GOOD, professional DIY gate/limiter/compressor

[ExpAnonColin]

Like, studio quality, with serious attack... the sort of thing you'd use on a drum set rather than making your guitar sound "chicken picken"-y.

-Colin

[MarkB]

it ain't easy, and it ain't cheap... but it rocks
http://recording.org/users/kev/progress_G_1176.htm

[ExpAnonColin]

Not QUITE what I was lookin' for.  Thanks, though.

-Colin

[Mark Hammer]

Electronic Musician had a really nice review of compressors and compressor functioning a couple of years ago and they posted it on their website in their article archive.  Worth checking out.  The article is quite sensitive to the issue of matching compressor and instrument/source.  Some work great for vocals but poorly for drums.  Others sound like heaven for stringed instruments but only so-so for percussion, etc.  Good piece of writing.

[Joep]

I can remember seeing another one, also a kit in a 19" rack.....only I can't remember where......

[drew]

Audio compressors, as used in recording/mixing, are going to be more complex than most pedals, with more controls, more (sometimes rare) parts, and most likely physically larger than any pedal.

I think the answer depends on your working definition of "good". If you mean "better than a dynacomp" you have lots of diy options, most of which will not sound better than a $70 dbx dual-channel gate/comp/limiter.

If you mean "GOOD good" then you're looking at things like the 1176, which cost about $1k if you buy one, and which has parts worth about $150-200 alone. Not cheap, but GOOD for recording and mixing.

Either way, DIY compressors are a whole different beast from guitar pedals... I've DIY'ed a few of them (check www.drewtronics.com for an actual kit I sell to clone an old comp) but rest assured that if you are not looking for a GOOD good one it's going to be easier to buy a used piece of gear.

Noteworthy suggestion: the $150-200 RNC "really nice compressor"


drew
www.toothpastefordinner.com

[Joep]

That's the one!!

Why are you stopping the production of the kit?

Bye,

Joep

[Chico]

I second the RNC for a commercial unit.  The Presonus stuff is also cool for the money.  They even socket their op-amps in many products so that you can mod to taste (see last issue of Tape-op for more info on that)

As for DIY, I think Mark  is on the right track.  
Back in the early 90s. Jules Rykenbush published several DIY projects including a dual channel compressor and a downward expander for studio use.  I will bet that you can either get a back issue of EM, or find the schematics floating around somewhere on the net.  I also recall PAIA selling the kits.  You may want to check there as well.

I actually built the downward expander and used it as my primary noise reduction in my guitar rig during my 90s hair metal racks of effects with distortion on 11 days.  It worked about as well as our other guitarists HUSH IMHO.

It is a clean design and still sits in my home studio.  It has taken a back seat to the Sound Forge NR plugin, but that is a different story.

Good luck.

[drew]

joep: It's not profitable, and takes up so much of my time I can't do anything else.... like play music, for example

"It's not profitable" may sound a bit harsh, but if I do manual labor for hours every day, it's good to be paid for it! I will have ended up going $4000 in the hole to make these kits (parts minus preorder money), and only making a few hundred at the end when I've sold all 200 of them... not a good margin! I've just only broken even about a month ago.


drew
www.toothpastefordinner.com

[Joep]

A pitty, the kit looks cool and the price is ok. But I understand your point of view. Unfortunately is very hard to make good money out of things like this...

Bye,

Joep

[ExpAnonColin]

Audio compressors, as used in recording/mixing, are going to be more complex than most pedals, with more controls, more (sometimes rare) parts, and most likely physically larger than any pedal.

I think the answer depends on your working definition of "good". If you mean "better than a dynacomp" you have lots of diy options, most of which will not sound better than a $70 dbx dual-channel gate/comp/limiter.

If you mean "GOOD good" then you're looking at things like the 1176, which cost about $1k if you buy one, and which has parts worth about $150-200 alone. Not cheap, but GOOD for recording and mixing.

Either way, DIY compressors are a whole different beast from guitar pedals... I've DIY'ed a few of them (check www.drewtronics.com for an actual kit I sell to clone an old comp) but rest assured that if you are not looking for a GOOD good one it's going to be easier to buy a used piece of gear.

Noteworthy suggestion: the $150-200 RNC "really nice compressor"


drew
www.toothpastefordinner.com

Yep, I mean good good.  I'll check out the 1176 again then...

-Colin

[MarkB]

for the money - the RNC really is great.
you have to go quite a bit higher before things start sounding better than that.

I have a stereo Klark Teknik that I got used several years ago.. it's great, but they're not real easy to find..
"-)

[Eb7+9]

You might wanna check out the WHAT compressor based on the Joe Meek ... I haven't built it, supposed to be really good on Vocals - it only does  compression ratios up to around 12:1 ...

http://1176neve.tripod.com/1176/id5.html

... my buddies are all raving about the RNC also - dropping their LA2A's and other high end gear for this little puppy ...

[Peter Snowberg]

I'll add another vote for the RNC1773! http://www.fmraudio.com/

I love mine. I love compression in general (to make up some for my pathetic playing), and I love the sound of some guitar parts with "obvious" compression which you can get from many compressors. The RNC is different in that it adds a "super nice" mode which is like using three different subtle compressors in series for a very unique and quite transparent sound.

The analog part of the circuit is very short and uses high quality parts (one high quality opamp and a couple THAT Corp. VCAs). All the control is done in DSP with a lowly little 6805 microcontroller. Genius!

Take care,
-Peter

[moosapotamus]

Hey Colin,

How about an LA4 clone? I've heard good comments about this one.
http://voyager.celestial.com.au/%7Erosswood/diy/singleoptocomp/optocomp.htm

Up to 20:1 ratio and even beyond, as I understand, if you use toggles or push switches instead of the 2-pole rotary switch that's implied in the schematic, flipping multiple switches will give you the famed "slam mode."

BTW, agree with the RNC comments. I have one, too.  

~ Charlie

[ExpAnonColin]

Sounds like it's the RNC then... thanks for your suggestions!

-Colin

[mnats]

You might wanna check out the WHAT compressor based on the Joe Meek ... I haven't built it, supposed to be really good on Vocals - it only does  compression ratios up to around 12:1 ...

http://1176neve.tripod.com/1176/id5.html

The original url for WHAT compressor? is http://dt.prohosting.com/hacks/what.html. If you check the specs there, the compression ratio is quoted as 1.5:1. That's ONE POINT FIVE TO ONE, nowhere near twelve to one.

I liked the basic idea of photo optical compression but not the fixed ratio so I tweeked the design which you can view here http://www.geocities.com/m_natsume/what_compressor.html.

I would hesitate to call it 'professional'; it lacks balanced inputs for one but you could add these.

[Peter Snow]

I guess I'll throw in my 2c for the Alesis NanoCompressor. Lots of control  for a tiny unit and fairly quiet.  They can be had used for CDN$80-90 these days too.

Peter

[ExpAnonColin]

I guess I'll throw in my 2c for the Alesis NanoCompressor. Lots of control  for a tiny unit and fairly quiet.  They can be had used for CDN$80-90 these days too.

Peter

I've used that one, I enjoyed it.

-Colin