Sontec / ITI users ?

[Silvertone]

I've already had one major studio fire... everything gets turned off now.

Once any of you experience one, you'll turn your gear off.

No big deal to loose a Sontec op-amp compared to priceless items you might have had in your facility... like a vintage D'angelico guitar!

[inlinenl]

Originally Posted by da goose

Amen!

@Wim:
why do you bypass them before switching off? Or do you mean you reset everything to zero?

Just the by-pass switches .... to keep the klick out of the circuit .. actually someone on the forum mentioned this about 8 months ago ...
since then it's slipped into my system/workflow ..

now learning to bypass before switching sample-rates ...

[Masterer]

I shut my computers down on the weekends.
Other than that nearly everything at Sterling stays on. The electricity waste is a bit of a bummer. It certainly would be nice if we were solar powered but gear that stays on is stable gear and stable gear is happy gear. The gear failure rate at Sterling remarkably low.

"Nelson Pass says that to turn off his amp when not in use will make it last 20 years instead of 10."


Imagine how long they would last if you left them off.

[brethes]

Originally Posted by da goose

I shut of everything when the work is done in the studio, turn it on about half an hour/hour before i start to work for everything to settle in and warm-up.
I have a switch box with seperate switches for the computer, amps, comp/eq's etc so that i only have to switch these on for full power-on.
Don't talk me into something that that is not good to switch everything in with a couple of switches because it's really OK to do this and REALLY won't harm your equipment!
I do this for years (over 20 years) without any problems..

Just like vitaladhe says, saving the environment starts with yourself...

I have switched off the studio everyday after the last session for over 20 years. I switch everything back on half an hour before the first session in the morning to allow for tube equipment to settle down (tube mics or the Tubetech compressor can cough a little for the first 10 minutes). The only thing that blew up on power up were fuses on the Amek desk power supply until I realized we were using the wrong type (quick blow).. The rare instances of equipment breaking down has always been hours after being switched on (Power Mac G5, outboard...)

For me this is a win win situation: I save money on electricity bills, repair bills, I sleep better at night without worring too much about the studio going up in flames and only had to clean up once the remains of a dead mouse that tried to eat through electric cables...

[dcollins]

Originally Posted by Masterer

I shut my computers down on the weekends.
Other than that nearly everything at Sterling stays on. The electricity waste is a bit of a bummer. It certainly would be nice if we were solar powered but gear that stays on is stable gear and stable gear is happy gear. The gear failure rate at Sterling remarkably low.

I had dinner with the chief at Henson/A&M last night and when I mentioned the idea of turning gear off, he nearly choked on his food, and proceeded to regale us with stories of how "every time the power goes off I end up working twice as long to get everything working again" and/or "Why would you turn it off? What's the matter with you?"

But you knew that.

Imagine how long they would last if you left them off.

I sense a poll coming here.


DC

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by dcollins

I had dinner with the chief at Henson/A&M last night and when I mentioned the idea of turning gear off, he nearly choked on his food, and proceeded to regale us with stories of how "every time the power goes off I end up working twice as long to get everything working again" and/or "Why would you turn it off? What's the matter with you?"

But you knew that.

I sense a poll coming here.

DC

Well, I'm going to stop by Dan Zellman's soon so I'll see if I can get him to give his opinion on all this and will post back when I find out.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Paul Gold]

Originally Posted by Masterer

gear that stays on is stable gear and stable gear is happy gear.

Uh, huh.

[Bob Olhsson]

You guys probably missed the all tube era that I caught the last couple years of.

Everything was left on 24/7. We had heat sinks on the power tubes and fans blowing on them. Then everything got re-tubed once a year except the Fairchildren which needed new tubes every four to six months.

[MattGray]

When I had a chat with Burgess on the phone a couple of years ago he asked me if I left my MES-432 on all the time.. at that time it was more of a hassle to turn it off so it stayed on 24/7 to which he said that it's best to leave them off when they're not being used for any extended period as they'll last longer & need less maintenance. Since then mine has been going off at the end of the day.

I also asked the question to my tech about leaving gear on & he said "Most of the decent gear I've seen have good PSU's so it's rare to blow them from power cycling, however heat is a far greater problem for reliability & longevity". Most electronic components have a 'powered on' life (like a light bulb) by leaving it all on 24/7 you're components will fail a lot sooner rather than latter. So the whole idea of leaving gear on because it will reduce the chance of failure is a bit of a myth. I've never had to put any gear in for repair from power up failure providing the fuse is the right value.

I always turn on my studio 30 mins before the first job.

[misjah]

conclusion...nobody really know's whats best and everybody does what he/she(?) wants. i turn mine off btw....

[da goose]

second conclusion:
For the equipment it doesn't really matter and in most cases it's even better to turn it off.

Third conclusion:
Just switch of everything you don't use, just as you switch of the lightning in a room you are not using. Saves energy and so it's more eco friendly

[da goose]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

You guys probably missed the all tube era that I caught the last couple years of.

Everything was left on 24/7. We had heat sinks on the power tubes and fans blowing on them. Then everything got re-tubed once a year except the Fairchildren which needed new tubes every four to six months.

So... hmm... how long would the tubes have last when you just switched them of after use?
I don't know the exact answer but a LOT longer for sure! And we would have more NOS tubes to choose from now!

[dcollins]

Originally Posted by da goose

So... hmm... how long would the tubes have last when you just switched them of after use?
I don't know the exact answer but a LOT longer for sure! And we would have more NOS tubes to choose from now!

The stability and reliability were more important, plus you could get most of the tubes at the corner store.


DC

[Bob Olhsson]

Our musicians were getting paid union scale. It made noisy tubes a very expensive proposition.

[turtlerock]

i went to /and ended up chairing a "tech" forum at a recent trade show
the panel guys were george massenburg, daniel weiss rob squire and joe malone - i asked the questions
what blows up the most ? .. the universal answer was power supplies !

should we leave the power on or off after a session ?

massenburg said.. ( paraphrased ) "well outside of use real studio experience and common logic , with the way the world is going how can we leave ANY electrical device on for a second longer then we should .. power supplies are much easier to fix then the planet ".

i can only guess he mean powering off and on DOES make things blow up but saving electricity is a much better use of our real resources .

[MattGray]

but hang on a few posts back you said that when your Sontec's were left on 24/7 you blew more opamp cards then when they used to get switched off after hours.. remembering that this thread was specifically aimed at whether or not to leave your Sontec on 24/7.

If Burgess Macneal says switch it off then there is a good reason.

[turtlerock]

yeah matt i see the conflict in my writing.
what i was saying is what we did historically not was was right
i dunno whats right ..

and yeah i think the guys that built the sontecs would know best
but as the posts progressed i think it has diverted a bit .

i thought it was it interesting that the guy that designed the box has gotten "save the planet on this issue " rather then whats right for stabillity of a 30 year old design
( remembering depending on who is telling the story one guy / two guys / or just one guy designed these things )

and i am also getting all "save the planet " in my old age
one of my other businesses has gone completely solar for all electricity use (128% !)
in the last month
i think we all need to look at this stuff a bit closer if we can wether its just an classic equaliser or a whole business , i am still doing the numbers on the new studios going solar... but it doesnt look good just yet .
but we are working on partly passive inert cooling to reduce the a/c load

[Stardelta]

Interesting thread guys, doesn't seem like we'll ever reach a definitive conclusion! Some gear stays on some goes off here depending on age.

Anyone got an opinion on this subject regarding lathes (Neumann specifically, we're living in constant fear that every time it powers up may be it's last so he's staying on until someone can give concrete evidence to prove otherwise)?

[misjah]

Mmm yeah maybe we should make a list of mastering gear and have the manufacturers tell us if its better left on or turned off..that would be helpfull at least

[Paul Gold]

Originally Posted by Stardelta

Anyone got an opinion on this subject regarding lathes (Neumann specifically, we're living in constant fear that every time it powers up may be it's last so he's staying on until someone can give concrete evidence to prove otherwise)?

If I turned mine off, which I don't, I would religiously check calibration every day. That's a lot of extra work.