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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2024 14:01:42 GMT -6
it’s an MXR 136 clone, a good cheap tracking compressor but pwm. think class d amps but as a gain control device and lower signal level. It’s analog but digital as in 1s and 0s. www.cranesong.com/pwm_comp.pdfLike digital and optical compressors, the control voltage doesn’t bleed into the audio path, unlike FET and VCA compressors. Unlike digital and optical, high frequency noise bleeds into the audio path and must be filtered. Another problem is they can only attack/release as fast as their internal oscillation of on and off so they can react faster and ride the signal level better than 44.1 kHz pcm compressors. You need a switcher into the MHz to be able to isolate the switching noise entirely from the audible band. The Pye and the MXR run at 250 kHz cycles but the pye filters at 15 kHz and the MXR at 20 kHz. The Art filters at 30 kHz. The modern and hifi Crane Song STC-8 and DW Fearn VT-7 switch at 1.1 mHz and 1.5 mHz respectively and apply the low pass filters at 55 kHz. PCM compressors do not have this noise and can run at high enough sample rates to approximate the analog signal now on your computer covering the full audio bandwidth and allowing for fast attacks in the best ones. |
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Jan 29, 2024 17:01:19 GMT -6
And then there's shipping both ways. Mods on cheap gear add up fast in terms of cost/value. It would be different if I had a local guy maybe, but I've never wanted to pay to mod anything in large part because I'm out $100 (for a 1U) to $300 (for a larger piece) in shipping right off the top! Anyone got a guy in the Austin area? Then we'd be talking.
I've been thinking about the shipping thing for quite some time. Because a lot of my business has dwindled over the years since I moved to South Dakota and now most of them are planning their mods around going through and picking them back up or sending them to me and picking it up when they go gig at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I'm trying to figure out something with Fed-x so that I send a shipping box for it, then you pack the unit in my shipping box, attach the label to send it back. Because I figured out if I took care of the shipping, I can write it off as a company mailing expense. It all part of negotiating rates and shipping methods. It only gets expensive when they fly the freight instead of ground shipping.
But this is something I might want to adventure back down into Texas. Even though my family tells me its gotten more crazy there over these past few years. I've been contemplating trying out Austin area for 3-4 months for the past couple of years. Just to see if I can get a tech job and market the pro audio electronics shop on the side. Because I'm not sure just an electronics repair/mod shop is going to sustain itself. I won't know until I try.
I doubt a mod shop could sustain itelf in Austin but you could probably do decent business. If you combined it with audio repair, guitar setup, and amp repair you could definitely do it full time. Amp repair takes weeks around here and that's if you "know a guy". There are a total of three places that do setups worth paying for and they also take weeks. Austin has shockingly little music infrastucture for a place with so much music. But in the interim, an even better idea would be to do a bunch of jobs in a batch in central Texas and then fly down and have people pick up their mods in person. You'd at least be able to cut shipping in half. Or better still, pick up the gear and ship it back. That way you overcome the laziness involved. If you told me you'd come pick up my VLA, soup it up, and ship it back to me for any reasonable amount of money I'd be like "sure man, let's go for it." Convenience is worth it for people with a day job, a performing job, a studio, and a family. Pretty much everyone I know with a studio has at least three of those four. |
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Post by nick8801 on Jan 29, 2024 18:53:33 GMT -6
Wait, so anyone actually used one?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2024 19:34:58 GMT -6
Wait, so anyone actually used one? mxr 136 yes back in the cheap garbage days but it’s not garbage and is not cheap now. The art clone is cheap but the Fostex 3070 is even cheaper if you need cheap smack and you don’t want to use a plug. |
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Post by chessparov on Jan 30, 2024 13:30:07 GMT -6
Just ask chessparov and he'll inform you that the old Alesis Nanocompressor and MicroLimiter take on and SLAY all comers. My Nano is even going to be on the latest SLAYER "Greatest Hits" CD. Straight to the VERY top!! Right on top of that CD, after I buy the record. Hit me Drummer! Chris P.S. Microlimiter? That the "shrinkage" of audio (ask Jerry or George. Elaine? hmmm...). Especially on a wet Mix! Like a Labradoodle.  |
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Post by ab101 on Jan 30, 2024 14:21:50 GMT -6
Art dual killed the RNC star? I have only tried the original RNC and it was ok. I have heard that some of their later models are actually good. |
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 30, 2024 14:29:22 GMT -6
I always thought it would be a fun challenge to record a band with a bunch of cheap, but usable gear…but game show style where you’re competing against other engineers.
Like making the band for AE’s…everyone gets a couple Art Compressors, a Mackie Onyx, a few decent mics and then competes to make the coolest sounding version of the same song (with the same band).
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Post by copperx on Jan 30, 2024 14:39:19 GMT -6
I always thought it would be a fun challenge to record a band with a bunch of cheap, but usable gear…but game show style where you’re competing against other engineers. Like making the band for AE’s…everyone gets a couple Art Compressors, a Mackie Onyx, a few decent mics and then competes to make the coolest sounding version of the same song (with the same band).
It's almost impossible to do that fairly. The band will get better ideas just by recording the same song over and over.
Even if the band is restricted to recording the exact same parts, the performances will vary.
Maybe it would work if all of the band members are studio musicians that can perform the same piece without changing too much.
I would just want to get to the actual results. I don't think I would be interested in watching such a game show.
Maybe if you get a bunch of famous engineers as commentators. That would be cool. "Nooo, Jimmy! what are you doing!? Are you deaf?" CLA facepalms.
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 30, 2024 15:02:03 GMT -6
I always thought it would be a fun challenge to record a band with a bunch of cheap, but usable gear…but game show style where you’re competing against other engineers. Like making the band for AE’s…everyone gets a couple Art Compressors, a Mackie Onyx, a few decent mics and then competes to make the coolest sounding version of the same song (with the same band).
It's almost impossible to do that fairly. The band will get better ideas just by recording the same song over and over.
Even if the band is restricted to recording the exact same parts, the performances will vary.
Maybe it would work if all of the band members are studio musicians that can perform the same piece without changing too much.
I would just want to get to the actual results. I don't think I would be interested in watching such a game show.
Maybe if you get a bunch of famous engineers as commentators. That would be cool. "Nooo, Jimmy! what are you doing!? Are you deaf?" CLA facepalms.
Ok ok, fine, it’s a punk band so each take sounds equally shitty j/k Celebrity Engineers to commentate would be killer…lol…CLA, Steven Slate, and Steve Albini (just so we can watch him get angry at the other two lol). |
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Jan 30, 2024 15:59:42 GMT -6
It's almost impossible to do that fairly. The band will get better ideas just by recording the same song over and over.
Even if the band is restricted to recording the exact same parts, the performances will vary.
Maybe it would work if all of the band members are studio musicians that can perform the same piece without changing too much.
I would just want to get to the actual results. I don't think I would be interested in watching such a game show.
Maybe if you get a bunch of famous engineers as commentators. That would be cool. "Nooo, Jimmy! what are you doing!? Are you deaf?" CLA facepalms.
Ok ok, fine, it’s a punk band so each take sounds equally shitty j/k Celebrity Engineers to commentate would be killer…lol…CLA, Steven Slate, and Steve Albini (just so we can watch him get angry at the other two lol). So basically Iron Chef but for engineers. I love it! Iron Engineer Easily hundreds and hundreds of viewers would tune in every week. Imagine the advertising money! We're talking well over a thousand dollars in ad revenue here. |
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 30, 2024 19:21:20 GMT -6
Ok ok, fine, it’s a punk band so each take sounds equally shitty j/k Celebrity Engineers to commentate would be killer…lol…CLA, Steven Slate, and Steve Albini (just so we can watch him get angry at the other two lol). So basically Iron Chef but for engineers. I love it! Iron Engineer Easily hundreds and hundreds of viewers would tune in every week. Imagine the advertising money! We're talking well over a thousand dollars in ad revenue here. Ha! Holy shit, that just made me actually laugh out loud! Well played sir, well played . |
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Post by nick8801 on Feb 4, 2024 14:47:54 GMT -6
Hey so this comp is really great. Did some vocal tracking with it today and it really brought the vibe. It can really smooth out a performance but still leaves the feeling of dynamics in tact. It has syrupy tone, for lack of a better word. Tried on drum buss too and it can be pretty vibey and aggressive. I’m not sold on mix buss. I did have some good luck nailing a mix down and in place, but I couldn’t really get it to do subtle. It’s pretty sensitive to bass, so I might need to stick an eq in the side chain. Honestly, for the price, this is a legit great comp!
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Post by peterhess on Feb 4, 2024 19:53:01 GMT -6
Really would be the best show.
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Feb 5, 2024 10:47:25 GMT -6
Really would be the best show. "Ok engineers, hands off the faders... time's up." "Engineer. Can you explain your decision to run parallel compression on the drum bus? We thought that was an interesting choice for the genre." "The drum part was a pretty simple groove, and I felt like it was getting lost with all of the other instrumentation. So I wanted to add some energy without making any one drum stand out too much." "I have to be honest with you Engineer. I would NOT have made that mix choice on this particular song... [long pause, dramatic music]... but it works. Great job. You're on to the next round." |
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Post by nick8801 on Feb 5, 2024 12:14:45 GMT -6
lol this is fantastic….literally hundreds of viewers would turn in!
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Post by gravesnumber9 on Jun 30, 2024 17:42:59 GMT -6
Reviving an old thread....I just ordered one of these out of curiosity. Anyone using one? Seems cool especially for the price. I also saw one on Reverb that Revive had done some modifications to, but it was more than double the original price. Kind of defeats the purpose of budget-based gear. Anyway, if anyone has had any experience, I'd love to hear it! So what's the update? How does it sound? |
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Post by nick8801 on Jun 30, 2024 19:25:07 GMT -6
Reviving an old thread....I just ordered one of these out of curiosity. Anyone using one? Seems cool especially for the price. I also saw one on Reverb that Revive had done some modifications to, but it was more than double the original price. Kind of defeats the purpose of budget-based gear. Anyway, if anyone has had any experience, I'd love to hear it! So what's the update? How does it sound? Really clean. Super sensitive. Like it’s really hard to make it do subtle on the mix buss. I really like it on horns. It will grab transients super fast and you can pin things down without hearing the compression. Anything too complex and I feel like it’s kind of meh. I’ll keep it around for certain things, but it’s not the most interesting thing I’ve ever heard. |
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Post by nick8801 on Jul 1, 2024 15:59:13 GMT -6
Just rereading my old post when I first got this thing. Kind of makes me laugh. Like it was awesome when I got it because I had no other outboard comps. As soon as I got my Audioscape V3A and my Pete’s place, I realized how little vibe the ART has. Still better at grabbing really fast transients then any plugin I have.
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