The Set is also well suited for stereo mastering.

It is obvious that the ToolMod system can be used to combine any kind of modules in any desired way. The ToolMod sets are some examples of special setups for a particular application. The picture shows a ToolMod M/S microphone preamp with two mic pre's, M/S matrix and equalizer.

The M/S Mic Pre with Equalizer ToolMod MMV

The ToolMod MMV is a very special combination for recording with stereo microphones. It combines two mic pre's, a M/S matrix with stereo direction mixer and elliptic equalizer, and a 5-band stereo equalizer. In addition to the common stereo recording modes, the coincidence stereophony and the spaced-apart stereophony, the ToolMod MMV can also deal with microphones in M/S setup, which is considered as the best way for stereophonic microphone recording by many specialists.

The spaced-apart stereophony uses two separate microphones, placed on the left and right side of the sound source. The implementation of this principle is easy; no special microphones or other special equipment is needed. It offers an easy way for wide and deep sounding stereo recording; however, the distance between the microphones causes a frequency dependent phase difference between the channels, which results in low mono compatibility and in the need to adjust the microphones with consideration to the mono compatibility carefully.

Coincidence stereo does not have these problems. Usually, a stereo microphone is used. The distance between the two capsules is very low; both capsules are cardioids, arranged at an angle of approximately 90 %. The small distance between the capsules results in negligible phase shift. The location of the sound signals is only based on the intensity relation of the stereo channels. The disadvantage of this principle is the frequency dependence of the directional characteristics. Cardioid microphones change the form of the characteristics with the frequency. With high frequencies, the characteristics is narrow. This causes a loss of high frequencies for the signals in the center.

The M/S principle uses the two capsules of a stereo microphone differently. One capsule is set to cardioid mode and directed to the center of the sound source. This microphone represents the mono signal. The second microphone is set to bidirectional characteristics; the 'figure -eight-pattern' is arranged at an angle of 90°. A signal in the center will not result in an output signal of the bidirectional microphone that represents the S channel. Since both sides of the bidirectional mic are out of phase, a sound source on the left side results in a signal that is in phase with the M channel while a sound source on right channel is out of phase. Such a microphone setup delivers a M/S output signal instead of left and right. Since the cardioid is directed to the center of the sound source, there is no loss of high frequency in that area. The disadvantage of this principle is that the output signal of the microphones must be converted by a matrix from M/S format to left right. The INPUT M/S switch of the TM130 M/S matrix takes care about that. The unit also includes controls for the stereo base width, including a huge stereo enhancement range, M/S based direction control as well as an elliptic equalizer. Read the details of these control on the TM130 M/S Matrix page

Two TM101 Transformer Mic-Pre are used as input amplifiers.

The M/S microphone Preamp is completed by the TM205 Stereo Equalizer. The TM222 Stereo Compressor can be installed alternatively. In combination with the 2U TM212 Stereo Compressor, an additional TM215 Stereo Limiter is possible.