Current Projects

I am making a meter board that I can use for all my toys.

It has 2 LED bar graphs (Left and Right) each with 19 LEDS.
I am setting it up for dBFS scale but its is micro-based so it could be anything.
I am using a huge 64 pin PIC (PIC16LF1947) with 53 I/O so I can do ANYTHING with it.
I have 2 ADC set up to read a AC signals from the output of my mic pre and compressors.
I uses a simple voltage divider with a TVS clamp to ensure the pic only see 5 volts on its input.

I have a Push button hooked up to toggle between the viewing modes or scaling for that matter.

So far I thinking:
RMS
PEAK
PEAK with max value linger
dBFS
VU
dBu etc...

Anyway the board is out to PCB shop and the code is mostly written.....

here is the schematic:
Meter-Schematic V0

here is the 2 sided layout:
Meter-PCB V0

Recent Projects

HPA -Headphone Amp- A 8 channel Personal Headphone amplifier.

This design is a 8 Channel Headphone Amplifier/ Personal mixer.
The Idea is to simplify headphone mixes for your clients. You send 8 channels out of your recording setup.

These would be sub mixes, stems or 8 things you like.
The musician then has 8 faders and pan knobs, a master bus 3 band eq and gain controls to configure their own headphone mix.

This idea is not new, but most boxes out there requires a controller and user interface….

The best part is you can daisy chain as many units as you like.
I used DB25 standard connectors, so you can hook this up with one cable.
Its really a handy box.

HPA Rev 2

Lucid the Mic Pre Rev2

This is the latest version of Lucid R0. Lucid R2 is a tightly packed 1U single channel mic pre. This unit has the following features:


1) A switchable 20dB Pad.

2) A Z switch.

3) Switchable 48V Phantom with 7OOmA of current (Tuneable if you want...you can twiddle a pot inside).

4) Output polarity flip.

5) Gain of 80dB (20db from Jensen input xfmr, and 60 from the fisrt gain stage) with a 12 step switch and 5 dB fine trim pot.

6) A switchable Harmonics boost circuit with a saturation pot and a mix pot.

7) A switchable high Pass butterworth Filter (20dB/decade) the frequency is tunable from 10Hz to 1.5kHz.

8) A switchable low Pass butterworth Filter (20dB/decade) the frequency is tunable from 1.5kHz to 25kHz.

9) A Output gain attenation 12 postion Switch with upto 50dB of attentuation.

10) A Ouput Boost pot variable from 0 to 20dB.

11) A Class A enable push button. This changes the first stage amplifier from a Push pull high gain amplifer to a class A amplifer.


This Design uses no capacitors in the main signal path.

However the followng switchable sections do have capacitors in the audio path:

-The Harmonics boost circuit
-The Low pass Filter Circuit
-The High pass Filter Circuit

The Power supply is linear with significant EMI, Surge and noise protection on the front end.
There two seperate toridal transformers for power. One for +/- 18VDC and the other for +48VDc.

There are both input and output Jensen transformers. The input transfomer is double canned.

Lucid R2

LUCID THe Mic Pre R0

I designed a 4 channel mic pre based on a class A circuit meant to be ultra transparent. As the gain is increased the neagtive feedback is decreased alowing soft sources to recorded with better clarity.

HEY DAD YOUR TOO LOUD!

Pinky the Compressor V1

I have designed a new VCA based compressor that uses a pink noise filter to in the control path. The idea is to compress the audio the way we that we typically hear it. Currently I am designing a second version with expanded features.

Old Designs

In the Past I have made pre-amps, compressors, power supplies, effects and equalizers. If you have an idea for a piece of studio gear and would like a custom design contact me. I try to keep my rates as reasonable as possible.

Modification and Repairs

I have modified a few Alesis 3630 Compressor to fix some power supply filtering issues. I did this by replacing some of op-amps and adding a lower distortion Class AB VCA and improved RMS level detector. As well I changed some of the critical capacitors.

I also developed a modification for the APEX 460 Vacuum tube microphone. Currently I am changed the capsule, transformer, tube, and some of the capacitors. As well as reducing the wire mesh on the wind screen

I also modded the Aphex 107 pre. I changed the tube, and a few op-amps. All and all the Aphex 107 is a nicely built unit, so it was a real joy to work on.

I have a ART tube Pac unit that I also modded. It was a real nightmare, and took quite a bit of work to improve. I fixed the heat issues caused by the poorly designed power supply, and added more filtering. As well I played with different tubes. I still find the compressor in it troublesome. I rarely use it these days because of that.

If you have any gear you would like help modifying or fixing send me a message I will do my best to help you. Check out my tips section for more electronics tips.