12 different tape machines. Each one has a different range of frequency interaction, compression behavior and saturation character. Because Calibration will be a highly used control, we even silkscreened a chart on the top panel of Zulu so you can "tell," where your calibration control is at without looking at it. Currently our boxes at receiving their artwork and I have to fly to the assembly house to review the work. Should be fun, I'll be sure to take pictures and share them with ya'll. On a studio note, last night I recorded some vocals that were performed to an instrumental. Typical for people cutting demo tapes or vocal reels. I normally would just keep this session all digital but I decided to burn up the extra 4 minutes or so a song and print with Zulu on the 2 buss. The instrumentals btw were ALL MP3s. Let me tell you, where I thought it was beyond a possibility that Zulu would make a difference, I was extremely shocked to find that it made a huge difference. Especially is marrying the vocal to the backing track. Just beyond real. Back to Zulu, our quick start guide and recall sheet are completed. I'll be adding them to our website and sharing them online once we have a final review of them. Thanks -L.
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Post by stormymondays on Dec 5, 2016 18:24:15 GMT -6
Fascinating stuff! Is the preorder still open?
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Post by illacov on Dec 5, 2016 18:35:46 GMT -6
Fascinating stuff! Is the preorder still open? Yes indeed! Feel free to head over to handsomeaudio.com/pre-order-zulu But do it from a computer. Mobile won't work for security reasons. Thanks -L.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2016 18:04:38 GMT -6
I'm in
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Post by ragan on Dec 28, 2016 21:54:48 GMT -6
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Post by tasteliketape on Dec 28, 2016 22:03:11 GMT -6
Another Christmas come and gone still no Zulu in my stocking😪 Maybe Christmas 2017🎛
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Post by illacov on Dec 29, 2016 17:05:43 GMT -6
Merry Christmas gents!
Our cases are completed and I'm planning my trip as we speak! I will be at our assembly house in January and will take pictures of our finished cases, fully assembled and stuffed. In case you didn't know, Altran is our USA Transformer source, so we are officially joining the likes of Universal Audio, Chandler, Great River, Warm Audio, Purple, Hairball Audio and many others! We made the hard choice of abandoning our previous transformer company after they had massive inventory issues and we had no other option except to hire a new company to make us something custom.
Altran has been nothing short of amazing, but with great quality work comes a wait. So in the course of waiting for Altran's iron, we were delayed by over a month due to issues with our cases. Long story short, we missed Christmas and have done everything in our power to move this process along as quickly as possible in light of these delays. For myself especially, this has been nothing short of a dream come true and a learning experience second only to the first time I witnessed a recording session (to tape no less).
I truly hope that you all can keep the faith a little while longer, we are almost completely sold out of our 250 promotional pricing units, so if you have any friends who truly would like to capitalize on this situation, please send them over to the Handsome Audio website so they reserve one of those last remaining spots.
Needless to say I've been "racking," my brains about the future iterations of Zulu, more to come on that soon enough!
Thanks -L.
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Post by indiehouse on Dec 29, 2016 17:39:09 GMT -6
Merry Christmas gents! Our cases are completed and I'm planning my trip as we speak! I will be at our assembly house in January and will take pictures of our finished cases, fully assembled and stuffed. In case you didn't know, Altran is our USA Transformer source, so we are officially joining the likes of Universal Audio, Chandler, Great River, Warm Audio, Purple, Hairball Audio and many others! We made the hard choice of abandoning our previous transformer company after they had massive inventory issues and we had no other option except to hire a new company to make us something custom. Altran has been nothing short of amazing, but with great quality work comes a wait. So in the course of waiting for Altran's iron, we were delayed by over a month due to issues with our cases. Long story short, we missed Christmas and have done everything in our power to move this process along as quickly as possible in light of these delays. For myself especially, this has been nothing short of a dream come true and a learning experience second only to the first time I witnessed a recording session (to tape no less). I truly hope that you all can keep the faith a little while longer, we are almost completely sold out of our 250 promotional pricing units, so if you have any friends who truly would like to capitalize on this situation, please send them over to the Handsome Audio website so they reserve one of those last remaining spots. Needless to say I've been "racking," my brains about the future iterations of Zulu, more to come on that soon enough! Thanks -L. Is there a confirmation to know if you made the list? I signed up but never got a confirmation email.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Dec 29, 2016 17:50:48 GMT -6
Merry Christmas gents! Our cases are completed and I'm planning my trip as we speak! I will be at our assembly house in January and will take pictures of our finished cases, fully assembled and stuffed. In case you didn't know, Altran is our USA Transformer source, so we are officially joining the likes of Universal Audio, Chandler, Great River, Warm Audio, Purple, Hairball Audio and many others! We made the hard choice of abandoning our previous transformer company after they had massive inventory issues and we had no other option except to hire a new company to make us something custom. Altran has been nothing short of amazing, but with great quality work comes a wait. So in the course of waiting for Altran's iron, we were delayed by over a month due to issues with our cases. Long story short, we missed Christmas and have done everything in our power to move this process along as quickly as possible in light of these delays. For myself especially, this has been nothing short of a dream come true and a learning experience second only to the first time I witnessed a recording session (to tape no less). I truly hope that you all can keep the faith a little while longer, we are almost completely sold out of our 250 promotional pricing units, so if you have any friends who truly would like to capitalize on this situation, please send them over to the Handsome Audio website so they reserve one of those last remaining spots. Needless to say I've been "racking," my brains about the future iterations of Zulu, more to come on that soon enough! Thanks -L. Still no visuals?
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Post by illacov on Dec 29, 2016 18:17:16 GMT -6
Merry Christmas gents! Our cases are completed and I'm planning my trip as we speak! I will be at our assembly house in January and will take pictures of our finished cases, fully assembled and stuffed. In case you didn't know, Altran is our USA Transformer source, so we are officially joining the likes of Universal Audio, Chandler, Great River, Warm Audio, Purple, Hairball Audio and many others! We made the hard choice of abandoning our previous transformer company after they had massive inventory issues and we had no other option except to hire a new company to make us something custom. Altran has been nothing short of amazing, but with great quality work comes a wait. So in the course of waiting for Altran's iron, we were delayed by over a month due to issues with our cases. Long story short, we missed Christmas and have done everything in our power to move this process along as quickly as possible in light of these delays. For myself especially, this has been nothing short of a dream come true and a learning experience second only to the first time I witnessed a recording session (to tape no less). I truly hope that you all can keep the faith a little while longer, we are almost completely sold out of our 250 promotional pricing units, so if you have any friends who truly would like to capitalize on this situation, please send them over to the Handsome Audio website so they reserve one of those last remaining spots. Needless to say I've been "racking," my brains about the future iterations of Zulu, more to come on that soon enough! Thanks -L. Is there a confirmation to know if you made the list? I signed up but never got a confirmation email. Can you please inbox me your email address that you used to register or your full name? When you complete the pre-order there's a confirmation message that appears on the screen. On some browsers you get bounced to the bottom of the screen and the message is at the top. Thanks -L.
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Post by illacov on Dec 29, 2016 18:24:09 GMT -6
Merry Christmas gents! Our cases are completed and I'm planning my trip as we speak! I will be at our assembly house in January and will take pictures of our finished cases, fully assembled and stuffed. In case you didn't know, Altran is our USA Transformer source, so we are officially joining the likes of Universal Audio, Chandler, Great River, Warm Audio, Purple, Hairball Audio and many others! We made the hard choice of abandoning our previous transformer company after they had massive inventory issues and we had no other option except to hire a new company to make us something custom. Altran has been nothing short of amazing, but with great quality work comes a wait. So in the course of waiting for Altran's iron, we were delayed by over a month due to issues with our cases. Long story short, we missed Christmas and have done everything in our power to move this process along as quickly as possible in light of these delays. For myself especially, this has been nothing short of a dream come true and a learning experience second only to the first time I witnessed a recording session (to tape no less). I truly hope that you all can keep the faith a little while longer, we are almost completely sold out of our 250 promotional pricing units, so if you have any friends who truly would like to capitalize on this situation, please send them over to the Handsome Audio website so they reserve one of those last remaining spots. Needless to say I've been "racking," my brains about the future iterations of Zulu, more to come on that soon enough! Thanks -L. Still no visuals? I should be able to get you some visuals of finished cases before my trip in early January. This stuff is all at our sub assembly houses in west (think Nevada). I'm in New York State. I'll have visuals of complete cases, populated Zulu's etc...very very soon, like very soon. The slowest part of a process like this is the tooling and setup and this includes our cases and custom transformers along with our electronics assembly. Once this initial run is completed, everything will be dialed in at our facilities and they will be completed far quicker. This will allow me to stop biting my nails and get back to work on developing the stereo rack and configurable 8-16 channel modular system. Thanks -L.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Dec 29, 2016 18:36:35 GMT -6
I should be able to get you some visuals of finished cases before my trip in early January. This stuff is all at our sub assembly houses in west (think Nevada). I'm in New York State. I'll have visuals of complete cases, populated Zulu's etc...very very soon, like very soon. The slowest part of a process like this is the tooling and setup and this includes our cases and custom transformers along with our electronics assembly. Once this initial run is completed, everything will be dialed in at our facilities and they will be completed far quicker. This will allow me to stop biting my nails and get back to work on developing the stereo rack and configurable 8-16 channel modular system. Thanks -L. ...so no visuals before the pre-order is over...
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Post by illacov on Dec 29, 2016 19:05:40 GMT -6
I should be able to get you some visuals of finished cases before my trip in early January. This stuff is all at our sub assembly houses in west (think Nevada). I'm in New York State. I'll have visuals of complete cases, populated Zulu's etc...very very soon, like very soon. The slowest part of a process like this is the tooling and setup and this includes our cases and custom transformers along with our electronics assembly. Once this initial run is completed, everything will be dialed in at our facilities and they will be completed far quicker. This will allow me to stop biting my nails and get back to work on developing the stereo rack and configurable 8-16 channel modular system. Thanks -L. ...so no visuals before the pre-order is over... I have seen our cases, completed circuit boards, but these are all at different places on the west coast. I want to depict them completed as soon as I possibly can. Its not my intention to keep folks in the dark before they pre-order, but our previous renders of Zulu are still very much the same. The biggest change was the gold color used on the rings because of the way the pantone color looked compared to my mockup colors. We also increased the size of the rear of the case from 3" to 4" due to internal clearance concerns. As of right now, I have no pictures of a completed production unit to share. I can get some up to date 3D renders from our case/cosmetics house with all the screen art on the unit. They will be open after New Years. After that the next images I post will be completed production units. If the pre-order closes before that, I can set a few extra units aside for RGO members, but not indefinitely. Thanks -L
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Post by mrholmes on Dec 30, 2016 4:53:04 GMT -6
If I place a pre order I get charged the day the unit is ready to go?
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Post by illacov on Dec 30, 2016 7:33:46 GMT -6
If I place a pre order I get charged the day the unit is ready to go? o Invoices are issued once inventory is approved and in stock. We will alert you before we start sending out invoices. A person will be alotted 10 business days to pay their invoice. If they fail to pay within that time (or don't make arrangements with us) they will be dropped from the list. Thanks -L.
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Post by illacov on Dec 31, 2016 20:52:49 GMT -6
While I'm waiting for my updated 3D renders, I scored a sweet deal on a used Chinese condenser microphone. I bought it fully intending to mod it, but I figured I'd share something about Zulu with this microphone.
As I mentioned previously, Zulu is capable of handling high signal levels during mixes and tracking. But as well, its an incredible tone shaper for vocals. I mean just bizarre-good at taking vocals that are harsh sounding and zapping the nasty edge on them. So in the interest of putting my money where my mouth is, I'm going to record some clips with this stock Chinese microphone, with and without Zulu in the signal path. The Bias and Enhance controls are superb for this application.
Just gotta wait for the mic to arrive in the mail and away we go!
Happy New Year!
Thanks -L.
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Post by wiz on Jan 1, 2017 2:53:48 GMT -6
What's inside Zulu?
You know if it's cool to ask
Cheers
Wiz
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