Has any one ever used on of these? Any input on it, just interested in the compression, not the gating.
Dynamics - Square ONE, Klark Teknik
Dynamics - Square ONE, Klark Teknik
Got some bss's you want to sell? There hard to find.
Is the square 1 a entry level like of KT? I was looking at some 504's, even have one from a friend, but don't like the metering, and they seem touchy.
Hi Alan,
What are you going to use them for? My favorite all around VCA compressor is the DBX 1066. This is the 2 channel per rack space thing again but sound and features are important to me. The VCA is really clean and with the adjustable attack and release times you can pretty much get any sound that type of compressor will do. There are 3 versions: Made in USA, Taiwan, and China. I own some of each and all are excellent for what they are. There are units I like better on specific things but a 1066 will always work. I usually back the attack down 1/4 turn as a place to start for most things because they are really fast and will flatten the life out of things in a hurry. Just my .02
-Eric
I can't stress the importance of variable attack and release settings on VCA compressors enough. A VCA compressor is very fast acting which is great for limiting and saving headroom in the mix but it will rapidly flatten the life out of everything if you are not careful. This is why very expensive optical units are so popular in the studios. They react slower and sound more natural.
But we're talking about live sound here. It's a far different ballgame than studio life. What works well in the studio is often not suitable for live sound reinforcement and vice versa. Many of us in live sound tend to purposely use fast attack/release compressors with high ratios on vocals because you do need to really clamp down when you reach a certain threshold but want things relatively uncompressed below that threshold. If studio style compression was truly warranted in live sound, you'd be seeing a lot more LA-2s and 1176s out there in processing racks. But you don't. Keep in mind that we're talking about driving large powerful speaker systems here, not multitrack recorders or a mix down to 2-track that's going to be played through home & car stereo. A different set of rules apply, at least in my opinion.
But we're talking about live sound here. It's a far different ballgame than studio life. What works well in the studio is often not suitable for live sound reinforcement and vice versa. Many of us in live sound tend to purposely use fast attack/release compressors with high ratios on vocals because you do need to really clamp down when you reach a certain threshold but want things relatively uncompressed below that threshold. If studio style compression was truly warranted in live sound, you'd be seeing a lot more LA-2s and 1176s out there in processing racks. But you don't. Keep in mind that we're talking about driving large powerful speaker systems here, not multitrack recorders or a mix down to 2-track that's going to be played through home & car stereo. A different set of rules apply, at least in my opinion.
I propose a summary:
Here in live sound, we like dynamics.
Agreed 100% and we also like lots of big subwoofers!