The 712 Aphex Aural Exciter was an unreleased prototype and was meant to replace the 602 model in 1979. Only five were created, and the unit here is the only 712 ever photographed within the last 40+ years.
The 712 was created by Gary Liden and Curt Knoppel sometime in 1979. Gary and Curt created the prototypes while at ITX labs in 1776 Highland Ave in Hollywood, California. The 712 is the third exciter ever designed, hence why you see the “III” on the unit (not to be confused with the Aphex III of the late 1980s).
The only reference to the 712 is Val Garay when Waves (plugin company) interviewed Garay recently regarding their “Vintage Aural Exciter” plugin. In which he states:
“I always used the tube unit [402]. Toward the end, I was using the heavily-developed Aphex 712.”
Like with the earlier 402 and 602 Exciters, the famous “this album was mixed using the Aural Exciter” requirement studios had to implement somewhere in the album if they used an Aural Exciter. In this case, it seems to be the only mention of the 712 on an album. The 712 was used starting April 1979 on this album by Val Garay at “The Sound Factory” in Los Angeles, California.
Above shows an ad from a June 1980 magazine with the only known photo of the 712 during this era.
Above describes the 712 at the AES convention in 1980. “designed to replace the Model 602, Model 602B”
Still at the 67th Convention.
Above you see 712 still discussed at the 69th convention in a May 1981 magazine. This seems to be the last instance of the 712 mentioned in magazine publications from what we can see.
712 Features, Mystery
The 712 was supposed to be the next evolution of the 602 and incorporated all the features of the 602, but with an increased range of the harmonics and threshold. The unit had unique filament-based light bars to show the levels, which made it very visible in any condition. Of course, it fits in a 1U rack space instead of a 2U space like the 402 and 602 models.
Furthermore, it’s important not to confuse the 712 with the later Aphex III exciter from the mid 1980s. Technically, the 712 is the third Aural Exciter model ever designed (after the 402 and 602), hence why you perhaps see it labeled as the Aphex III. However, after the company changes, they (for some reason) ignored this fact, scraped the 712, and called the next evolution of exciters the “Aphex II” models starting in 1981, which were the first commercially available Exciters a person could purchase and not lease.
