What's good out there? Any positive/negative comments?
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Other than Optimod and Omnia...
- Thread starter HadYourPhil
- Start date
I would demo the inovonics and the Vorsis FM4. That way you could compare the boxes,they're about the same price. Unless you want to roll your own,then ST would be a great choice...
What are you looking to spend? Inovonics David money or Vorsis Air Aura money?
The AP-2000 was a hunk of junk. 31 terrible filters for your listening un-enjoyment and a not very good final clipper. The Air Aura was a huge improvement, haven't heard the X3 yet, but would like to.
The David IV was decent sounding to my ears, but I didn't like the AGC at all. Needed a window, spent too much time hunting or was too slow to react depending on how fast you were running it. The PIPP limiter is... different sounding. For a little more money opted for the Omnia.One.
The AP-2000 was a hunk of junk. 31 terrible filters for your listening un-enjoyment and a not very good final clipper. The Air Aura was a huge improvement, haven't heard the X3 yet, but would like to.
The David IV was decent sounding to my ears, but I didn't like the AGC at all. Needed a window, spent too much time hunting or was too slow to react depending on how fast you were running it. The PIPP limiter is... different sounding. For a little more money opted for the Omnia.One.
I tended to give Inovonics limiters a wide berth... too many AM stations with overdriven 222s, I suppose.
Earlier this year though, I passed by one of the unattended K-Love stations down in Florida. while working on another station in the building. They had a David. When I drove around and compared stations, while trying to get out of my mind what was in that rack, I thought the David held its own very well.
Working with software processors, like Stereo Tool and Breakaway, also requires getting over a reluctance or two... the main one being trusting your station's audio chain to a Windows-based computer. However, after replacing the hard drive with an SSD and starting out with a clean XP load, I've had no problems that involved the processor. I have 5 of them in the field now, and really like having been able to tune them with a laptop from my car. The oldest install has been running for about 4 years.
I haven't tried the big Vorsis, but I didn't care for the VP8... too grungy for my ears.
Earlier this year though, I passed by one of the unattended K-Love stations down in Florida. while working on another station in the building. They had a David. When I drove around and compared stations, while trying to get out of my mind what was in that rack, I thought the David held its own very well.
Working with software processors, like Stereo Tool and Breakaway, also requires getting over a reluctance or two... the main one being trusting your station's audio chain to a Windows-based computer. However, after replacing the hard drive with an SSD and starting out with a clean XP load, I've had no problems that involved the processor. I have 5 of them in the field now, and really like having been able to tune them with a laptop from my car. The oldest install has been running for about 4 years.
I haven't tried the big Vorsis, but I didn't care for the VP8... too grungy for my ears.
I tried the David IV, Omnia One and the Orban 5500 on a community station here in CT that values its air sound. All three sounded decent but we all liked the Optimod 5500 best. Significantly better than the David IV and a bit better than the Omnia One in overall sound quality was the consensus.
I thought we sounded pretty good with the Hnat-Hindes Ultramod and Comp-Roc. Looks like they're now available from Broadcast Elctronics. I think at one point they combined the two in one box. Have to admit I liked it best when I added an Orban 222.
http://broadcasttech.com/ulpfm.html
http://broadcasttech.com/ulpfm.html
It's funny to me when station are afraid of their audio processor being "a computer". Their entire library and all of their billing has been playing out of one (or more) for years.
The big gun processors are a ton of fun, but for a station that can't afford $10k to throw down, the PC option with the SSD and a DC coupled sound card can be better than the budget processors from the big companies. For the price of one budget box, I can build two PC's with the software and have redundancy.
I didn't like with BBP that the controls were limited... which is what prevented me from putting it on except for one translator. ST had all the controls but not the sound, until now.
The big gun processors are a ton of fun, but for a station that can't afford $10k to throw down, the PC option with the SSD and a DC coupled sound card can be better than the budget processors from the big companies. For the price of one budget box, I can build two PC's with the software and have redundancy.
I didn't like with BBP that the controls were limited... which is what prevented me from putting it on except for one translator. ST had all the controls but not the sound, until now.
A resounding AMEN on that!WNTIRadio said:
It's probably unfair to compare the David closely to Optimods and Omnias, because if you had the budget for one of those boxes, you'd probably buy one... especially in a competitive market. In a case where you're at the top of where you are, You might actually like the way the David sounds.
I'm also one who's had a bit of a heartache over the lack of control in BBP, but the Optimods have ALWAYS been like that, and we've somehow lived with it. We've used what we consider to be the best we can get our hands on... from time to time. It wasn't that long ago that 3 relatively soft bands, followed by a bunch of diodes for a limiter were considered a radical contribution to the industry. If you're as old As Bill, a half-rack of engineering voodoo, full of tubes and relays and built by a local consulting engineer, was considered a secret weapon for quite awhile.
As for the software applications, I'm partial to both processors for differences I still perceive in them. BBP doesn't bother me in this regard, because I can usually coax the settings that are available and get what I want out of it. In one case, I got what I considered to be a really good sound for an oldies station by using parts of BBP and ST. ST is great for leaving the controls out in the open. In cases where the processor was generally available to some station staff, that could also be a little scary.
Regardless what we choose, and why, there's no arguing that you can use some ingenuity and build something that, in a blind comparison, stands favorably next to at least most of the big boxes, if not all of them. Being in the Seattle market and not being fortunate to have a client company with the big bucks to throw down for a name-brand, it's a lot of fun to see what you can really do with this stuff. There are good stations here that have those budgets, so its possible to see what you can come up with and put it on the air for real-time comparison.
I'm also one who's had a bit of a heartache over the lack of control in BBP, but the Optimods have ALWAYS been like that, and we've somehow lived with it. We've used what we consider to be the best we can get our hands on... from time to time. It wasn't that long ago that 3 relatively soft bands, followed by a bunch of diodes for a limiter were considered a radical contribution to the industry. If you're as old As Bill, a half-rack of engineering voodoo, full of tubes and relays and built by a local consulting engineer, was considered a secret weapon for quite awhile.
As for the software applications, I'm partial to both processors for differences I still perceive in them. BBP doesn't bother me in this regard, because I can usually coax the settings that are available and get what I want out of it. In one case, I got what I considered to be a really good sound for an oldies station by using parts of BBP and ST. ST is great for leaving the controls out in the open. In cases where the processor was generally available to some station staff, that could also be a little scary.
Regardless what we choose, and why, there's no arguing that you can use some ingenuity and build something that, in a blind comparison, stands favorably next to at least most of the big boxes, if not all of them. Being in the Seattle market and not being fortunate to have a client company with the big bucks to throw down for a name-brand, it's a lot of fun to see what you can really do with this stuff. There are good stations here that have those budgets, so its possible to see what you can come up with and put it on the air for real-time comparison.
WNTIRadio said:
Two totally different animals. Thing about how many times we have heard about HD exciters "soiling the linen" and taking themselves off the air. Now, I personally would never commit to using a Windows-based box for something as mission critical as a station's audio processing. With all the potential for memory leaks and other gloom and doom it's just too risky.
Remember, Orban, Omnia and other digital audio processors have their own embedded operating systems that are meant to do one thing and do that well. Taking a Windoze box and having it do audio processing is like going to a mechanic to have your appendix removed! I wouldn't trust it.
I don't know if there are any *nix solutions out there but I would trust a flavor of Unix way before Windoze.
Stereo Tool has a Linux version that will soon be released, if windows makes you nervous.
Bill DeFelice said:
Perhaps I'm wrong, but isn't the Omnia 9 running off XP, perhaps the embedded version?
-CO
I know leif was running xp embedded and i think it was incorporated in the 9. I run a stripped xp pro (157mb) My I7 boots to windows in 16 seconds.
A rebuilt Optimod 8100 still is a very good processor, and can be very competitive with updated chips and new capacitors in the audio circuit. Can find them used on E-Bay and can be rebuilt by Bill Sacks and others.
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