our console journey

Since 2020 we have been working on a console.

At the time we started, we had only focused in designing and manufacturing rack mount and 500 series units like channel strips and eqs.

Our now good friend Walker Phillips reached out to us and asked us if we would build him a custom console for his studio in San Francisco. Walker had a pretty specific set of requirements since he works on 8 track tape.

We tried persuading Walker that we had not done consoles and it would take a lot of time for us to undertake such a project. Eventually he convinced us that that is when our journey begins.

The blog entries below are a chronological record of our journey.

getting and milling the walnut

We went to the local hardwood store and shopped for walnut. We then cut and milled the pieces for the console.

knobs

Now that the console is essentially a full working console, we can start focusing on final aesthetic and interface details like knobs.

mock build

Since we have all the ingredients, pcbs, faceplates and a case, we start the mock build. We spent months in this stage, working out...

faceplates

We received faceplates from our friends in Nova Scotia Canada, Protocase.

the fader bank

We received the main fader faceplate!

mock case

The real console will be built from cherry or walnut. But we start the build with a mock case made out of plywood. This way we do not...

production pcbs

Once we are satisfied and verified the prototype pcbs do what we want them to do, we manufacture the production pcbs.

two color variations and the winner

We narrowed down the color schemes to two variants. The grey one we called deathstar gray and the other one we called desert campaing....

the inspiration

We also collect inspiration from Walker based on what he likes or what he has seen. Inspiration will not necessarily come from audio...

early renderings

We start to create 3D renderings based on the early layout so we can start getting a sense of scale and the looks. We also start to play...

the mechanical layout

once Matt works works out the electronic design and produces the pcb layouts, I (Fernando) create a mechanical layout in CAD so we can...

the prototype days

we will prototype the pcbs run tests to ensure the designs will comply with the requirements and to ensure we do not have layout issues...

the feature set

Walker requested a split console layout. He requested 8 channel strips with our QP5 mic pre (with Jensen transformers) topography and our...