19" Rackmount 3DFX2000

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date = '2025-01-28T15:47:26-03:00'

draft = false

title = 'Fifth Post Fx2k Report-II'

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# Report II

- I've spend many more hours playing an instrument while testing some instrument effects

- One effect I was thinking about getting the discrete analog version, is the Tube distortion FX

- the drive to buy it has vanished:

1. the FX in this unit sounds just as good

2. this one works immediately and does not need 10 mins (10 x 60 secs) of warming up time. For the uninitiated a monochrome 32" TV with 100% tubes was only delivering video after 90 - 180 secs of warming time of critical elements in the circuit.

Audio was delayed by a timer serial with a relay, because some CRT tubes pulled so many Amperes, that they dropped a loud **POP CRACK CRACKLE** sound into the audio end amp circuit that could rupture the speaker!

3. In my rackmount effect I have **multiple** (yes _many_) types of vacuum tubes which each have their different overdrive and pleasant {to extremely harsh} distortion characteristics

4. Tubes dont live forever. Some need to be replaced after 10 years, but tubes for distortion often become unpleasant to work with after just a few years.

5. In fact tubes in vacuum tube driven amps, need to be checked in yearly intervals, since those can lose the power they need to deliver when you let the AMP work hard constantly

6. We (usually the greybeards) often praise pure analog circuits & LP's into the heavens, however the reality is that only 1/4" high speed Studio grade Open Reel Tape decks with no more than 4 tracks sounded great, given the fact that engineers {like me} & audio technical folks kept the multipe heads demagnitized, the capstans and pinch-rollers fresh and the belts under proper tension.

7. Cassette tape always sounded like cheap FM radio with less than 16kHz range (FM radio pilot signal of stereo is modulated at 16kHz for channel seperation) Even TDK SAX chrome cassette sounded lack-luster, all due to the fact that cassette tape was thin narrow and ran slow.

8. Most rackmount effects that I buy replace the analog counterparts 100%, in transparency usuability and come without the horrible hardware weight. If you ever lifted a **Leslie Rotary Modulation system** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_speaker you __know__ how horrible that thing is to handle, even though it sounds *magnifique*.

9. The magnificent Leslie Rotary Modulation system pulled a _hefty **250 Watts**_ of power, enough to drive all of my discrete effects and many of my rackmount effects in combo, with so many Watts to spare! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_speaker#/media/File:Leslie_21H_plate_(close_up).jpg

10. As you can see in this diagram the Leslie modulation system is a complex and beautifully crafted machine, which delivers awsome sound, can be used in different audio setups and even has the ability to be smootly overdriven without damaging the machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_speaker#/media/File:Leslie_speaker_(mechanical_diagram).svg

11. Here you see clearly that Leslie can give you tremolo and chorus effects in hardware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_speaker#/media/File:Half-Moon_Switch.jpg

12. This image is an animation of the Leslie hardware modulation effect doing one of its modes in a gorgeous manner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_speaker#/media/File:Lesliebox_Animation.gif

13. Here you see the Leslie effect implemented as a true effect instead of a complex modulation speaker system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_speaker#/media/File:Shin-ei_Uni-Vibe_(1968),_Jimi_Hendrix,_EMP_Museum.jpg_

14. All of this complex Leslie hardware is nicely packed in my rackmount FX unit as just one of the hundreds of effect with many parameters to control with ease smoothness & joy

15. my electric bill is kept low, because tube circuits pull power like a drunk addicted to 90% rum!

### LP lathe note:

- In the cutting of the LP master an important effect is used to pre-read how the wave looks like that needs to be carved either lateral or transversal. This effect is **NOT** analog and in fact is _100% digital_, it has been _since the beginning of the 1970's!_

- So it sucks for those of you who think your precious LP's are 100% analog when AAA is written on the sleeve.

- Since that part is **DIGITAL** your LP's **ALL of them after 1970** are digital!

- This digital lookup effect is important, otherwise way too little an ammount of grooves, can be cut into an LP master, in either lateral or transversal direction

- I will not link to an explanation, just point you to YT where you should search wisely on Mastering Engineer notes on LP Lathe Master Digital process

## Second conclusion

1. This effect unit is build with HQ studio grade components

2. The layout is grouped in a logical and consistent manner using the simple display in an effective yet greatly readable manner {RTFM is important to memorize certain acronyms}

3. The parameters also have a logical and consistent flowing spread making adjustments during recording and Live gigs easy and smooth

4. Even though there are 100+ {configurable} effects you can literally fly through them with the jog shuttle which can accelerate logarythmically based upon your speed and acceleration on it

> Note:

The ammount of absolute (root) effects is not 100+ The reference is towards the saved Internal preconfigured root effects, combined with the 100 records for your own configured effects, which are memorized with onboards storage.Combining both gives you 200 configured effects, which in the end is important when you dont want to modify certain effects that you use in similar audio ENV: For me finetuning is important, so I go in hard deep and work the effects eight parameters in full

5. It's display and leds have the same **AMBER** colour as the trusty _**Hercules** bitmapped card in combo with a Amber monochrome monitor_ from 40 years ago. Hercules HGC card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_Graphics_Card Monochrome monitor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monochrome_monitor Amber colour https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=amber+colour&atb=v446-1&ia=web

6. You can even work by _touch and ears_ when you fly through your custom parameter effects, no need to look at the display. This maybe handy when you multitask and maybe even make the unit usuable for bad sighted and extremely near sighted people

7. All effects that I've tested are from _superb quality_. Not getting good results mean that _**you**_ are making mistakes; simply grab your **printed version of the manual** that is _NOT_ in the box, but regretfully download only

8. The S/N ratio of the dual channel effect unit is high enough to be **transparent** in FOH live Stage live and studio setups,

> {Your home setup is _also_ considered a studio, albeit on a home level {homes have no sound isolation and reflection control from the design up{otherwise it would be a studio where you live in}, let alone double walls to do much of the absorbtion and isolation heavy lifting, which creates a quiet, to very quiet set of studio chambers}}

9. I've purposely _not touched_ the midi interface of the **FX2K** yet, that will take a whole chapter and would cut into the flow of data I want you to process first. You have oodles of midi control & signal modification possibilities

### Small example

> Let's take the Mackie Onyx Producer II Audio Interface https://mackie.com/en/products/audio-interfaces/onyx-usb-interfaces/producer_1_2.html and link it up with the **FX2K** {Image of Onyx https://mackie.com/img/pic_hero_desktop/2048720-00_Onyx_Producer-2%E2%80%A22_Web.png}

> Since both devices can speak **the whole gamut of midi**, you can control both devices with any midi controller on many parameters. I can't go into explicit / raw detail yet with this example, since I haven't aquired my Onyx Producer interface, which I want mostly as a elaborate external soundcard.

>I have both high quality mixing consoles & 19" rackmount submixing units already, so the need of the interfaces excellent Midas {Behringer} and Onyx {Mackie} preamps are not high, though I still need to expand the channel ammount first with a **Behringer Eurorack Pro _RX1202FX_** https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=0602-AAJ then with a **Yamaha _MGP32X_** https://usa.yamaha.com/products/proaudio/mixers/mgp/index.html,

when they are not on full blown mixing consoles. What I do need are audio interfaces which can filter noise from the host DAW computer and its usb busses, which are a annoyance ATM

>> The USB bus in my setup has a noise source modulating at -64db to -48dB which is quite high and clearly audible. Filtering when I record one of the devices on the submixer, it is up to now using a passive or active DB{direct box} where the transformers isolate that noise and drop it all the way down to -80dB, which makes recording noise free. However I got my submixer setup to drop the need for using precious channels on the main mixing console setup. I can only elimitate the noise when I unplug most of the sources from the submixer which defeats its ease and purpose during recording on ONE device. When I need to do a whole submix with multiple sources (synths for example) I'm SOL and have to filter the USB generated noise in POST production adding a unneeded extra step to the procedure and dropping its dynamic range in the process

### Sub conclusion part I

As you know now, the **FX2K** is a perfect companion in my audio flow, eliminating the need for many extra discrete effects and combining speed of implementation and precision of parameter dial in and tuning

There is a need for more identical units due to the fact that this device is dual channel only, which means that if I need to do effect control on eight devices with 4 seperate effects I will need three more devices in the effect rack. Since the system is modular, that expansion will be a breeze technically. All that is required is extra insert snakes of which I have one already {a four channel insert snake by _Hosa_}