Midas 500 series stuff

[ore_terra]

anyone tried these? the price is soooo interesting

https://www.musicstore.de/es_ES/EUR/Midas-522-Comppressor-Limiter-500-Serie/art-PAH0019691-000

159€ the 6 slot chasis
https://www.musicstore.de/es_ES/EUR/Midas-L6/art-PAH0019689-000

... and more

[Aled Hughes]

What the deuce...

That 522 compressor is £745 on the UK site, but €149 on the Spanish one!

And the 6 slot chassis is £279.00 and €159

[ore_terra]

Bloody hell... Sterling hasnt gone that low against € (yet)

I offer myself to buy the and ship them to you guys haha

[Aled Hughes]

!

Alas, no need. They are available in sterling for cheap here: https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Li ... miter/27QA

[ore_terra]

... so let’s see if someone has tried them before jumping into it

[Id10t3qu3]

I picked up a pair of the 512 parametric eq's from Uli's outlet store on Reverb for a total of $450, including shipping. This was after I made the transition from one Purple Audio Sweet Ten to two Midas L10 chassis, which had virtually no additional costs....

Here's my thoughts:
The L10 chassis is clean, powers all 10 modules in it without any sort of hiccup, and does what its supposed to do: hold standardized cards, give them power, and if you want, link them in succession or buss pairs of them together. I think the construction on them isn't quite as robust as something like the Purple; the 2nd L10 i got had been squeezed in an awkward angle by a blow to the box during shipping, and the entire thing had "bent" out of shape so that the module slots did not line up with the holes to mount them... Uli's employee Jason sent me a 3rd one right away,

So maybe they;re a bit more fragile... and there's no fancy omniport or mixer or other proprietary addition to the 500 forumla a few companies have attempted.... I also acquired 20 slots for $650. They give power and don't catch on fire. The market has come down by about 20% for used 500 series chassis from what I've seen. I don't see how companies with no name recognition like IGS or Chameleon Labs are possibly going to remain making their own 500 series racks. They can't beat Uli on supply chain, the quality of the racks is plenty good, and the Midas name is still well-regarded depsite the acquisition. Overall B+

512 Parametric EQ
My thought process in getting a pair of these went like this : the L10 didn't catch on fire, I now had only 9 of 20 slots filled, meaning I needed to get at least 2 modules or I couldn't justify the 2nd chassis, and Jason at the Outlet Store on Reverb said $450 for a pair, so why not.

First of all, after opening the outer packaging, I was surprised to find some very nice looking wooden cases with protective foam molded to cradle the modules in perfect safety... truly top notch packing, and I've kept the boxes around for if I ever sell some of the 500 series gear online and want to make sure they get there safely... first thoughts: the 512 has the dual-potentiometer knobs on each of the four bands, so the lower, bigger knob is for frequency, and the upper, smaller knob is for gain. To the right of all four of the knobs is a smaller knob for the Q value, with the treble and the bass bands having a Bell switch that changes them from shelving to another peaking band. There's a bypass switch at the bottom.,

The EQ is not a huge "flavor" piece. I mix through a rotating cast of "low end" consoles I've enjoyed restoring over the last several years, a Studiomaster 16-8-16, a Ramsa WR-S4424, and a Soundtracs Topaz. All three of those consoles have what I would consider very "colorful" sounds to their eqs, so my first inclination was to bypass the console eq and just hear the Midas. The response of each of the bands is truly remarkable, I mean this is 4 fully parametric bands with Q values of .1 to 2. The bands furthermore provide coverage of the full freaking range of frequencies from 20hz on the lowest of the bass band up to 20khz on the treble. This thing is highly flexible, and it really is a clean sounding eq. Unlike some of the smearing of phase I'd come to expect from big boosts or cuts to the bass, the bands provided enough flexibility to really move some of the surgical sculpting of tones from the DAW to outboard gear. Notching harsh frequencies in guitars is usually a Fabfilter Pro Q job, but I could get pretty similar results on the Midas, it turns out!

Ultimately, they've found a permenant home (for now at least) on my stereo drum buss, after an Elysia NVelope. I just can't get enough of really slamming the hell out of the transients on the Elysia and then using the midas just to rein the ugly stuff back in... only to use the console eq's to seat it in the mix. I have thought about getting a 2nd pair of them, but I don't like the idea of moving too much of my clean equalizing work to space that could be filled with more unique hardware... If you've got the money to spend, and it doesn't take a lot, I can't imagine them as a purchase I'll regret in any way. Not my favorite tool, but they are the real deal (despite looking slightly toy-ish with the big pastic knobs, which protrude well over a full inch out from the face of the module).

[Martin Walker]

Hi Id10t3qu3, and welcome to the SOS Forums!

With an incredibly informative first post like that, I suspect you've already made lots of friends here

Oh, and to ore_terra - I suspect the L10 (10-slot chassis) is the one to go for, rather than the L6 you originally posted - an extra £30 or so for four extra slots would be a a deal-breaker for my wallet!

Martin

[ore_terra]

Hi Id10t3qu3, and welcome to the SOS Forums!

With an incredibly informative first post like that, I suspect you've already made lots of friends here

Oh, and to ore_terra - I suspect the L10 (10-slot chassis) is the one to go for, rather than the L6 you originally posted - an extra £30 or so for four extra slots would be a a deal-breaker for my wallet!

Martin

Hi Martin

I’m actually looking at the preamp. Just took those links as example. But you’re totally right: the 10 slot’s price is amazing and if I would be looking for one it would be my 1st choice!

[dickiefunk]

The Midas L10 does seem like astonishing value for money at £177!! I noticed that DV247 had these for that price over the weekend but the price has now risen to £465!?

I'm torn between getting one of the Midas Legend 500 series chassis and add modules at a later date or pick up the Klark Teknik KT-2a or 76-KT which are also at an astonishing low price at the moment!?

I currently have an Audient Mico and Warm Tonebeast preamp which I am very impressed with and I'm considering adding some external hardware to my studio. I mainly track vocals but also track guitars and basses. For drums and keys I am using vsti's and triggering those with an electric drum kit and digital piano. I'm mainly looking at trying some hardware for the tracking stage. I would like one more preamp and compressor at the moment (perhaps a Neve type preamp and LA-2a or 1176).
I spoke to someone at Klark Teknik yesterday and they said they will be adding more to the KT range including preamps and there may be a 1073 type preamp coming from them in the future.

So I guess my options are :-

1/ Buy Klark Tekink KT-2a or 76-KT (either one of each or a pair) + Neve type preamp like the new Golden Age Premier PRE-73

or

2/ Buy the Midas L6 or L10 and add a Neve type preamp and LA-2a / 1176 comps?

[Martin Walker]

The Midas L10 does seem like astonishing value for money at £177!! I noticed that DV247 had these for that price over the weekend but the price has now risen to £465!?

Prices do indeed seem to be a bit up in the air at the moment. the gear4music site still shows the 10-slot at £181.00, but only 'available for order', with estimated delivery around four months in the future around Jan/Feb 2019.

https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Li ... 00-Series-

In other words, the price is low but they haven't actually got any - a dastardly ploy to attract the unwary

EDIT: Having sad that, I've just noticed that gear4music have absolutely NO 500 racks in stock at the moment - their entire range is zilch!

Martin

[Martin Walker]

The plot thickens

GAK are claiming that the 10-slot Midas rack is a discontinued product, so maybe track one down while there are still a few clearance models about:

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/midas-legend-l10/910334

Even I was tempted to inaugurate myself into the 500 series at this price, but it seems to be yet another figment of the imagination - an oasis in the desert that turns out to be a mirage

Damn!!

Martin