Crane Song HEDD Quantum – HEDD, acronym for Harmonically Enhanced Digital Device, has been engineered to provide musically pleasing sound with the capability of generating tube/analogue sounds within the digital domain. The HEDD QUANTUM has a new clocking crystal. It’s Crane Song’s 5th generation design, like the ones used in Avocet IIA and Solaris and has less then 1pS jitter. This results in extremely accurate imaging, a very open 3d sound and detailed transient response.
Jitter is one of those “black art”, hard to explain phenomena. The artefacts caused by jitter are blurred, harsh and unfocussed sound. It also results in a loss of image stability, depth and space. Jitter, basically a time deviation in the clock timing, is caused by many factors. The main culprit being the frequency of the clock varying during the conversion
process.
The newly developed crystal clock within the Crane Song HEDD Quantum has reduced this jitter to the, currently, lowest possible value, resulting in a well-defined low end and clear top end. This will allow you to judge your work more accurately and will provide you with a much stabler image making panning, EQing a lot faster and truer.
It can take a little time to get to grips with these subtle but extremely important issues. It’ll take a bit of ear training. To get you started, head on over to the Crane Song Jitter Page. In addition to the new AD, DA, Clocking, I/O (Toslink Optical has been added) and extra WC outputs, Crane Song HEDD Quantum still comes equipped with the same great DSP emulation of Triode, Pentode tubes and Tape emulation from the original model.
The operational modes now allow the DAC and the ADC to be used simultaneously and at different sample rates. When set to the DIGI setting, the unit will run Digital in from one of three sources and output on all three digital outputs and the analogue output at the same time. In the ANA mode the input is analogue, and it outputs on all three digital outputs as well as the analogue output.
The Crane Song HEDD Quantum’s A/D, D/A and ASRC (Asynchronous Sample Rate Convertor) chips are high-end AKM 32-bit components, coupled with proprietary analogue filtering and clocking.
Coupled with ultra-low jitter, Crane Song HEDD Quantum gives any user who works digitally the ability to sound more analogue.
The Crane Song HEDD Quantum controls allow the user to select input source, sample rate and continuously variable tape, triode and pentode sounds. The HEDD can operate as an effects device or as separate A/D and D/A convertor with the harmonic generation process applied to either convertor respectively. The signal processor performs 24 Bit Processing on digital or analogue sources.
Crane Song HEDD Quantum Triode Mode
The triode function creates a triode tube like harmonic structure. The process contains strong, but not strictly, even order harmonics. This affects the bottom end of your signal by fattening it up and it should be noted that even order harmonics are difficult to hear. The harmonic structure changes with signal level and the amount of process being applied, just like it does in a tube in the analogue world. In the previous generation HEDD-192 his control made a low-level zipper noise when it was engaged. In the new HEDD QUANTUM, this is no longer the case.
Crane Song HEDD Quantum Pentode Mode
The pentode function creates mostly third harmonic information but contains some higher order odd harmonics depending on the signal level and the amount of processing. It is very much like driving a pentode into overload. The pentode process makes things sound brighter and brings out detail. You can also hear this as a compression effect. The pentode process affects the triode processing stage as both processes are in series.
Crane Song HEDD Quantum Tape Mode
The tape function emulates magnetic recording tape. Tape distortions consist of odd harmonics, starting with the third and fifth. As you increase the level on the tape process the harmonic content increases and higher odd harmonics are added. A tape recorder also contains record and reproduce equalisers that modify the harmonic content.
The result is a sound that fattens up the bottom and midrange of a recording. As you increase the process there can be loss of higher content with respect to low frequencies if driven far enough. The high frequencies start compressing sooner than the low frequencies. This is a result of the compression function and eq curves in the process. The compression also squashes peaks and results in a higher average level. The tape process sits in series after the triode and pentode processes and thus modifies them both.
