Starting a thread for the bigger brother to the highly acclaimed Metaxas Tourbillon, the Papillon.
Some interesting facts about this machine:
• Kostas Metaxas certainly knows his stuff when it comes to tape machines: he has been professionally recording on tape for 30 some years, with over 300 concerts recorded.
• He owns studio-grade Ampexes, Studers, Otaris, as well as Stellavoxes, and has therefore benchmarked his machines against the best 'vintage' machines.
• The audio signal passes through only four or five transistors from input to output [reminds me of DarTZeel's amp design], where the signal in other machines is routed through scores of active electronic parts.
• Recording and playback circuits are discrete and therefore easy to diagnose for repair.
• Tape head pre-out
• Independent Dual-Capstans activated by two precision linear motors to make sure the speed across the heads is free of fluctuations and flutter. • Capstan "rollers" are only 4mm in diameter allowing them to spin up to 4-8 times faster than traditional 8-10mm diameter Capstan rollers and hence with much higher precision.
• Hi-tech BLDC motors from MAXON [Switzerland] are brushless and the inverse of the traditional high speed-low torque motors used in the past. Each of the 4 precision BLDC motors include 4096 increment tachometers and are driven by their own microprocessor/MOSFET drivers developed by MAXON before being controlled by the ARM-CORTEX main processor. (If you think a ~1980s machine can match this speed and torque accuracy, think again.)
• The biggest difference between recorders made in the 1960-1980s and today is the use of software-driven motors with controllers. Things like braking and speed accuracy to 0.001% are the reason the Papillon is well ahead of any machine manufactured in the past.
• All rollers and transport parts are machined from 316 Antimagnetic Stainless Steel to ensure an extremely long life and are easily accessible for the fine-tuning of springs and bearings to be able to optimize the sound quality through individual "voicing" of each machine.
• Everything along the tape path is easy to access with a simplified design.
Looking forward to hearing & seeing it!
Some interesting facts about this machine:
• Kostas Metaxas certainly knows his stuff when it comes to tape machines: he has been professionally recording on tape for 30 some years, with over 300 concerts recorded.
• He owns studio-grade Ampexes, Studers, Otaris, as well as Stellavoxes, and has therefore benchmarked his machines against the best 'vintage' machines.
• The audio signal passes through only four or five transistors from input to output [reminds me of DarTZeel's amp design], where the signal in other machines is routed through scores of active electronic parts.
• Recording and playback circuits are discrete and therefore easy to diagnose for repair.
• Tape head pre-out
• Independent Dual-Capstans activated by two precision linear motors to make sure the speed across the heads is free of fluctuations and flutter. • Capstan "rollers" are only 4mm in diameter allowing them to spin up to 4-8 times faster than traditional 8-10mm diameter Capstan rollers and hence with much higher precision.
• Hi-tech BLDC motors from MAXON [Switzerland] are brushless and the inverse of the traditional high speed-low torque motors used in the past. Each of the 4 precision BLDC motors include 4096 increment tachometers and are driven by their own microprocessor/MOSFET drivers developed by MAXON before being controlled by the ARM-CORTEX main processor. (If you think a ~1980s machine can match this speed and torque accuracy, think again.)
• The biggest difference between recorders made in the 1960-1980s and today is the use of software-driven motors with controllers. Things like braking and speed accuracy to 0.001% are the reason the Papillon is well ahead of any machine manufactured in the past.
• All rollers and transport parts are machined from 316 Antimagnetic Stainless Steel to ensure an extremely long life and are easily accessible for the fine-tuning of springs and bearings to be able to optimize the sound quality through individual "voicing" of each machine.
• Everything along the tape path is easy to access with a simplified design.
Looking forward to hearing & seeing it!
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