 George
Shilling reviews:
Symetrix
628 Digital Voice Processor
Want
to sound like Dave Lee Travis? I thought not! However,
if you are in the broadcast business you will need to apply
some processing to your announcers' or deejays' microphones. There
is a whole host of all-in-one vocal processors available, and at the
moment there seems to be a new one every month.
The
Symetrix 528E has been available for some time: a fairly
straightforward processor that leans in the direction of the
broadcast market. Now, Symetrix claim this new unit, the
uninspiringly named 628, has been developed as a result of requests
from 528 users. The problem with the old-fashioned 528 was
apparently that you had to adjust the settings for each user. Doh!
Now, the new digital 628 gives you 127 preset locations. So as long
as you remember which number your preset is, this could be very
useful.
Buy studio gear in our shop.
The
628 is a 1U, 6.5" deep dark grey box, with a fairly solid feel.
On the back are XLRs for Mic and Line level inputs, the latter also
having a TRS socket, the former accompanied by a phantom power
switch - a daft place for any switch. There are XLRs and unbalanced
jack analogue outputs for left and right, which is odd as this is
not a stereo unit: both outputs carry the same signal. Next, the
digital output section comprises a toggle switch for sample rate, a
push-button to select AES/EBU or S/PDIF and the appropriate phono
and XLR sockets. There is no digital input. Further along there are
MIDI IN and MIDI OUT/THRU, the IN doubling as a seven-pin DIN socket
to accept the special lead supplied with the optional RC-1 remote
control unit. A screwdriver operated pot selects MIDI channel.
Mains
goes in via an IEC socket: the review model came with a useless
American lead, but I am sure retail units will have the correct one.
On the front panel, from left to right you get: 1. The pre-amp
section, featuring the only "real" pot, for input gain
(which therefore, irritatingly, does not get saved as part of the
preset), and latching switches for Mic/Line input selection and 15dB
pad. LEDs indicate Clip and Phantom On. All subsequent pots are data
encoders with small but deep rubbery knobs which have a pleasantly
damped feel, and about twenty "notches" per full rotation.
One
click of any pot displays its current setting on the LED panel on
the right of the unit. All subsequent buttons are momentary push
switches, and each section features a button and LED to make it
Active. 2. The de-esser features frequency and threshold pots and a
row of LEDs to indicate gain reduction. It works well, but I found
its release to be a little slow. 3. The expander/gate section works
very well, featuring threshold, ratio and release knobs and a row of
LEDs to indicate gain reduction. 4. The compressor section features
identically labelled controls to the gate section, so be careful
there, people! Attack is preset pretty fast, but not fast enough to
stop explosive transients such as 'T's. Each of the preceding three
sections seem to have an odd set of numbers for the threshold
setting. This is because it is referenced to digital zero (dBfs). 5.
The three band EQ shares one set of knobs for Frequency, Bandwidth
and Cut/Boost, with overlapping bands and LEDs to show which band
you are editing. 6. The Master section features an Output Level pot,
an Output Level meter, a preset number pot and Load and Save
buttons, and a simple three-figure LED display.
The
input stage feeds a 20 bit A/D converter, then a 24 bit Motorola
digital signal processor handles the signal dynamics. Because there
is no Input meter, the manual suggests bypassing all the sections,
setting the Output gain to zero, then using the Output LEDs to set
input gain. A bit of a palaver really, and to get unity with Output
set at zero the input pot has to be down at about 10 o'clock which
does not feel right. Presets 120 to 127 are set up with some
examples for different styles of radio announcer. You cannot
overwrite these, but you can resave any tweaks to any of the other
119 stores, which all start off "blank". The lack of
layered menus is admirable in a digital unit, and I found it very
simple to use. It can, however, take many rotations to twiddle
through some of the scales, for example from the bottom to the top
of an EQ frequency range. Perhaps some of the scales are a little
too fine, or maybe Symetrix should have employed an accelerator
mode. You could then whizz through the scale when the knobs are
turned faster (like the clock on my electric cooker!) The manual is
good-humoured in an American way, and although not that logically
ordered, all the information you need and more is in there.
The
sound quality is superb, and all those intimate, super-present
deejay and announcer vocal sounds are instantly achievable. For talk
radio, this is just the job, if a little pricey.
Buy the Joe Meek TwinQ Studio Channel Strip in our shop.
Reproduced
with kind permission from www.George.Shilling.Com. Copyright ©1997
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