Elysia Announces 1RU Version of the xpressor Stereo Compressor

German manufacturer Elysia has announced that its xpressor stereo compressor, previously available only for API’s 500 series format, is now available in a 1RU (19”) version.

According to Elysia, the 1RU xpressor offers all the functions of its 500 series brother, plus an external sidechain send and return, plus a “very good linear power supply.”

The 1RU Elysia begins shipping today, August 22, 2011, with an MSRP of $1.499,00.

Also as noted by Elysia, other features of this highly flexible, Class A compressor include:

“• Discrete Class-A Topology — Pristine audio quality.

• Auto Fast Attack — Perfect attack in any situation.

• Switchable Release Characteristic — Smooth or crisp – the choice is yours.

• Warm Mode — Transparency? Saturation? Both!

• Bulletproof Lightweight? — Aluminum housing, panel and knobs.

• Parallel Compression — Mixing direct and compressed signals.

• Sidechain Filter — Frequency selective compression.

• Sidechain Send & Return — External compression access.

• Gain Reduction Limiter — Ultimate control on the compression process.

• Made in Germany — Outstanding component and build quality.”

Endless Ear and Eye Candy At AES 2010: Tech Highlights + Party Down

Well phew! We’re back from one slammin’ AES Convention — and still reeling from all the awesome audio technologies and technologists we encountered on the show floor and after-hours.

If we do say so ourselves, one of the most memorable AES parties we’ve ever attended was the one we actually co-sponsored, put on by some top-flight audio brands including Burl, PMI Audio Group, KuSh Audio, Audio Power Tools, Empirical Labs, Mojave, Audio Agent, Wave Distribution, Elysia and Cutting Edge.

The bash, held at the legendary Great American Music Hall, was all about mind-blowing music and dance featuring the totally thrilling afro-samba-funk band SambaDá who paraded around the venue Brazilian Carnival-style and then played an amazing set on stage. Not your typical AES party, and just one more reminder that it’s the people and the events that make AES such a soulful experience year in and year out.

The days were packed with demos and conversation and the show floor was happening, as exhibitors across the Moscone expressed sincere satisfaction at the amount of foot traffic. Pro Tools 9 was the big splash — they even had Butch Vig doing a demo at the booth one day — but a real abundance of hardware interfaces, controllers, consoles, microphones, outboard gear, loudspeakers and software pulled us in every direction. Discoveries abounded down every aisle, so without further ado we share with you…

The SonicScoop Buzz Worthy List

Pro Tools 9 – The mother of all debuts from the 129th AES Convention. Available on November 12th for $599, Pro Tools 9 replaces LE in the product line and is available for the first time as software-only.

Focal Monitors – the Focal SM9 Monitoring System turned heads and ears at AES listening events. It houses two independent monitoring systems within the same speaker cabinet.

The first configuration is a 3-way monitor equipped with a 1″ pure Beryllium inverted dome tweeter, a 6.5″ midrange driver, 8″ bass driver and an 11″ passive radiator. Flip a switch, and the same cabinet includes a 2-way monitor utilizing the same inverted dome tweeter and a 6.5″ midbass driver. The point of the latter is to more effectively allow mixers to check their work on a bass-challenged system for iPod, computer, TV, etc… consumer playback systems. Estimated street price upon their early 2011 release is $3595.

Universal Audio Becomes RTAS Plug-In Developer – Pro Tools users can look forward to a muuuuuch better workflow with their UAD-2 cards. UA announced that they are now an Avid RTAS developer. By combining the new Pro Tools|HD Native PCIe card and UAD-2 DSP Accelerator PCIe cards, Pro Tools|HD Native users can now run Pro Tools HD on the power of the host CPU and a library of classic analog emulation plug-ins developed by UA in partnership with Neve, Manley, Roland, Empirical Labs, Fairchild, Pultec, Teletronix, dbx, Studer, Lexicon and more.

SSL – The UK-based console maker showed it has plenty of new tricks up its sleeve at this show. At times, the new 48-input version of their AWS board, the AWS 948, was completely mobbed as attendees got their heads/hands around the versatile new board. There was also plenty of attention paid to the spankin’ new Nucleus controller, which provides a great deal of advanced DAW control options, SSL analog mic pres, Duende plug-ins and other goodies into its relatively compact footprint. Available December 2010 for $4999.

TASCAM – We got our first look at the DR-08 portable recorder. This affordable 96/24 unit is incredibly light and should be a strong asset to anyone with field recording in their job description.

Mix Sensei – One of the serious class acts of the industry, GRAMMY-winning LA producer/mixer Dave Isaac’s Mix Sensei has rolled out his series of tutorial videos including “Mixing Marcus Miller”, “Enter the Dynamics” and “Return of the Dynamics”. The new “Master Audio Concepts” downloadable lessons were scheduled to debut online during the show.

iZotope – The new Nectar vocal suite was the latest development. Highly customizable, Nectar offers dozens of vocal production styles powered by eleven processing modules.

Shadow Hills – Among the many hot products at the always-packed Vintage King booth, the upcoming Oculus monitoring system from Shadow Hills was drawing plenty of interest. For those who can keep up with the mystical genius of Shadow Hills founder Peter Reardon, it’s clear that this will be an extremely versatile monitoring tool when it hits the market in the next few months.

Neumann – Another eye-raiser was the introduction of the KH120, a small-format studio monitor from none other than Neumann. Designed to work primarily as near-fields or as the rears in a multi-channel system, the new Neumann’s were a must-see reference monitor throughout AES. For those surprised by this brand extension, the company pointed out that over its 80-year history their name has also stood for mastering lathes to consoles and digital mics – it will be interesting to see how the industry responds to Neumann’s new addition.

Sonnox – this group of smart guys from the UK had no new product at the show, but are confident that their soon-to-come plug-in – still under wraps — will be a game-changer of some sort. For now, they will say only that the product is something “unique” and will be an enabler. Based on Sonnox’ track record so far, we can safely say that we believe them.

SoundToys – between Mitch’s pink hair and the preview of Juice, the upcoming analog input channel modeler, traffic was healthy at the SoundToys booth. Also, they announced the pending release of Artist Series preset expanders from Tchad Blake, Peter Wade and Morgan Page.

Audient – We got our first hands-on experience with the Audient ASP2802 eight-channel console, introduced earlier this year by the UK manufacturer and also on display at the Vintage King booth. It combines classic analog features with advanced DAW integration and control, putting a great deal of functionality and sound quality into a relatively compact package.

Burl Audio – The B80 Mothership from Burl was a true presence at AES, a multi-channel version of their B2 Bomber ADC and DAC. This motha offers up 80-channel capability, with a vast amount of AD/DA configuration options available within its card-based, 4U chassis.

BeesNeez Microphones - buzzzzzzzzz was appropriately everywhere for Australian mic manufacturer Bees Neez. The eye-catching craftsmanship and brass construction of their product line made their booth a steady center of attention throughout AES.

Cloud Microphones – The RCA-inspired microphones from Arizona-based Cloud were notable for the company’s fascinating story, beautiful look and luxurious powers of sound reproduction. The company also earns kudos for its attention to environmentally-friendly practices throughout their manufacturing and distribution processes.

Lavry Engineering – Lavry Engineering provided the first hands-on look at their LavryBlack AD11 A/D converter, which also includes a mic pre with phantom power. This cost-effective unit is ideal for portable recording as well as standard studio setups.

Two Notes Audio Engineering – people from far and yon came to the booth of Montreal-based Two Notes to check out their Torpedo VM-202 dual processor guitar/bass cabinet simulator. Designed with an exclusive tube stage simulator, the 1RU unit allows users to play two cab + microphone simulations simultaneously, and reproduce a multi microphone miking process. We found the solution to be highly intuitive in our showfloor experiments.

JBL – We appreciated getting up close and personal with JBL’s MSC1 Monitor System Controller, introduced earlier this year. A highly useful monitoring hub for the monitoring of three input stereo sources, the MSC1 provides a host of features and controls to ensure that monitoring will be as accurate as possible in your space of choice – or necessity. Now available with Mac software!

Cartec Audio – The Cartec program EQP-1A makes no bones about its inspiration, in look and sound, from the classic Pultec of the same name. On display at the Professional Audio Design booth, the hand-wired units would fit nicely into the rack of anyone who doesn’t happen to have an original Pultec available.

Telefunken – Connecticut-based Telefunken showed off the subject of their “Name the Mic” contest, the sharply titled CU-29 Copperhead. Based on a circuit that features a New Old Stock (NOS) TELEFUNKEN vacuum tube, custom audio transformer and a fixed cardioid large diaphragm capsule, the Copperhead sounded positively sumptuous in our show-room floor listening session.

D.W. Fearn – The hugely respected D.W. Fearn showed off the new 70dB VT-12 Vacuum Tube Mic Pre, designed to accommodate the low output level of ribbon and dynamic microphones. In the bigger picture, Fearn told SonicScoop that the company has had a banner year that could stand as his best in business – a strong harbinger of hope and optimism for the industry at large.

Check out some more product and fun photos below!

– Janice Brown and David Weiss

Review: elysia mpressor Compressor Plug-In, By Geoff Sanoff

The mpressor is a digital recreation of elysia’s hardware unit of the same name. The plug-in was developed with the team from Brainworx, a new-ish software company that if you don’t know yet, you will know soon.

In contrast to the last few years of plug-ins focused on emulating the past, the mpressor, models a high-end device that has only been on the market a few years. The hardware mpressor has some innovative circuits including a fast attack mode, filtering EQ, anti-log release, and negative compression. As I’ve never used the real deal, I won’t waste time trying to compare the hardware with the plug-in. But these features have all been incorporated into the plug-in.

I will apologize in advance for not covering them as adequately as they deserve because their utility and complexity would require more space than I have to write this review. Besides, these design innovations are best understood first hand.

First off, among the most notable things about the mpressor is that its controls are all within useful ranges. Some pieces of gear give you a lot of room to work with, but really only are useful within a narrow range of their settings. The mpressor is the opposite. Its controls are useful within their full range, and this gives you a very versatile compressor for shaping both dynamics and tone.

MPRESSOR ON VOCALS FOR RAYMOND & MARIA, PARAMOUNT STYLES

As is the case with popular vintage gear, the mpressor is quite capable of imparting pleasant coloration to the signal. When using it on a lead vocal in a mix for Swedish folk pop band, Raymond & Maria, I wanted to add some thickness to singer Maria’s vocal so that it took up more space in a relatively sparse track. The result was a beautiful fullness on her delicate voice. The mpressor was able to bring the life to the party, while effectively controlling the dynamics at the same time.

Using it on male vocalist Scott McLoud on a mix for band Paramount Styles, I attempted the same thing. Scott’s voice was well recorded, but thinner sounding than I would have liked. Trying my often-reliable Fairchild emulator proved to be too dark and squishy so I thought I’d try the mpressor and see how it fared. It certainly brought out more vocal texture, as I’d hoped, but at a certain loss of clarity. I could have just added a little EQ to bring out the detail that was getting lost, but the mpressor has a filter section that seemed perfect to try in this application.

The audio filter section of the plug-in is a Niveau filter. The basic idea is that you can shift the tonality of the signal up or down around a central frequency. So for instance, on Scott’s vocal by shaping it around what looks to be 300hz (!) up 1.5 towards the high end, I was able to re-capture some of the brightness that the compression was eating into. A word of caution however: this filter design is different than any EQ or sidechain I’ve ever used on a compressor, and I found that you really need to play with it a bit before you can make sense of how it works. It’s not super intuitive, but it is useful.

…AS A DRUM BUS COMPRESSOR ON HOODLESS

If you are looking for a drum bus compressor capable of squashing the piss out of an ant, or just lightly dusting the transients, than the mpressor is the best thing to come down your path since coffee. It is really versatile in this application and I can only imagine the cool stuff people will come up with using it. The auto-fast mode is so fast that it basically gets rid of the attacks. (de-essing, hello!) When combining that with the negative ratio mode on drums, I got what can best be described as backwards drums. Used in concert with the sidechain, the possibilities, in particular for dance music producers, seem wide open.

A posting on a popular web forum caught my eye with the observation that because the design of the compressor was feed forward, it would not be a very good choice for bus compression. So I thought I’d put that to the test on some mixes for heavy alt guitar rock band, Hoodless.

I don’t think the mpressor is the right bus compressor for every situation, but I was impressed by the muscle it brought out in this fairly heavy rock music. It definitely added the gel that you expect from bus compression. And it has a link switch so you can have both channels compressing independently if you are shooting for a wider stereo field. One of its most useful features, the gain reduction limiter, shined in this mix bus application.

MORE CREATIVE, MORE COMPLEX

Some newer compressor designs include the ability to mix together the compressed with the uncompressed signal so that you can slam a mix but still maintain the transients of the uncompressed signal. The mpressor approaches this problem a little differently by allowing the user to set a limit as to how much gain reduction will take place.

If you only want to take off 2-3db, you can set it so it’s compressing often on the overall mix, but never actually reducing the signal unreasonably. When that floor tom you forgot to ride down slams in, your whole mix doesn’t shut down like it might with a more conventional compression design. It’s really a great feature and I expect other designers out there to try and imitate it because it makes it easier to get a compressed sound that doesn’t sound too compressed and isn’t based around trying to control a few small moments in a track.

The major drawback to the mpressor is its complexity and depth. The anti-log, negative ratio and auto-fast setting are all fantastic features for creative compression, but they take time to get your head around. The mpressor definitely has a color to it, though it’s a color with many gradations of density and tone, far more than most compressors.  While it does transparent reasonably well, it does character much better. Considering that as a plug-in you can have multiple instances of its processor-friendly 32-sample latency design, I’d venture to say that what the distressor has become to modern recording, the mpressor plug-in may well become to in-the-box mixing. — Geoff Sanoff

Elysia’s mpressor plug-in can be purchased via elysia’s online store — http://www.elysiastore.de/mpressor-plugin/en – for $440.00. This is a special, 25% discounted introductory price available only until January 31, 2010.

Geoff Sanoff is a NYC-based producer/engineer and musician who’s worked with Fountains of Wayne, A Camp, Obits, Blk Jks, Keith Urban, Michael Stipe and Green Day (among many others!). And he’s been nominated for a GRAMMY this year, for his work on Stephen Colbert’s A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All. Contact Geoff through his management, Just Managing.