Thoughts on a good compressor??

[The_Doc]

Looking forward to seeing how this one develops. I use a compressor pretty regularly.

[laurie]

Fired the breadboard rig up through an amp for the first time yesterday.

It does work, so there is some basic happiness!

The attack time is too long - the leading edge of the note (about 20ms) isn't compressed so you get a "click" at the start of the note. The attack time is dependent on the "rise time" of the LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) in the optical coupler. I've ordered a faster LDR that will hopefully fix the problem.

[laurie]

In the interim (while I mess with a circuit for my own compressor) I've been using my new-to-me Aphex Punch Factory.

It doesn't get much love - I don't know why. It is optical, and nicely transparent.
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Punch factory.jpg (325.22 KiB) Viewed 20041 times

[Luke Drifter]

Ive just ordered a Eklipse parallel optical compressor from Dev Tech Audio in Australia. Purportedly a Cornish OC-1. It will be dispatched in a couple of weeks. I bought it on the strength of this video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UkIpjR6gDN8

[laurie]

That looks and sounds pretty good! Am very tempted... What did you pay for it?

The Aphex is a nice pedal, but does lack a little feel. I use it mainly to feed my EHX B9 - the B9 needs a relatively constant signal to work well.

[Luke Drifter]

219 AUS + postage

he is a few weeks behind in orders

he makes a bunch of Cornish clones at very reasonable prices

I picked up one of these (a Cornish SS-3 copy) a while back. I think they are a limited run, its very nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=5yyF-jZ0muo


I'm on an Australian-built kick at the moment

[laurie]

So I think I have my final compressor ... Picked up a good deal on a Strymon OB.1
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Strymon OB.1.jpg (152.4 KiB) Viewed 19001 times

[laurie]

No need to design my own - this is essentially what I would have done.

[fernieite]

So I think I have my final compressor ... Picked up a good deal on a Strymon OB.1
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Strymon OB.1.jpg

Looks cool.
Possible Infringement, or something?

Obi-Wan

5f43a997c9b8ab5288a8c70d166b3b2b74d58341219eb0aba8863b81f1fbfa3c.jpg (23.74 KiB) Viewed 18986 times

[bigtone23]

This is an interesting thread. Makes me want to get one of the Strymons to try out optical compression.

Guitarwise, I don't really use ever use compression outside of dirt/overdrive. My only guitar compressor is a 1980 MXR Dynacomp. It often does what I need, when I need it, when I'm playing clean and 80s type stuff with some chorus .

On bass, I use dynamic control much more often, but usually it's a limiter, not compression. Other than some native compressors on a couple preamps, a BOSS LM2B or Trace Eliot SMX Dual compressor (with mild compression) comes to play on the regular.

I did recently pick up a Keeley Compressor Plus for guitar. It's cool, I can get my DynaComp thing, plus much more. Still think I should try optical.