SPL Charisma 2- Dual Channel Tube Processor - 9733

SPL Charisma2 Highlights

CHARISMA is a tube processor designed to improve the power, punch, dynamics as well as the subjective loudness of the signal being processed. CHARISMA also optimizes the headroom exploitation of digital recording systems by helping to prevent overload while recording. Subjectively, CHARISMA introduces tonal warmth and a smooth bottom end into digital recording. CHARISMA is a joint development with Manfred Reckmeyer, whose exceptional knowledge of tube technology resulted in some amazing custom designs for tube guitar preamps.
Who could better describe the concept of CHARISMA than the developer himself? "Since digital recording systems have been around, I have heard from many recording engineers that they miss the punch of analogue tape machines, so they decide to still record certain instruments on analogue."

What is described here is familiar to many of us. CHARISMA represents a solution that exceeds by far the mere simulation of tape saturation. CHARISMA's tube saturation characteristic can actually be manipulated. The concept of operation is kept simple: Each CHARISMA channel has three potentiometers with which you can drive the tubes (Drive), change the tube saturation characteristic (Charisma) and set the output level (Output).

Drive
The Drive control sets the drive level to the tubes. You have control over the tube's onset of saturation to find the optimum point of processing. The higher the Drive, the more tube harmonics are being generated. At the same time, limiting gets stronger, increasing the density of the tube distortion.

Charisma
This unique control varies the tube saturation sound and allows you to create varying sound characteristics from 'soft' to 'hard'. Creating different tube sounds results in varying harmonic structures, and adjustments in the soft control range bring in the harmonic distortion and the tube limiting very slowly (comparable to the soft-knee characteristic of a compressor). In comparison to the hard control range, the soft effect starts off at relatively low levels. The sound becomes smooth and warm, is a little softer, and contains more harmonic distortion than the hard sound. In the hard control range, the CHARISMA operates comparably to the hard-knee characteristic of a compressor. The processing starts with full effect at one point whereupon the signal is sharply limited, and at this point, the sound becomes punchy and crisp. Depending on the selected characteristic and intensities, a readjustment of the Drive control may further emphasize the desired effect.

Output
The Output control sets each channel's output gain to compensate for the level increase when the Drive control has added level to drive the tube circuitry. The bypass switch switches each CHARISMA channel in and out of processing (hard-bypass), and the bypass switch is labelled according to channel number.

Applications
The CHARISMA can be used everywhere to process audio signals with excellent tube sound. It is ideally suited to process single tracks. In the analog domain it is inserted into the mixer's channels inserts or directly between the source and the desk. The most flexible way to use CHARISMA in the studio is to wire it into the patchbay. Processing subgroups is another interesting application.

Results
Making use of the typical tube harmonics and saturation sounds, as well as the natural tube limiting effect, can be of benefit to almost any signal - indeed there's almost no limit to the applications.
The sonic implications can best be characterized as gaining more presence, punch, and warmth. When recording to a digital media it is essential to avoid clipping and the tube limiting is a great tool for this purpose. Critical peaks are smoothed resulting in increased subjective loudness while controlling the electrical level. Traditionally, drums have been recorded to analogue tape - even digital drum tracks are frequently copied to analogue tape purely to capture the sound of tape saturation. With CHARISMA, you can achieve the same analogue warmth, punch and power without the inconvenience or noise of an analogue tape machine. Even sampled drums really start to sound much more like real drums. Acoustic guitars benefit from the CHARISMA effect with improved transparency and clarity, yet the recorded instrument retains the same liveliness and character as the original. Electronic basses become better focused, or you can add just a hint of deliberate distortion to help make them stand out in a busy mix. When recording vocals, the CHARISMA allows the voice to stand out in the mix without increasing the actual level - any good studio mic effectively becomes a valve mic. Intelligibility is greatly enhanced by the tube harmonics.
Producers of dancefloor/trance or ambient music will find CHARISMA a remarkable creative tool for distorting bass drums, snare- and lead sounds absolutely free from noise and hum.
CHARISMA lets you produce really 'in your face' sounds.

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