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Post by everged on Jan 3, 2022 6:52:24 GMT -6
Hi all, Happy New Year. Does anyone have any experience with the Zodiak by Buzz Audio? www.buzzaudio.com/products/zodiak.htmIt seems pretty great for what I'm after. Specifically the DCX revision with discrete op amps and an output transformer. I'm curious how effective it is for stereo processing though, given it doesn't seem to be stepped / detented. |
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Post by plinker on Jan 3, 2022 8:28:32 GMT -6
I'm also very interested in this unit.
There's a older thread on the purple site, that went stale. I'm hopeful that someone here knows about the Zodiak.
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Post by everged on Jan 3, 2022 8:36:12 GMT -6
I had a read over that one too!
There's another newer one as well, but not much new info.
I'm curious how a sweepable filter with transformers/op amps in the path, compares to an inductor based filter (like in a 1081 for example)
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Post by timcampbell on Jan 3, 2022 8:51:16 GMT -6
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Post by everged on Jan 3, 2022 9:09:30 GMT -6
No lpf and hpf on that by the looks though.
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Post by timcampbell on Jan 3, 2022 12:10:50 GMT -6
"And because you’d occasionally want to correct outer ends of spectrum, we have added a gentle Baxandall tone control, shelving lows and highs, wide-Q bell mid, each at three selectable frequencies, that we spent quite some time optimizing." And it has switchable tube or solidstate stages.
Tonelux also makes a tilting eq but I only see it as a UA plugin these days.
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Post by deaconblues on Jan 3, 2022 13:38:49 GMT -6
I'm curious how effective it is for stereo processing though, given it doesn't seem to be stepped / detented. These look great to me as an EQ-aficionado-in-training, and I've heard nothing but good things about Buzz and his op-amps. I've had my eye on these Zodiaks for a minute and really want to try it out in Mid/Side! Definitely seems like it'd be useful in that context. As far as a lack of steps or detents -- I would think the subtle nature of the tilt EQ is relatively easy to get pretty close to matching. The HP, LP, and Mid-Band might take a little bit more practice, but I'm sure are highly usable in stereo and honestly maybe better without steps. I personally like a little bit of imbalance in all things stereo. I tend to love records (both old an new) that make aggressive decisions with the soundstage and small imperfections in the EQ balance from L to R can sometimes open or close a sound in an interesting way, or even make something sit better. Of course, it's easy to really muck things up being loosey-goosey, but the creative benefits of these types of moves always outweigh the perfection on my projects. When I want perfection, I use plugins. Luckily, I answer to no one but myself in regards to recall -- and in the occasional situations where I'm helping out friends, it's usually plugins there too. |
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Post by everged on Jan 5, 2022 11:26:10 GMT -6
Glad to hear it should be feasible. I'm keen to try it, wish there was more testimony
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Post by deaconblues on Jan 5, 2022 16:52:41 GMT -6
Lemme know if you get it; would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe yours is the testimony the world needs?
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Post by ironinthepath on Apr 18, 2024 21:51:51 GMT -6
I just recently ordered a Zodiak EQ with the discrete amplifiers and the transformer option (similar to Buzz SOC-20 circuitry, which I already know I really like). For me, I plan to use it mostly for tracking.
I do most of my recording as both "musician" (or one of them) and "engineer" I decided that I like to have gear set up as a specific signal-chain going in that I don't mess with all that often in terms of gear pairing - typically find something I like and leave it that way for a while, getting to know it well so I can make fast (fairly permanent) decisions on the way in using a signal-path I'm familiar with. (I know, I should just get a patch-bay)
Example: I've got an Aurora GTQ2 paired with a Manley Vari-Mu which I really like; a pair of Vintech X73 pres going to the SOC-20 (sometimes I use a Gordon Model 5 instead of the Vintech units), etc.
A couple years ago I bought a used Jensen Twin Servo preamp that sounds great but is so simple (basically only gain switches on it) I find myself missing basic EQ at times, especially the HPF found on many preamps to remove obvious low-end junk I'd never want. Initial plan is to pair the Zodiak with the John Hardy, hoping that (in line with other Buzz Audio offerings I've tried) the sonic "footprint" of the Buzz is minor, if anything, and only beneficial and forgiving (trying to avoid "color" of some other celebrated EQs for this particular chain). I plan to follow it up with a two channel compressor and this is why I like some basic EQ before the compressor to remove junk I don't like that impacts gain-reduction (causing artifacts, etc.). I'll maybe use it to improve general tonality of mic/source combo, but nothing major or too surgical (usually move the mic, choose different mic, or ITB eq for that case). My overall goal is minimal use of plugins during mix phase, just my preference.
I can't imagine needing more flexibility than what the Zodiak can offer for this and will be fun to try something a bit different than most offerings out there (I've never tried the Tilt eq concept, aside from maybe a basic tone control on some guitar amps - probably not the same thing).
Looking forward to finally getting my hands/ears on one of these guys!
-Chris
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