Home › Forums › Technical discussion › COMPRESSORS; Big or Small?
I still find it really puzzling why the 500 series format is not hugely popular in the UK.
I have a 6-position rack sitting in front of me now and it is fitted with two TFPRO538 stereo compressors and two TFPRO505 stereo EQ/Width units.
It occupies just 30 X 18 cms of desk space and the performance and sound of the modules is exactly the same as the larger rack mounted units but at a fraction of the cost…… And yet there is a sort of apathy surrounding the format. It’s true that there is a measureable difference in the performance of the common power supplies on the various units available; the Midas frame is marginally quieter in operation (power supply electronic noise) than the Fredenstein frame, but that’s splitting hairs, they are all good and work to professional standards and often better than their standard rack equivalent.
If I was starting again in the music business, I would start with the ‘state-of-the-art’recording and editing system and a selection of plug-ins to play with, but then I would want to find out about the better sounds that can be achieved by using some analogue outboard equipment andI hope I would realize the advantage of chosing some 500 series modules because they offer everything that good analogue can give, but at about half the price of the established standard rack equipment.
Perhaps I’m hypocritical; I do manufacture both, but no….. studios are missing out; there is wonderful performance in these small packages!
