so, I just scooped up a sytek . . .

[bmsander]

. . . and I want to try pushing the preamps a bit to hear what they can do. The problem is I need to attenuate the output signal so I don't blow up my soundcard, and all I have to do it with is the same crappy stuff that it's replacing (a Mackie 1202, and I guess my quadraverb would work). Would I be better off just going to the music shop and buying a quality line attenuator?


brett

[chetatkinsdiet]

the syteks don't have a pad?
I can't remember.
later,
m

[I'm Painting Again]

unfortunately they dont have a pad..note the red light comes on at about -8db before clipping..the design probably took into account a "safe" zone for transients i would guess..shure makes pads you can use..I would opt for the sure or something similar because it seems you want to hear the sytek on its own..a quality compressor gain circut at 1:1..for example would work..but it seems like you want to hear the sy with no other influences..

[red cross]

Buy this instead: http://rane.com/sm26b.html

Useful as a real "minimalist" summing mixer, too.

[bmsander]

thanks guys. That Rane piece looks good, but unfortunately I've already blown my cash on the sytek. I DO have a couple of those $50 Behringer DI boxes which can take a pretty high line level. Would those work? More specifically - would the preamps blow them up or would they taint the sound of the sytek?

thanks again!
brett

[red cross]

Going rate for the Rane's about $50-75 used. Personally, I'd hesitate to run a Sytek through a Behringer DI box. After spending all that money upgrading, it seems a little silly to subject your Sytek's outputs to what might be a questionable signal path. I don't have any idea what those Behringer DI boxes are like though. Who knows? Try it, you might just like what you hear. That Mackie 1202 you own would still seem like a much more sensible option though.

[I'm Painting Again]

cable is also a factor..bad cable is like bad circulation in your body if your body was a studio that is..

[Punkity]

This is an easy one. Short the hot and the cold with a resistor. You cannot overdrive a resistor...well, I guess you could catch one on fire, but not with the the output of a sytek. Don't hesitate, go now to radio shack and get a few with different values (I'd try in the 1k to 20k Ohm range). You could even get fancy and buy a cheap project box, a couple of jacks, a switching knob, and some resistors and have a multiple value, general-use audio pad.

If you doubt that it will work: have you ever seen the pads for the Oktava M012 mics? They are just a resistor shorting the lead to the ground.

Here's a crappy schematic for ya'



As cheap and passive as you can get. Once you settle on a value for the resistor, get a nice one of that value (go ahead and spend that 90 cents), and it will be as transparent as glass.


(edited for stupidness)

[Punkity]

Actually, I'd go even lower than 1k for the testing period. I'm not sure how much you want to attenuate the signal.

If you aren't getting enough grit, run the output of one pre into the input of another, then use the pad.

Oh, just in case you don't know about this stuff, the lower the value of the resistor, the more attenuation.

[ajmogis]

Hmmm...I've always thought of the Sytek as a "clean until clipping" sort of mic pre. I would be interested to see if you can get more subtle kinds of grit out of that unit. Let us know how it goes.

[Leopold]

I got 3 -20db pads and 1 -40 db pads from Whirlwind at Sam Ash a while back they weren't vey expensive and they work just fine with my sytek, when I used them for kick and snare.


L

[bmsander]

"If you aren't getting enough grit, run the output of one pre into the input of another, then use the pad. "


Really? You can do that?

[joel hamilton]

There are like 19 threads about this, but...

These mic pre's ONLY sound good to me when they are at the edge of clipping. They sound GREAT for an IC based pre at that point, though.

I have even run one into the other, just to use channel two as an attenuator for channel one. Stupid? Yep, but it sounded great. I did it just for the hell of it to destroy a random room mic I had thrown for fun, and it actually sounded great.

Aside from that nonsense move, I have used any number of compressors (without compressing maybe) and faders and stuff to attenuate. Try anything, you might love it. You might love the way the thing you blast sounds. It wont be any better quality, but it might sound neato.

Running these pre's pretty far open isnt just to be a cowboy, or to try and be tough... They really just sound better IMO when they are opened up. They also sound good getting hit hard on the front end, without the pre cranked up a bunch, like for toms or snare. I let the pre get KILLED by the snare. Almost ANYTHING will overload when being subjected to a hard hitting drummer's snare transient information, but the WAY it overloads is what separates the good stuff from the poop logs.

[kdarr]

How about the RNP? I've never really tried spanking the shit out of mine. How do they react? (I know, "try it, stupid!", but I'm just asking because.)

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[jrsgodfrey]

If you do get an attenuator, this is a good one.

http://www.adesignsaudio.com/atty.htm

I use it with my Sytek and RNP (and as a daw volume knob).