Hello all. Shippen here.
Call me Reid, please... I'm the other owner of Atomic Instrument w/ Norman.
www.atomicinstrument.com I'm here to answer questions and concerns regarding the supply, unless they're super-technical.
First- If you have any questions at all, contact me at info@atomicinstrument.com, I will probably get back to you faster that way.
My story- in short, I'm a mixer and an SSL owner. I got tired of rebuilding my supplies- Nashville's power hasn't been the best, and we get a lot of thunderstorms here. I'm also pretty busy most of the time, and wasn't too amped about downtime because the power went on & off and blew out my supplies. Again.
Plus- SSL's are expensive, and it's nerve-wracking to own a studio, as I'm sure you all know.
I met Norman thru Dan Auerbach - Dan's studio is a mile form my house, and I met his engineer Collin and we got to talking and that's how I met Norman (they're all from Detroit). I don't spend time on forums much, for better or for worse, so when Norman said he was working on a replacement SSL supply, I was amped.
And skeptical. I've worked on 4000's and 9000's for years, and when the time came to own one, I wanted the 4048E. I got mine from PAD, they did a great job setting it up, and it's been problem free EXCEPT for the power supplies. One of them doesn't like me and despite the best efforts of the Nashville techs (all great SSL guys) it would throw a rail every 7 months or so and I'd be back in the hole for $750-1000 in rebuild costs and many thousands in lost mix time. A replacement supply? Tell me more. Anything is better than this SL661 dinosaur.
Anything that works and sounds as good or better, that is. So I called Norman, we had a great convo about life and SSL's and how to do business and how things work if you're actually going to sell a product vs. just make a one-off for someone. So we decided to give it a try.
Here's the part where the process gets long... and this is where Joe (perfectsnd) and the actual process of refining a design into a product came into conflict. To be fair- I had no idea it would take this long, or that so much would change- and I’m sorry, Joe, that you got caught in the middle of that.
Norman was confident his design worked, and had talked to a few people about it (presumably on this forum) and even taken some pre-orders. A price was thrown out to a few people as well. Then we started testing. And listening, and torture testing, and redesigning, and refining, and re-testing. Not to mention case design, logos, plate printing, CNC routing, etc. etc. etc.
The bottom line for me is that if I'm going to be involved in something it's going to be 100% right from the start. As an owner, I can't afford to wonder if this new supply is going to shred my desk, or die in 3 months, or whatever. So for me to put my name to this venture, I was going to make damn sure that this supply was the absolute best supply we could possibly make.
Everything in the Atomic is custom and hand-built. The power modules are purchased from a very small company from NOT CHINA and then modified extensively. The (Norman -designed, proprietary) filter circuits are hand-built and potted. The circuit boards that are used are made locally. Other than the modules, everything is made in the USA and most is local to Detroit. Even the cardboard boxes are local, lol. Anyway- I've learned a ton about suppliers, shipping, people saying they're shipping, people not shipping, parts being wrong, etc. Weeks become months and then many months.
At some point Norman & I had to face the fact that the design worked but it wasn't perfect and we had to tell the few guys who had made a deposit that we were going a different direction. Basically- we had upgraded so much stuff that the price was going to have to increase. Now- these deals with Norman were prior to my involvement, prior to us actually forming the company- but I thought that they should be honored as best as possible. So, I reached out to everyone and basically said, "This is on me, but the supply isn't ready yet, an the price has gone up. We're sorry about that, but we're not releasing anything half-ass. So here's the deal... if you want your money back, I totally understand, and you'll have it. If you want to wait, the new supply will cost about $5k, but you can have it for 30% less than that, if you care to wait, and will be first in line" Essentially, this would mean making almost no money on these particular supplies, but a promise is a promise, so I figured this was a win/win for everyone. Some asked for their money back, some didn't. Keep in mind that Atomic had no revenue at this point- the refunds that were made came out of my own pockets. This is how we do business.
This brings us to the present. The supply work and works well, I've been running a variation of it for a year now in my studio. We have tested everything we can think of. Is it bombproof? As much as anything with electricity can be.
The best part- it sounds better. Noticeably better. Wife-and-girlfriend-who-don't-care-about-audio-still-notice better, thank god. Otherwise, I wouldn't be using it on records, I can assure you.
Some FAQs-
Why no A/B samples?
This is my fault. I'm not allowed to post major label stuff. I should have planned for it using something unsigned but I didn't have anything that I liked at the time. At one point I had samples on Soundcloud but they pulled them for copyright. We're working on getting a good representation of an A/B with a mid-size desk. In the meantime, if you want to hear it in action, check out the new Ingrid Michaelson or Dierks Bentley records. I mixed both, all powered by Atomic.
Is this a switching supply, and aren't those evil?
Yes, it's PARTIALLY switching, a hybrid really, and no, it's not evil. I've heard there's a raging debate going on, I'll give you my $0.02. I had a long conversation w/ Massenburg 2 years ago about switching power and he told me "if it's well-designed, it's not a problem." This is well designed... this is what we've been working on all this time. And- I'm working with it. No excess noise- it's quieter actually, at least on an Audio Precision (I have Pultecs on my mix buss, so noise is a whole other conversation). No loss of headroom- ask Ludwig or Jensen or Calbi. Is there noise up above 100kHz? Not that we’re seeing or hearing, it sounds way fucking awesome and is reliable.
Can you turn your desk on & off at will?
Yes. I've done it over 50 times in the last 6 months alone. It still feels weird (after years of being scared to do that) but I've had zero issues. I have noticed that it takes the SSL channels about 20 minutes to come up to speed sonically after it's been off for a night. I also strongly recommend you mute your speakers. ;-)
Does it still need alignment?
Sure, same as ever except that it’s 3 tweaks on the front panel and done. If you’re not scared of math you only need to measure at the center section once. We wish SSL had thought to have the rails reported back to the power supply (like the Neves do) but it takes the usual 20 minutes and 2 guys yelling down to 2 minutes and one guy walking.
What's the return policy?
This is going on the site soon, I regret the oversight. You don't like it, return it in 30 days with the seals intact. Shipping's on you, refund's on us.
Anything else, seriously- email me. We've sold out the first run but will have more in a week or two. I'm still scared that UPS is going to drop a box from altitude and jack something up but as far as the atomic goes I'm confident in it. Like any parent you're always a little nervous but I trust this thing in my studio and that's the highest complement I can give it.
Apologies for the essay. Questions? Get at me at info@atomicinstrument.com.
thanks- Reid
