Mercenary Audio - Crane Song SPIDER 8 Channel Mic Pre, Mixer and AD Converter

The Spider is probably one of the best values in high end audio. You get 4x Flamingo mic pre's, 5x HEDD-192's which can provide direct outputs from each channel as well as the sum of any of the units 8 channels that are assigned to the Spider's 2 mix buss. On each channel you have the option of mic or line inputs [in case you want to use a different mic pre than the one provided in the Spider]. For mic inputs you can select a clean signal or engage the "fat" switch. Each of the 8 direct digital outs [which can be AES/EBU or ADAT format lightpipe] is assignable to be "pre" or "post" the channel fader. Each of the 8 inputs can be effected with Crane Song's legendary "tape emulation" algorithm, and assigned to the 2 mix buss, which has it's own "tape emulation" knob. Each of the 8 channels as well as the 2 buss, features a peak program limiter similar to the limiter section of the STC-8. If you tried to assemble this kind of recording power separately it would run somewhere around the $20,000 range, and take up way more than 4 rack spaces.

crane song spider features

Spider is a high-quality eight 8-channel mic-pre amplifier/mixer with two types of digital outputs: stereo and eight (8) channel. The stereo output is for recording engineers who do live stereo or multi-channel recording and want a very flexible audio path. The 8 channel output allows the system to function as an analog front end for DAW's, digital mixers, and modular digital recorders.

In addition, the stereo bus can be assigned to digital channels 7 and 8. This allows a stereo mix of 6 channels to be assigned to digital outs 7 and 8 and leaves 2 channels independent. (eg. drums; kick, snare, and stereo left to right.)

Both the discrete class A pre-amp and the convertor modules are of a very high quality, low noise design. The maximum analog level at the insert points is +25dBm. The digital modules include a DSP process to provide tape emulation.

Similar in design to Flamingo's mic pre, Spider's input preamplifier follows an extremely high quality Class A Discrete audio path, crucial to any critical listening enviroment.

FEATURES

6 to 66 DB input preamp gain in 6 DB steps
Channel level control
Pan control for the stereo output bus
Phantom power switch
Line - Mic switch
Phase switch
Low cut filter
Stereo bus assignment switch
Fat amp switch for a fat sounding audio path
16 segment meter peaking reading 0=clipping referenced to the A/D convertor
Clip light on the pre-amp section
Peak limiter for the A/D convertor. LED indicator showing limit action
Channel insert point may be used as a pre-amp output
Sample rate to 96KHz
WC input and output
Stereo bus can be assignable to outputs 7 and 8
Switch selectable Analog Dither control, 15 to 24 bits
DSP analog tape emulation, adjustable by channel. The level is indicated by the LED's around the process knob. The level is changed by selecting the channel and turning the process knob.
Digital output as AES and ADAT Optical (ADAT can be swapped for TDIF upon request).

MANUALS & PDFs

Crane Song SPIDER Manual Adobe pdf

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