Musikmesse: SPL CRIMSON - USB Audio-Interface and Monitor Controller
by The Press Desk   9th April 2013

Just getting back again to report about the spl crimson setup. Im doing a solo project comprising of only acoustic guitars , vocals and light percussion. The mic is Audio technica at2035. Got to say that the SPL allows for a very characterful 3d sounding mix.
Recently having some driver issues with crimson. Waiting for them to fix this. The sound quality of Crimson is top notch though. Perfect for a home studio musician like me.

Just a quick update here. I have had my Crimson about 3 weeks. I have done one tracking session, several voice over sessions and all my playback through Genelecs though the unit during this time.

it has been extremely solid. I don't really like the wall-wart power and lack of a power switch but those are pretty minor complaints.

I am running on OS X 10.10.2 an never installed any drivers. It works perfectly fine for my application as a class compliant device. Not dealing with a mixer app has been refreshing to say the least.

I use the artist mode to loop back through external hardware and that worked well after I got the hang of it. You will need to read the manual and understand the routing.

Anyway, it's not going back.

Buy a LAB Psu and build a cable (tip is positive) (ring) negative. 12 VDC!
You get better headroom, cleaner sound, and ON/OFF button and AMAZING SOUND. The cheap plastic shit they ship this unit with should not power anything ever. I got a completely new interface when i upgraded the power!

I bought a Peaktech 6080 (cheap in europe)

The whole interface sounds better. In every aspect. Punch, Resolution, Musicality. PRE's, headphones, AD/DA. Everything.

Can really receommend the upgrade.

And please, no questions... I don't have time to help people right now, but I had time to write this.

I found a lab grade dc psu available on the web. I have no idea how to connect the crimson to it (??!?) Anyone ??

what did i say?
you must get a connector DC, connector (measure the one that comes with the interface), and build a cable, and use banan connectors on the unit... just search on gooogle! I learned it from there. No problem. It's all very simple u just need the parts...

it's all very simple, trust your gut feeling. and dont set the psu to for higher voltage than 12,00v, and don't buy the cheapest shit you can find...

good lyck

Thank you. Are you sure the sound quality improved? Or is it a placebo effect?

im sure of it. it's science, a better ref voltage to dacs in general is giving them better chances.

i have not listened XLR out, or line out to speakers... but im sure that will improve also. the headphones pre's and mic pre's did get a lot better. i mean, i use the hd 600. i hated the headphones before. got tired in 1 hour... now i can listen for 10 hours... no placebo.

the included psu is around 1,99 dollars to make. and have no good voltage regulation at all.

you can buy contacts with screw if you can't solder..

but remember, you will loose the waranty.
but the irony of it is that you will have a interface that lasts longer as the internal voltage regulation does nothing, as it has perfect voltage and therfore the interface doesn't get as hot and will survive longer on a 1mva ripple source, then 50-100 ripple.

Great. My Crimson gets heated pretty fast. The first time I used them I got scared if they were damaged. But they are mostly like that unless Im in an air conditioned room.

I'm considering a crimson for a home interface as ive got an octacapture i use for mobile recording and would love the monitoring options/quality of the crimson but i'm wondering if the SPDIF would allow me to record the ten mic pres from the octa capture and the crimson simultaneously? I've never used the SPDIF connection before.

SPDIF only allows 2 channels of audio if I'm correct.

That is correct. SPDIF = stereo, always. For more channels you need ADAT.

Sorry to revive an oldie but I've just msgd SPL and didn't get a definitive answer. I'm hoping for user experience knowledge here.

Has anyone managed to route the crimson to another interface via the spidf and made the crimson a slave to gain an extra 2 inputs and outputs?

I have a metric halo interface but I would like to use the crimson for monitoring and make use of the 2 preamps to go through the spidf I/o.

Unfortunately online it says that the crimson disables the digital io in standalone mode. Has anyone got around this somehow?

Thanks

hello,
i'm interested in buying the Crimson,
i have few questions,
if i understood the interface correctly
1 .- i can plug my hardware synth mono TRS into the LINE INPUT 1 and will have a signal in the center and i can adjust the gain in the DAW?
2. - i can plug my 2nd hardware synth mono into the LINE INPUT 3 and will have a signal in the center and i can adjust the gain in the DAW?
3. - i can plug my NI Traktor kontrol s4 mk2 controller into the trs balanced inputs in SOURCE section and choose when i want it to play engaging the Jack button in the Source section?
4.- i can listen to the outputs on SPEAKER A and SPEAKER B playing the same signal (lets say Source jack), at the same time (non exclusive only A or only B) if i engage the ARTIST MODE button?
5-If SPEAKER A and SPEAKER B can play at the same time, there is no sound delay between them?
6.- I work on Windows 7 64 bit sp1 (custom build desk PC i5,16gb ram...) working mostly ITB and using softsynths VST and vstFX (apart from occasional hardware connected), how is the the latency of the win driver for this OS and task?

some input would be great
kind regards

hello,
any input from crimson users on my questions would be great,
i'm especially interested if the outputs on SPEAKER A and SPEAKER B can play the same signal (lets say Source jack) simultaneously at the same time (non exclusive only Speakers A or only Speakers B at a time).
thanks

I'd like to connect my Sony mxp390 mixer to the SPL Crimson. The mixer has preamps so I don't want to double preamp the signal. Can someone tell me, how does one bypass the preamps on the SPL?

You can plug the outputs of your mixer into the TRS line inputs on the back - the crimson switches between mic or line on inputs 1 and 2 or instrument or line on 3 and 4.

I haven't checked the specifics, but I think the line input overrides the mic input or instrument input. That means if you want to use the mic or instrument inputs, you have to unplug the line inputs, as there is no specific switch. As far as I know plugging the line input in IS the switch. I use 4 500 series preamps into the line ins all the time, no double preamping occurring.

Edit:

From the manual -

The input selection follows this provision:
Line 1 has preference over Mic Input 1
Line 2 has preference over Mic Input 2
Instrument input 3 has preference over Line input 3 Instrument input 4 has preference over Line input 4

IMPORTANT: you should bear in mind the following conditions:

To record microphone signals, Line 1 and/or Line 2 ought to be free. If you cannot hear a micro- phone signal, check whether Line 1 or 2 are free or not.

To record Line inputs 3 and 4 or to listen to a stereo signal through Line 3 and 4, Instrument 3 and 4 ought to be free. If you cannot hear a line signal, check whether Instrument inputs 3 and 4 are free or not.

So to use line 3 + 4 for your mixer outputs, make sure you don't have jacks plugged into the instrument inputs on the front, and to use the mic preamps on the crimson, you can't have something patched into line 1 + 2. Slightly different to what I thought.

Does this mean the four Line Inputs (rear panel) are balanced and do not contain preamps?

Yep! The lines are not padded down preamps, they are balanced TRS lines straight into the ADC with no gain control.

hi all,
i would like to use this interface for
1.produce music on a PC, working mostly ITB with projects loaded with vsts and effects, so i need proper latency,
2.use the line ins to connect 2 synths and use them in a daw,
3. occasionally plug a guitar and mic and use them in a daw,
4.use 2 line ins or sources to connect my NI kontrol s4 mkII controler,
5.use it as a default interface also for listening to music,
6.use it as default inteface for listening my ipad connected in 3.5mm setereo jack in sources or cd player connected in rca input in sources
7.use the outputs Speakers A to my Dynaudios and Speakers B (and S/pdif out) tomy AV receiver that has 5.1 speakers configuration connected,

this is how i used my Focusrite Saffire that i just sold:
connected via firewire i was satisfied with the latency on every project that i worked on,
Saffire had two line ins so i had to switch cables and that's why i'm searching now at least 4 ins interface to have everything connected at once,
i had outputs 1&2 connected to the Dynaudios ,3&4 connected to the AV receiver, s/pdif out connected to the AV receiver, 5&6 connected to active PA Speakers,
(on the crimson i know that i dont have 5&6 output but that's ok)
i could turn on any of these speakers by desire and needs and they have signal,
there was not a restriction to use all outputs at once if needed so i could play all these speakers at once simultaneously playing the same signal (line ins,DAW,music from PC,youtube....) if wanted,
i'm searching for the same configuration i had with the Saffire in the new hopefully better quality interface,

can i to all this with the Crimson?

thanks in advance,

hi any input from crimson owners would be welcomed,
especially experiences regarding:
1. drivers,latency working ITB in a project loaded with vsts under windows 7/64,
2. tracking and recording external synths in a daw under windows 7/64,
3. using speakers A and speakers B outputting the same signal at the same time (signal from connected gear in line ins 3&4 or sources jack,rca,mini jack, or just play music with a player from the PC),
thanks

Looks like Crimson 3 is being promoted at Messe 2017. Don't know any details just saw it in the background of a video for another vendor on You Tube.

Link?

6:14 on the wall of the SPL stand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phi8zPZcWtw

https://spl.info/en/products/interfa.../overview.html

Same machine with only a few added features.

AFAIK they only added:

Phonitor Matrix (NEW)
Talkback Mic (NEW)

Matrix basically is a technique that allows a headphone mix to sound more like speakers.

SPL offers two versions of the Matrix: One in their Phonitor Headphone amp that allows a lot of calibrations and one in their monitor controller that allows only the crossfeed to be calibrated. Looks like the Crimson 3 uses the later.

Search for the talkback mic, the new knob and the crossfeed control:





Still in love with my Crimson after 3 or 4 years...

still rocking my crimson with linear psu R-core transformer, amazing sound.