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Seven Woods Audio is
proud to present the Ursa Major Space Station SST-206.
The new Space Station
SST-206 combines the reissue of the Ursa Major Space Station, a classic
reverb and effects unit, with a powerful modern reverberation system in
a case smaller than a typical paperback book. Christopher Moore,
President
of Seven Woods Audio, noted, "There continues to be a high level of
interest
in the Space Station, as evidenced in Internet studio equipment lists
and
activity on Ebay." The SST-206, easily held in one hand during
operation,
is based on a 150MHz 24 bit Motorola DSP chip. The new Space Station
measures
6.4 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches, provides AES/EBU digital I/O, and accepts 24
bit
audio at 48 or 44.1kHz. It is powered by a small external supply built
into the breakout cable and operates from all overseas and domestic AC
mains.
Moore recalled, "When I
designed the Space Station in 1977, I crafted a unique reverb algorithm
and the hardware to support it as a single, organic unit. In designing
the new SST-206 Space Station, I used a powerful contemporary 24 bit
DSP
to replicate the original Space Station sound, complete with simulation
of the 12-bit floating point converters, the 7kHz bandwidth, and the
artifacts
of time modulation." Moore added that he resisted the temptation to
change
the sound of the original unit, affectionately characterized by some of
its users as "garage grunge."
According to Moore, "The reissue offers Space Station enthusiasts a chance to replace their older units with a smaller, more reliable device. Unlike the original Space Station, which was a 3U rack mount product, the entire SST-206 product fits into what appears to be its remote control. "The remote is the reverb," Moore says. "I realized I could now package the entire product in one small box to reduce its cost, and at the same time give users access to every reverb control from the sweet spot at the console. You don’t have to get down on your hands and knees in the dark to adjust this reverb in an equipment rack. In fact, there’s nothing to mount in the rack."
With the power available from the Motorola chip, Moore says that he was unable to resist the temptation to pull out all the stops and render a stunning new reverb program he simply calls "room." The reverberator is controlled by twelve potentiometers that provide instant, intuitive access to all the important parameters. "The SST-206 harkens to an earlier time, before the multi-level menu structure and one-parameter-at-a-time user interface took over. There is no need for an LCD, no user presets, no MIDI–just an uncluttered panel with twelve clearly labeled knobs with pointers to show the current settings." Moore paraphrased Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, "You know the design is perfect, not when the last feature has been added, but when the last feature has been removed."
The Space Station SST-206 now has CE approval and is being used in Europe.
Sales are FOB Belmont MA
USA.
| Description | SKU # |
|
|---|---|---|
| SST-206 | SST-206 | $1395.00 |
Vintage King Audio, Ferndale, Michigan, USA. Contact Dave Piechura at 248 591 9276, or www.vintageking.com
Audio-One, North Miami Beach, Florida: Contact David Frangioni at 305-945-1230, or www.audio-one.com
Atlanta Pro Audio, Atlanta, GA: Contact John Gos at 404 329 9494 , or www..atlantaproaudio.netDale Electronics, New York City, NY, USA: Contact Mike Bogen at 212 475 1124, or www.daleproaudio.com
Overseas
Juke Box Ltd, Vanves, France; Contact J. B. Lierre at +33 (0)1 40 03 01 01, or www.jukeboxltd.com.
Sonotechnique PJL Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada: distributor for Canada. Contact Gerry Eschweiler, +237 416 947 9112, or www.sonotechnique.ca
Joystick Audio bvba, Drongen, Belgium: distributor for Belgium, Luxemborg, and the Netherlands. Contact Raf Lenssens at +329236 37 18, or www.joystick.be
Morel Muziek B.V., Veenendaal, Netherlands: dealer in the Netherlands. Contact them at +31-(0)318-527000, or www.morelmuziek.nl.
Golden Age Music, Stockholm, Sweden: distributor for Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. Contact Bo Medin at 46 322 66 50 50, or www.goldenagemusic.com
SEA Vertrieb & Consulting GmbH (Groove Music Distribution & Sale), Emsbüren, Deutschland: distribution in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Contact Uwe Kirchfeld at +49 (0) 5903 9388-44, or www.groove-music.de .
Touched by Sound, Hamburg and Nuernburg, Deutschland: dealer in Germany. Contact them at (Hamburg) +49-40-54 80 27 73 and at +49-911-9364650 (Nuerenberg), or www.touched-by-sound.com
Musik-Service Hofmann GmbH, Aschaffenburg, Deutschland: dealer. Contact Musik-Service at +49 06021 45494 - 0, or www.musik-service.de
Jackpoint GmbH, Zurich, Schweiz: dealer for Switzerland. Contact them at ++41 (0)43 299 03 03, or www.jackpoint.ch
Flyline Music AG, Wettswil, Schweiz; dealer for Switzerland. Contact them at ++ 41 (0) 43 466 01 15, or www.flyline.ch.
DACS Ltd, Pelaw, UK: distributor for the UK. Contact Douglas Doherty at +44 191 0191 438 2500, or www.dacs-audio.com.
Klangfarbe, Wien, Ostereiche: dealer for Austria. Contact them at +43 1 545 17 17 DW, or www.klangfarbe.com.
Bob Clearmountain, Mix This! (studio) Frank Marchand, Waterford Digital , Maryland (studio) David Frangioni, Audio-One, North Miami, FL, USA (dealer/studio) Larry Simons, Interarts Design, Florida (studio) Immediate Music, California (studio) Phil Davis, Washingon (studio) Ram Benz, NY (studio) Dave Ricks, VA (studio) Andrew Martin, Crack Signal Processing, NY Beastie Boys, Oscilloscope Studio, NY Remix Magazine article Galaxy Studio, Belgium (studio) Thein Studios, Germany (studio) Suade, Adapted Vinyl, Spain (studio) ...and many others that have not returned their warranty registration cards!
Electronic Musician, Jan 2004 EQ, Feb 2004 TapeOp Recording MIX, April 2004 Resolution, May/June 2004, by Keith Spencer-Allen Professional Audio Review Radio World Oct 2003 Keyboards (France) May 2004 Keyboards (Germany) December 2004
"I'm a techno artist and that means hands-on real-time control is what I look for in my equipment. Techno is about using the entire studio as an instrument for performance and the SST-206 is the only piece of kit I know of which can give me world-class reverb and delay effects with a completely direct interface. It sounds beautiful and every parameter is ready for instant adjustment all the time - remarkable!"
Joe Chiccarelli, independent producer and mixer, Los Angeles, May 2003
Congratulations for that
product!
The Space Station is of
one of the few pieces of gear ever made that is absolutely worth to
keep
alive or to revive. it has two things that too many of today's gear
misses:
character and ease of use.
i am the proud owner of an original Space Station, 8X32, 8X32-mkII and MSP-126 (all second hand because i am too young...) and I love all of them. I still use them all frequently and especially the 8X32 mkII is killer - my main reverb.
A studio in my neighborhood has a blue-faced Space Station in use. Has that been some kind of special edition or something? editor's note: not a special edition. The first 100 - 200 Space Stations were blue; later the dealers persuaded us to change to black.
What kind of I/O
connections
does it have?
Digital I/O to the AES/EBU standard, on XLR
connectors, at end of 12 foot breakout cable. Using in line
XLR-RCA
adapters, it is possible to interface with equipment with S/PDIF I/O.
There
are no analog inputs or outputs.
What sample rates
does
the unit accommodate?
48kHz nominal, 44.1kHz. Operation at 32kHz
is possible, but not supported (delay and decay times are all
proportionally
longer than at 48kHz). Operation at 88.2 or 96kHz is possible in the
SST
reverb and SST echo programs only, but is not supported (delay and
decay
times are all proportionally shorter than at 48kHz). Operation at
44.1kHz
is supported, although delay and decay times are all about 10% greater
than at the nominal sampling rate of 48kHz.
Does the SST-206
sound
exactly like the original Space Station SST-282?
Yes, although some users have said it's "a
little cleaner." Every effort was made to achieve the same sound
(truncating
24 bit data to 11 bit floating point, adding low level quantizing
noise,
filtering the audio with a sharp cutoff 7kHz low pass filter, etc.).
All
the analog EQ curves and the digital time delay factors are closely
replicated
and, of course, the algorithm is the same. About the only factor I can
think of that isn't copied is the actual sampling rate (which was
16kHz),
so there may be a little more aliasing distortion in the original
SST-282.
Both units were designed by Christopher Moore, and reference was made
to
actual samples and original design notes during the design of the
SST-206.
Does it really all
fit
into the small hand-held unit shown?
Yes. Only a small in-line power supply and
the two digital I/O connectors are external, and they are at the end of
a 12 foot breakout cable.
Does it have MIDI?
user
preset memory?
No. Omitting them was a deliberate design
choice to keep the product simpler to use (and to design...). The user
interface is transparent--the knob settings you see are what you get.
Think
of it in terms of a Pultec equalizer or a UREI compressor/limiter. The
Space Station SST-206 is a tactile, hands-on product. Some users have
said
that it responds like a musical instrument.
What's new in the
Version
3 software?
Read all about it here.
Last revision: May 14, 2006