which new compressor

J

James K

Member
Okay, so this is a very broad question. I currently have one dual channel compressor (a Behringer Tube Composer). I use it for almost everything: Vocals, bass, drums, sometimes guitar. I don't hate the sound and I don't really love anything about it, it just sounds alright to me.

Anyway, I need some more compressors. At the moment I can only compress two tracks at once in the mix which is really annoying so I need some more channels.

The thing I'm wondering about though is which one to get. I want something better than the Behringer but I don't know which instrument/vocal would be the best to improve (i.e. should I get something that's good for vocals, drums, bass or maybe one that's okay on everything). As I said, I don't hate the sound of the Behringer.

The compressors I've been looking at are the ART VLA and the DBX 166. I also looked at the FMR RNC but I'm a bit put off by only having one channel.

Basically, which one do you think would make the best addition to my set-up?

Thanks
James
 
You sir need a PreSonus ACP88. Which works GREAT on drums and Bass and is also good on vocals.

Try to find one used and you'll be in seventh heaven. ;)
 
jaygee said:
He can spend the money he saved buying used on a can of paint for his chair. :D
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haha, everyone jokes about my epic chair. I tell people it has character but really I just can't be bothered to re-paint it. It was last painted about 25 years ago so maybe it's time for a second coat.

That compressor looks awesome! How does it compare to the other two I mentioned and are there sound demos of it anywhere? Aside from other compressors adding character, that would be the only one I ever needed to buy.
 
James K said:
The compressors I've been looking at are the ART VLA and the DBX 166. I also looked at the FMR RNC but I'm a bit put off by only having one channel.
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The RNC is stereo. The caveat being that the left channel controls the amount of compression on both when both are being used. That's the way you want it on a stereo source.
 
James K said:
haha, everyone jokes about my epic chair. I tell people it has character but really I just can't be bothered to re-paint it. It was last painted about 25 years ago so maybe it's time for a second coat.

That compressor looks awesome! How does it compare to the other two I mentioned and are there sound demos of it anywhere? Aside from other compressors adding character, that would be the only one I ever needed to buy.
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No can't find any demo but I have two in some live rigs and they are pretty good. ;)
 
The ACP-88 is nothing special but it does work okay within limits. It doesn't really color the sound, which is what i like about it. The threshold controls on the compressors and gates are a bit annoying. They are sensitive and have detents that may prevent you from getting the exact setting you want. The gate thresholds are particularly touchy. Mine is for live mixing and I don't use the gates much so it works out okay. I like having eight compressors in 2RU that all work the same and share a single power cord.
 
All prefaced by IMO and in my own experience from using

Art Pro VLA II not really a tube compressor but does have a tube makeup gain stage. has a very, very distant relative of an LA2A feel to it. VU Monitoring is useful and tweakable to keep it accurate. Stock tubes are nothing to write home about but are at least clean and not noisy. You can change the character of the sound somewhat with different tubes. I threw a couple of NOS Mullards in mine that I had on hand as spares for guitar amps and it was like a whole new beast. It's nice to have two separate independent channels with separate monitoring and the flexibility to use as a stereo comp as well. I use mine a lot on Bass and Vox and I think it really shines on them, not bad on drums

FMR RNC. very very clean and transparent. Sometimes you have to check it's on it's so transparent. Level monitoring is not great and compression amounts are not very accurate especially in really nice (multi stage) mode. Good on vox if you are not looking for added "Character", very good on Drum bus and overheads (never tried it on anything else) limited to one channel or stereo so you cant use it on two sources a once.
Since I'm using a computer, recording with sensible headroom, I got rid of mine as it didn't bring a lot to the table I couldn't get ITB (ie clean uncolored compression) but in an all analog or live sound situation I think it would be useful if you don't need two mono channels

Both ART and the FMR comps get a lot of respect as being lower price pieces that stack up well against higher price pieces

DBX no idea, never use one

Again. all IMO & IME, Your mileage may vary
 
RRuskin said:
The RNC is stereo. The caveat being that the left channel controls the amount of compression on both when both are being used. That's the way you want it on a stereo source.
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That statement is a bit misleading, because the RNC is stereo the controls act on both channels, i.e threshold, ratio, attack release, etc. But the signal on each channel reacts depending on the amount of signal inputting. For example, if the left channel was at low level (below the compression threshold) and the right channel was high level (above the compression threshold), the settings would react on the right channel but the left channel would remain pretty much unaffected. It's only when the program material on both channels is above the threshold that both sides if the stereo start to get treated the same.

You can use the RNC as a mono compressor by just using one channel.

Alan.
 
Never rush into anything. Think this out a bit more ..... Are you sure that you need 8 channels of comp/limt/gates? If so you'll need 8 insert cables or how ever your gonna patch this in.

New it's not a bad deal 8 channel at $100. a channel - used, even a better deal.

I do like them for drums and bass as I stated in post #4 But there are for more better ones on the market for vocals but then again your gonna pay a primo price.

Do you have another questions on this James?
 
moresound said:
Never rush into anything. Think this out a bit more ..... Are you sure that you need 8 channels of comp/limt/gates? If so you'll need 8 insert cables or how ever your gonna patch this in.

New it's not a bad deal 8 channel at $100. a channel - used, even a better deal.

I do like them for drums and bass as I stated in post #4 But there are for more better ones on the market for vocals but then again your gonna pay a primo price.

Do you have another questions on this James?
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It would be good to get as many compressors as possible so I could compress in the mix. I've got one I'm looking at on ebay that ends tomorrow morning. I've got the inserts wired into a patchbay so that's not a problem. I'm not looking for top range compression. just stuff that sounds good and better than the behringer. Which compressor would you recommend for vocals?
 
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