OR-0031
Salo Oy
Salo, Finland · 1991 – c. 2004
Ser. DM-9805-0532
1998 · effect
Issued as VST3 · AU
Restored 2025 from 1998 hardware.
Salo 5610 — Dial-Up Modem
Salo 5610 · V.90 data modem · restored from unit no. DM-9805-0532 · Salo Oy, Salo, Finland, 1998
The restorer's note
The sound of getting online — the dial, the answer tone, and the scrambled training screech that meant the connection was about to hold. Salo built the analog front end; we restored the whole handshake, stage by stage, exactly as it negotiated in 1998.
Acquisition
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The plate
The controls
The controls.
- Standard V.90 as issued
- Chooses which handshake era the negotiation sounds like: V.32, V.34, or V.90.
- Sequence Full as issued
- Chooses which stage of the negotiation plays: Full, Dial, Handshake, or Carrier.
- Trigger Off as issued
- Starts the negotiation sequence — fire it directly, or automate it in time with your studio.
- Speed 0.50–2.00 x · 1.00 x as issued
- Sets how long the negotiation takes to complete, from half to double its original pace.
- Carrier 0–100 % · 60 % as issued
- Sets the level of the connected-state carrier hiss and tone, once the line is up.
- Scramble 0–100 % · 0 % as issued
- Imposes a QAM-scramble texture on the incoming signal, as an effect.
- Input -24.00–24.00 dB · 0.00 dB as issued
- Trims the incoming signal before the Scramble texture is applied; it has no effect on the generated negotiation tones.
- Output -24.00–24.00 dB · 0.00 dB as issued
- Trims the processed input signal after the Mix blend; it has no effect on the generated negotiation tones.
- Mix 0–100 % · 100 % as issued
- Blends the Scramble-processed input against the untouched input; the generated negotiation tones always sound at full level regardless.
- Bypass Off as issued
- Switches off the Scramble effect on the incoming signal; the generated negotiation sequence keeps sounding regardless.
A stored setup is a memory. MENU opens the list: the display reads MEMORY 03/12, with the memory's name below. ◂ ▸ step through it without changing the sound, and OK loads the one shown. Holding OK asks STORE? OK; OK again opens the name, which starts as USER NN. ◂ ▸ change the letter, OK moves on, and holding OK stores it; the computer keyboard may type the name instead, Return storing and Escape cancelling. Holding MENU on a user memory asks CLEAR? OK.
Listening
Listening
Demonstration recordings, prepared at the bench.
The connection
Trigger starts the full sequence — the dialling, the answer tone, the training screech, then the carrier settling in — a V.90 negotiation heard end to end.
0:00 / 0:30
Three negotiations
The same handshake spoken three ways — Standard stepped through V.32, V.34, and V.90 at Speed 1.5 — each era of the line with its own accent.
0:00 / 0:30
Connected
The mix passes untouched for six seconds; then the line takes it — Scramble at 70 % imposing the modem's texture on the material while the Carrier level rises beneath it.
0:00 / 0:30