Crane Song FALCON User Manual

FALCON

OPERATOR'S MANUAL

Version 0

20130401

LTD.

2117 East 5th Street

Superior, WI 54880 USA

tel: [phone]

fax: [phone]

www.cranesong.com

© 2013 Crane Song, LTD. Subject to change without notice. Printed in the U.S.A.

1

THE CONTROLS

ATTACK SWITCH: A three position switch with fast, medium and slow settings, which
controls the time it takes Falcon to respond to the input signal. Fast is the top position

RELEASE SWITCH: This switch controls the time it takes Falcon to return to no gain
reduction. It is a three position switch with fast, medium and slow settings. Fast is the top
position. The release time is also determined by the program material. This is the optical
time constant effect. Sometimes called auto release or program dependent release.

METER SWITCH: Allows monitoring the output level or gain reduction.

LIMIT-COMPRESS: This switch changes the knee shape from a soft knee to a hard knee
for limiter operation

COLOR SWITCH: In the top or the “100” position the tube circuit is operated with no
negative feedback for an extremely rich sound, In the lower position the tube has negative
feedback. This gives the user color choices

WET-DRY: This is the mix between the original signal and the processed audio. When in
link mode the WET-DRY controls operate independently.

BYPASS SWITCH: This is a three position switch. In the bypass position, (the bottom
position), Falcon is removed from the audio path.

In the IN position (The middle position) Falcon is switched into the audio path.

In the LINK (or top) position, the link signals are connected between the channels. The link
cable is a special cable, (supplied by Crane Song). This allows master slave operation and
does not use the 500 series rack interconnect. The LINK light will be brighter on the
master unit, dimmer on the slave unit and off when there are no linked channels.

All units must be in the bypass mode for the link to be engaged. If any units are switch to
IN or LINK, LINK will be disallowed. This mode of operation allows the LINK switch on the
master unit to put all channels into bypass with one switch

To set the LINK mode, set all channels to BYPASS, set the switch on the desired master
channel to link. The LEDs will show the status of linking

In link mode: ATTACK, RELEASE, METER SWITCH, COLOR SWITCH, and THRESHOLD
controls are controlled on the master channel

THRESHOLD
The threshold control governs the amount of gain reduction.

GAIN: The gain control will adjust the compressor gain from off to +15 dB of gain. When
linked the gain controls operate independently.

ATTACK an RELEASE
have 3 positions

Meter switch

compressor-limiter mode

system color

Link
In
Bypass

Bright LED indicates the
MASTER

Dim LED indicates the
SLAVE

This channel is the MASTER

The GAIN and DRY-WET controls operate individually, all others are
controlled by the MASTER. The SLAVE channel must first be in BYPASS
for the LINK to work

Set to
BYPASS

This channel is the SLAVE

Set to
LINK

LINK MODE OPERATION

Output

Limiter
Hard Knee

Compressor
Soft Knee

Input

INPUT - OUTPUT RELATIONSHIP

RATIO
Falcon is a feedback design, as a result the ratio changes depending on
how much gain reduction is taking place.

This measurement was made with the Attack set to fast, Release set to
mid. The threshold was set so that with a +24dbu input there is16 db of
gain reduction taking place on the graph.

LINK CABLE CONNECTION

SPECIFICATIONS

Connections: The input and output are balanced, with the output being transformer

balanced.

Signal Level: The maximum specified signal level is +26 dbu

Noise Floor: -82.5 dbu measured 20Hz to 20 kHz

Power: 110mA with 16 volt bipolar power supplies

Tube: 12AX7B

Attack Time: For a 12 db change, 100uS; 7mS; 20mS

Release Time: For a 12 db change, 75mS to 200mS; 300mS to 1S; 1.4S to 3.5S;

the release time changes depending on the signal