Turtlerock Forum

Hi there,

What sort of monitor controllers are better than a Big Knob and cheaper than
an Avocet.

Looking for something that won't break the bank !
(Although I've read on GS that the Avocet is *cloudy* )

I need to control..
A pair of Focal Twins
A pair of NS 10m's with a Samson(ha) 120 sub
A pair of good ole' boyz JBL 4311's
A Horrortone or similar on the way (someday soon)
And a heaphone jack would be good to boot as well.

Currently I am running into a patchbay and then repatch as needed..but it would be nice to have a controller :)

Any suggestions ??

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

Hey Nymo, I was doing the patching thing too, I just bought a big knob, works ok but is pretty coloured. I still think it's useable, but I may just ditch it and go back to patching.

A central station could be the go, seen them for about 600 - 700 hundred US on ebay. But they have a sound too. If I was gonna purchase more gear I'd probably get an avochet.

Coleman Audio.

they also have VU meters...for extra cool :)

check out Mercenary Audio.

Now why did'nt you tell about that before I bought the big knob. :( :)

heathen wrote:Now why did'nt you tell about that before I bought the big knob. :( :)

man. u kill me....i told you about the coleman audio shit a long time ago...actually while we were mixing my album....:)

u laughed at me and made remarks about how much you wanted an SSL Matrix! :-) i never brough it up again!

That's cause I was gining my utmost attention to your record, I guess I suck at listening to 2 different things at once. :)

Yeah bugger the matrix, well it would make things easier, but yeah bugger it.

heathen wrote:That's cause I was gining my utmost attention to your record, I guess I suck at listening to 2 different things at once. :)

you were GINING? thats a new audio skill no one has taught me...



ps. i've told u about coleman stuff on more than one occassion, u were hellbent on a SSL matrix tho :P

Giving FFS, can't edit. :)

heathen wrote:Giving FFS, can't edit. :)

i know...this is more fun tho.

Yeah boot me when I'm down. Eeeerrrrr been digging holes all day and I hurt allover, now I remember why I quit doing manual labour.

So there boot me and I'll even go ouch.

Hi there,

Thanx for the advice guys...I'd forgotten about Coleman !
(although I always read their ads in Mix and Tape op)

Sound devices are the dealer and I know a couple of people there,
but it would sure be nice to find a used one !

I have seen a couple of cheapish Avocets too...but they are still a LOT of money.
(Could buy a half decent mic for that much money :)

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

coleman's look sick...deffo getting one of them as soon as i am above the audio poverty line, LOL :-)

I've had no problems with the Central Station..... sounds quite natural with plenty of options.


nIC

buy a avocet

its really cheap for what it is
and its the best sounding controller i have ever heard

Dangerous Audio Monitor SP

Audient Centro

Presonus Central Station

Grace Design M904

Martin Sound Monitor Max

SPL 2Control

Coleman Audio MS2 or MS2P (passive)

SMPro Audio M-patch 2; only 2 stereo in and 2 stereo out, but all passive so "uncoloured" I guess...
Also has headphone out but that needs power.

If only they had included bloody talk-back.

like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/FURMAN-SIGNAL-RO ... 20ae8f0535

Nymo, reading your initial wish list, all it seems that you want to do is switch between speakers.

Is this correct? Do you already have a volume control, mono switch etc?

If so, you might just need a switch box

Hi there,

(Sorry just went back to this thread)

Rob...as usual its a bit of a botch job !
ATM (if my analog console is turned off..most of the time) I run my main speakers (focal Twins) through a patch-bayed ATTY...that gives me the volume control.

If I want to use the NS10's, I have to re-patch the stereo outputs from the patchbay into the NS10 inputs...but I don't have any volume control (other than the corresponding amp vol control...which is locked in an iso booth)...so that's not really good.

If I then want to patch my other speakers in, I have to do it similarly to the NS10's.

Plus I can't monitor via heaphones at the moment...(ok... I suppose I can via my heaphone monitors).

Writing this all down...I'm thinking an Avocet would be great ;-)

Unless you have an elegant solution up your sleeve ??
(Always happy to give money to you :)

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

Have you considered building something?

Isn't this just a stereo attenuator.. (Say a nice conductive plastic one) with a few routing switches?

Hi there,

Mike...I can't build Lego !

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

Oh, I see... And I thought all people with analogue synths new how to build stuff.. lol.

custom solutions are generally possible, though rarely the cheapest path.

have you seen this from my website :



i've built a few variations on this sort of thing depending on what people require. As with many things the case / metalwork and presentation is where the effort lies.

These are totally passive controllers, no power required, no electronics in the signal path. They work best with all balanced inputs and outputs. however I do know that a couple of units are out there working successfully with a mix of balanced and unbalanced paths. I use a very high quality pot that gives great left / right tracking.

crikey its starting to sound like an ad now.....never the less I might be able to put something togther for you. The headphone part is the only tricky bit unless you want to shell out the bucks for a really high quality dedicated HP amp...and i've built a few of these too.

The passive approach gives greater signal integrity than the active version, simply because there is not more electronics(amplifiers) for the signal to go through.

The down side is that is that they are not so good at driving long cable runs.

Rob,

Ha ha, I was just perusing your site and saw the Passive Mastering Controller and thought about this post! Was about to ask why no one has mentioned this, considering one of the issues was 'colour' added to the signal path. (thought I might be missing something : )

BTW, since the advertisement is over....what's the damage on a controller like that ; )

I've the Grace 904 and love it. I also patch back in to it after the EQ, Compressor etc.. to get more of its audio sweets on the way back to the Mytec 192 ADC..
There are no rules........ Only results.

And the Dangerous stuff sounds very transparent.. If that's your thing. :-)