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Author Topic: Aston Laser Mics  (Read 5336 times)

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Offline lsd2525

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Aston Laser Mics
« on: February 10, 2017, 03:34:15 PM »
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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2017, 05:54:56 PM »
The laser alignment is kind of cool, I guess.  I'm more bothered by the "voice" switch, though I'm someone who doesn't like "baking in" coloration to a with a preamp either.  There are many people who like this though, so I guess they're going for that market.
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Offline Walstib62

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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2017, 09:19:22 AM »
The laser alignment is kind of cool, I guess.  I'm more bothered by the "voice" switch, though I'm someone who doesn't like "baking in" coloration to a with a preamp either.  There are many people who like this though, so I guess they're going for that market.

Maybe the switch can add "Schoeps-like" color?

Offline morst

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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2017, 09:42:57 AM »
Me likey the lasers......
I can only imagine trying to decide to leave them on or finding a ladder to switch them off...
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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2017, 10:25:17 AM »
used in battle of the bands competitons, to blind the opposition while on stage.

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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2017, 02:09:07 PM »
The laser alignment is kind of cool, I guess.  I'm more bothered by the "voice" switch, though I'm someone who doesn't like "baking in" coloration to a with a preamp either.  There are many people who like this though, so I guess they're going for that market.

Maybe the switch can add "Schoeps-like" color?

Funny you say that.  When I posted, I was actually thinking of one of Jörg Wuttke's presentations where he was talking about how it makes much more sense for the microphone to be as neutral as possible and then you can add "tone" or "color" after the fact if you really want to.  (Unless you're correcting for a deficiency of the mic.)

I found some more on the voicing switch on the Aston website:
Quote
Voice Switching
Yet another remarkable step-up in technology, performance and cool features! The Starlight has 3 modes of operation, courtesy of some very fancy front-end filtering between the capsule and PCB. You can chose between Vintage, Modern and Hybrid settings to get the perfect tone response for your application… guitar cab, drums, strings, even vocals… whatever the application you’ll get a perfect fit for your music, and each setting has been carefully tuned to give superb top-flight performance, way beyond Starlight’s price point.

Then later down the page under the description of the amp circuit:
Quote
The Starlight’s voicing control employs inductive active filters at the front-end of the microphone circuit to alter the response of the capsule without adding any noise to the circuit. The benefit of this means that the voicing switch is effectively the equivalent of changing the capsule to achieve different tonal characteristics and frequency response.

OK, so the voicing is just 3 different EQ curves with cute marketing department names.  You actually have 9 different responses to choose from when you combine those with the 3 different LF roll-off settings.  Again, I'm not a fan of doing this, but the thousands of mic preamps with EQ sections or circuits that add intentional saturation, distortion, or other coloration out there says there's a huge market for this stuff.

Back to the laser: the more I think about it, the more it seems not just silly, but almost useless for its intended purpose.  They are selling it as a tool for recall between takes, yet replicating your laser dot exactly doesn't mean you've replicated the same distance or the same angle, both of which are as important as simply where the thing is pointed for a cardiod mic.

I guess it's very telling that Aston is spending their marketing copy on the laser pointer, variable voicing, and cosmetic features, while there are no published specs or measurements and very little said about the sound quality.
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Offline morst

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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2017, 08:56:14 PM »
Back to the laser: the more I think about it, the more it seems not just silly, but almost useless for its intended purpose.  They are selling it as a tool for recall between takes, yet replicating your laser dot exactly doesn't mean you've replicated the same distance or the same angle, both of which are as important as simply where the thing is pointed for a cardiod mic.
with a stereo pair, at least you could stand a chance of replicating the position if you got both laser dots to line up... but for a single mic?

 :really_sucks:
 Comedy.
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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2017, 10:48:39 PM »
Back to the laser: the more I think about it, the more it seems not just silly, but almost useless for its intended purpose.  They are selling it as a tool for recall between takes, yet replicating your laser dot exactly doesn't mean you've replicated the same distance or the same angle, both of which are as important as simply where the thing is pointed for a cardiod mic.
with a stereo pair, at least you could stand a chance of replicating the position if you got both laser dots to line up... but for a single mic?

 :really_sucks:
 Comedy.

You could have 100 lasers; it wouldn't help at all because all you're replicating is the dots shining on the same spots.  The sources of the beams could be literally anywhere with line-of-sight of the spot you're trying to hit.

A stereo pair would make your odds of correct recall worse; not better.  Going back to your quote of my earlier post, the laser dot does nothing to help with recall of distance or angle, and now you've got that uncertainty with two mics instead of one.  All you can replicate for sure with this is that you have your dots in the same place, but your mic stands could be in totally different locations, heights, etc. compared to your previous setup.

Now, if they could integrate a laser bounce measuring system with an inclinometer that might make it kind of useful.  Otherwise, a protractor app on a smartphone and a tape measure are going to be much more accurate tools for recall of mic positions.
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Offline acidjack

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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2017, 05:11:43 PM »
And British-made to boot. I predict these work properly for approximately 5 total uses....  :really_sucks:
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Offline morst

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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2017, 09:13:49 PM »
You could have 100 lasers; it wouldn't help at all because all you're replicating is the dots shining on the same spots.  The sources of the beams could be literally anywhere with line-of-sight of the spot you're trying to hit.

A stereo pair would make your odds of correct recall worse; not better.  Going back to your quote of my earlier post, the laser dot does nothing to help with recall of distance or angle, and now you've got that uncertainty with two mics instead of one.  All you can replicate for sure with this is that you have your dots in the same place, but your mic stands could be in totally different locations, heights, etc. compared to your previous setup.

Now, if they could integrate a laser bounce measuring system with an inclinometer that might make it kind of useful.  Otherwise, a protractor app on a smartphone and a tape measure are going to be much more accurate tools for recall of mic positions.
I see what you mean. I was thinking of a situation where the angle of the stereo mounting system was fixed or replicable. You're probably a lot better off with a measuring tape, or maybe some sidewalk chalk?!
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Offline fguidry

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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2017, 04:15:48 PM »
And British-made to boot. I predict these work properly for approximately 5 total uses....  :really_sucks:

Not to worry, if you read the fine print they're basically Chinese mics in British marketing drag.

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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #11 on: February 21, 2017, 04:25:30 PM »
"all I asked for is Freakin' microphones, with Freakin' lazers"

Offline Gutbucket

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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #12 on: February 21, 2017, 05:12:58 PM »
I guess it's very telling that Aston is spending their marketing copy on the laser pointer, variable voicing, and cosmetic features, while there are no published specs or measurements and very little said about the sound quality.

^this.

And whatever value those features add seems to apply to studio mic'ing setups and doesn't seem particularly useful for us.  I'm reminded of Homer Simpson's car design.  How many cup-holders does this mic have? Can I get it with two-tone vinyl roof and oversized shiny rims?

Attach a protractor and a ruler with hot-glue and you'd have a version more suited to live music concert taping, but I prefer a dollar-store standard tape measure in the bag.
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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #13 on: February 21, 2017, 10:14:00 PM »
I guess it's very telling that Aston is spending their marketing copy on the laser pointer, variable voicing, and cosmetic features, while there are no published specs or measurements and very little said about the sound quality.

^this.

And whatever value those features add seems to apply to studio mic'ing setups and doesn't seem particularly useful for us.  I'm reminded of Homer Simpson's car design.  How many cup-holders does this mic have? Can I get it with two-tone vinyl roof and oversized shiny rims?

Attach a protractor and a ruler with hot-glue and you'd have a version more suited to live music concert taping, but I prefer a dollar-store standard tape measure in the bag.
:lol: That's a great episode, and definitely on point here.

Go look through other parts of that website.  They really do seem to be selling looks and doodads rather than performance.

The Origin and Spirit large-diaphragm mics sure have a lot of award logos next to them, but the specs are pretty unremarkable and/or info is sparse.  Check out the polar plots for the Spirit: one trace each for fig8 and omni patterns, coincidentally at the frequencies where those patterns would look the most perfect...
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Offline morst

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Re: Aston Laser Mics
« Reply #14 on: February 22, 2017, 02:40:49 PM »
I'm reminded of Homer Simpson's car design.  How many cup-holders does this mic have? Can I get it with two-tone vinyl roof and oversized shiny rims?


And a tone generator that plays La Cucaracha?!
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