Strange little processor....Omnisonix, anyone?

I picked up this little bugger today at a junk shop. I did a search here, but most threads briefly mention this guy and focus on better known gear like the Carver sonic holography unit. Does anyone else have one of these 801 Omnisonic Imagers? Any info you could give would be great. This one cleaned up very nicely - I'll give it some test time over the weekend!

I remember the advertising. They were in the magazines when I was at trade school.

I contacted the company, thought maybe they'd be interested in having me as a rep at that school. Seemed like every dorm room had a stereo...


Naw, they were polite but NO, no samples. Not even a description of what the thing was supposed to do. To this day, I don't know--so plug it in, listen, and start describing!

One of a number of little "imaging," "spatial expansion," etc. boxes that were around in the late 70s/early 80s. There was a thread on it here a while back: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=342226

Interesting that both this and the Carver C9 Sonic Holography box have a warning on the back panel that tells you you're not allowed to record with it.

I still have one of these, bought it new. The idea was that it added 3D depth and image to a stereo. It does have an interesting effect, but I haven't hooked it up in years.
I see that I commented on the older thread too.

Those warnings crack me up. First of all nobody WANTS to record with aqny effects anyway. And they think they're higher on the food chain than those who actually write the music ?

And this is all because they know how to use an IC called a bucket brigade device ?

That warning means nothing at all. It is about as useful as patenting a black box, and while that happens sometimes, the courts do not enforce such patents.

Hell, they probably used the same chips as the Carver.

Phase Linear is one thing, Carver kinda lost me with that asymmetrical CCD crap. I mean, they still made good equipment, but it lookss to me like it was getting to be more gadgetry than hifi.

My opinion.