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yo recording heads... in the near future i'm going to have to learn and work with the Neve 88r, although i'm quite comfortable with the vr/flying faders set-up's, is there anything weird or unique about the new desks that i should look out for(aside from the obvious benifits/complications of motorised small faders)?

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anonymous Sat, 12/22/2001 - 10:18

Hey CK,
If you know your way around a VR, the 88R should be pretty easy to get used to. The surface was designed to that end. There are a few differences, but nothing that will make your life difficult, if fact quite the opposite.
To be specific: The EQ's bands overlap more than the VR's and the hi freq goes to 18K instead of 17k. The dynamics cicuit is a better version of the VR. On the comp. the attack time has been made a little longer and the auto release time has been made a little shorter, and it is now a soft knee instead of a hard knee although if you pull up on the threshold knob you get the hard knee back. On the gate the attack time has been made shorter. Overall the dynamics are ALOT more useable than the VR.
Some other differences are: there is a Pre-Dyn button on the Eq to insert the Eq before the Dynamics. The Aux send knobs are push on/push off and the buttons next to them that used to have that function now route the aux send to the multi track buses, in effect giving you 48 more aux sends.
Monitor section stereo bus routing is a lot different but is harder to explain in writing than it is to understand in person.
Encore automation uses the same commands and nomenclature as Flying Faders and can import FF mixes. There are discreet automation mode buttons on each large fader that change modes for the large and small faders discreetly. Hold the large or small fader buttons to change the mode for either. The switch automation modes are the same:RSI, but now you can change those modes on each channel strip as well as at the master section.
The overall sound of the console is a lot sweeter than a VR, much better hi end and lo end. Sweeter than a VR ever was. Much better monitor section. Unless you're using channel strip dynamics, there's not a single VCA in the entire audio path. And best of all: the cut and solo button caps don't pop off and hit you in the eye.
By now I'm sure you've guessed that I work for AMS-Neve. I hope that some of this will help you. If you need more info let me know and I'll help however I can.
Where are you? and what studio will you be in?
You can reach me at: jeffg@amsneve.com
or jgoodman@worldnet.att.net

Good Luck,
Jeff Goodman