Breakaway One - Rackmount

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ehsanspicedigital
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Breakaway One - Rackmount

Post by ehsanspicedigital » Wed Jul 09, 2025 1:21 am

Hi all, After a bit of soldering and drilling and mounting later, I have completed the BaO Rackmount project. Let me know what you think, The good, The bad, And what can be improved! Thanks lads.
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Re: Breakaway One - Rackmount

Post by BriansBrain » Wed Jul 09, 2025 2:25 pm

:smoke

Bloody Fantastic.... Very Impressive :tup

Great work - make it available - order only with a deposit that covers all material :whistle

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Re: Breakaway One - Rackmount

Post by Frequent Lee » Wed Jul 09, 2025 5:15 pm

When you're setting the input level make sure that the gains are set to as close to zero as possible and the output level from your mixing desk is as high as possible BUT NOT peaking the reds. This will ensure that you get the best signal to noise ratio out of Breakaway.

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Re: Breakaway One - Rackmount

Post by ehsanspicedigital » Wed Jul 09, 2025 8:15 pm

Right right understood, I was initially going to use XLR’s instead of the 6.5mm’s to connect to the UR22 but the XLR input is reserved for Mic level inputs whereas the 1/4inch jack input can handle a line level inputs, I’ll keep this in mind though, Also Brian, PM me, I need to have a chat! Thanks

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Re: Breakaway One - Rackmount

Post by mpx » Wed Jul 09, 2025 9:37 pm

8-) Very nice

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Re: Breakaway One - Rackmount

Post by mikroman » Wed Jul 09, 2025 10:45 pm

With that cover and knobs it looks like a optimod 9100 :D
Some tips: There must a compromise at input level. You have to leave headroom for the microphone if there is no dynamic processing before entering the microphone channel. The variations in the volume of the speakers in front of the microphone can be large and it is very difficult to keep within the reference level of the vu meter. Personally, I set it so that the peaks go to -6dBFS, so that there is room for possible surprises. I would not worry too much about the noise to signal ratio, because in the case of the ur22 it is over 100dB, so the degradation in that aspect is negligible. If the AGC ratio and range are set with small values ​​@-6dB input it may happen that the overall perception of loudness will be somewhat lower, so that should be taken into account.

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Re: Breakaway One - Rackmount

Post by Albert H » Wed Jul 09, 2025 11:41 pm

That's pretty damn nifty! Bear in mind that "less is more" - don't ever "overdo" the processing. You might not be the "loudest" thing on the band, but you can be the best sounding!
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Re: Breakaway One - Rackmount

Post by ehsanspicedigital » Thu Jul 10, 2025 12:22 am

Yes albert, Absoloutely correct, Heard “over-processed” stations using BaO and think to myself, Is there really a point of it then! Unbearable to listen to for more than a few minutes!

Mikroman, Yes your correct, But in my case fortunately i’ve got a Sonifex RB-ML2 on the Mic’s in the studio, Catches the peaks before even reaching the mixing desk which is good, Still hoping to upgrade to a DBX-286 in the future, heard a lot of good things about it!

I was basing the processor off an Omnia 9, But then started adding knobs and it became a kind of mix between an Omnia9 and a Optimod 9100!

Knowing that the audio coming out of the Mixing desk is limited to a certain level, I was thinking of keeping the input gain around -3dB just incase someone’s fiddled around with the Mic’s gain knob on the mixing desk. Still thinking of keeping the Optimod 6200s as a spare in case this ever has any issues, But i’ll create a video outlining the failsafe’s and things that i’ve put into place to make sure that the processor is online and running correctly as much as it can. :whistle

BaO’s silence detector is very very powerful, when used correctly…

Thanks again for the nice comments everyone. Just to ask, If i was to make this available to everyone to purchase, Would you? Is it something that there would be a demand for? The biggest outline in my opinion is the dual, Simultaneous processing for FM&DAB at the same time, Which could be appealing to many.. Well Let me know! Thanks again everyone, I’ve still got a few projects in the making also :mrgreen:

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