The unit is built in a sturdy steel and aluminum cabinet and has solid printed circuit construction and a 15VA toroidal transformer power supply with a choice of 115-volt/60Hz or 230-volt/50Hz mains operation. A ground lift switch isolates circuit ground from chassis ground, useful for dealing with ground loops or hum problems. Instructions for unbalancing inputs or outputs are in the manual. The rear panel has four sets of Neutrik XLR connectors for balanced I/O for all four processors. SPL highly recommends using the link function when processing stereo signals to maintain a coherent stereo image. Linked channels also share bypass switch functionality. The two Link buttons tie channels 1 and 2 together, with one acting as master, and link channels 3Īnd 4, with channel 3 as master. The single-rackspace Transient Designer offers four channels of processing, or two stereo pairs (each pair of two channels is linkable). Signal present LEDs and hard-wired relay bypass switches are provided for each channel. However, as the same type of pot is used for the Sustain control and for the +/- 24dB Sustain adjustment range, you will need to rely on the front panel labeling in dB for resetabilty. This works out perfectly for the +/-15 dB of Attack adjustment-one click equals 1 dB. Both the Attack and Sustain controls are detented in 1dB steps. SPL has made the Transient Designer very simple to operate only the salient Attack and Sustain parameters are adjustable. Sustain periods can be amplified or attenuated up to 24 dB.
Adjusting the Sustain control on the front panel to the right (+) or positive direction will cause an increase in envelope sustain while negative or (-) settings shorten decay or sustain levels. Again, the difference in voltage between these two envelopes is used to control the VCA. The second follower also follows, but with a much slower-or longer-sustain characteristic built in. The first reference follower faithfully traces the natural signal. In the Sustain section, the signal path is divided again to feed two envelope followers. Attack periods can be amplified or attenuated up to 15 dB. When you turn the Attack knob to the (-) or negative direction, a softening or smoothing of attack is obtained. For very short moments, positive attack values as set by turning the Attack control to the right (+) will emphasize the front or attack portion of the signal. The front panel Attack knob mixes or adjusts the amount of this difference voltage. This amplitude difference produces a voltage that is used to control a VCA that passes the signal to the output. If you were to superimpose the two envelopes on top of each other graphically, you will see an amplitude "Difference" area between the two different attack portions. The second envelope follower tracks the same input signal waveform but produces a mirror image with a much slower attack portion. This process occurs within one to two microseconds. In the Attack section, the first of two envelope followers looks at the instantaneous dynamic shape of the input signal and produces a mirror image reference envelope. These processes occur in parallel, are mutually exclusive and do not interact with one another. The Transient Designer splits an incoming signal into two paths for separate and constant processing by Attack and Sustain sections. This implies that low-level signals are not altered and that the process is constant and instantaneous. So the idea of setting a level threshold for the onset of operation, as you would with any compressor, is meaningless. Unlike a compressor, which "globally" alters the dynamic range of an entire audio signal according to a set of time constants (attack, decay, ratio and release), the Transient Designer uses a level-independent process called Differential Envelope Technology® to maintain identical envelope processing, regardless of input signal level.
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The terse manual explains that the "temporal expiry of a signal" can be modified in two primary ways: by accelerating or slowing the transient portion of a signal, and by shortening or lengthening the sustain portion. The Transient Designer offers an alternative way to manipulate dynamic range.
The new Transient Designer furthers this mandate. Perhaps best known for its Vitalizer dynamically adaptive equalizer, SPL has a history of producing equipment that accomplishes complex and unique sound processing with intuitive controls. The Transient Designer from German manufacturer SPL Electronics is the latest addition to the company's advanced line of analog processors.
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