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Discussions about the products / To pre or not to pre, that is the question
« on: February 10, 2024, 08:59:04 AM »
So I´ve completed my first API box with a nice collection of stereo compressors, ie 5176, 502, 554 and 4500. And I have to admit I´m totally hooked. So what´s next?
- I don´t do any microphone work, no vocals, no acoustic instruments (for now)
- Electronic music 99% with attention to sound and timbre
- I like to color my signals and normally record first, then send signals through the compressors, often with a touch of saturation.
I wonder if preamps make context in that sense. Or if their color originates mainly from the transformers, which I already have in the compressors. How close is running line signals through a comp (not doing much compression) to what I would get from running them through one of the pres?
I assume (no clue synth guy here) that dialing in saturation may be somewhat easier and better controllable on a pre? Finer level control? Can only compare to an elysia skulpter through which I played a synth once: it seemed that from "clean" to "fat saturation" could be dialed in over a much wider path of the pot. Would that be similar with 528, 512 etc?
And could you order the different models by "intensity of color"? Can´t build all of them at once, so I´m looking for the more obvious ones to go first and save the subtle ones for later. From a video I´d put the TS more into the subtle category in comparison.
Or should I go for some of the EQs and push them?
- I don´t do any microphone work, no vocals, no acoustic instruments (for now)
- Electronic music 99% with attention to sound and timbre
- I like to color my signals and normally record first, then send signals through the compressors, often with a touch of saturation.
I wonder if preamps make context in that sense. Or if their color originates mainly from the transformers, which I already have in the compressors. How close is running line signals through a comp (not doing much compression) to what I would get from running them through one of the pres?
I assume (no clue synth guy here) that dialing in saturation may be somewhat easier and better controllable on a pre? Finer level control? Can only compare to an elysia skulpter through which I played a synth once: it seemed that from "clean" to "fat saturation" could be dialed in over a much wider path of the pot. Would that be similar with 528, 512 etc?
And could you order the different models by "intensity of color"? Can´t build all of them at once, so I´m looking for the more obvious ones to go first and save the subtle ones for later. From a video I´d put the TS more into the subtle category in comparison.
Or should I go for some of the EQs and push them?
.
. Reviews or demo videos are between rare and non-existent and most likely not for the genres I cover. And "just get both" isn´t the answer ^^. Same with plugins: the differences between those and their hardware counterparts are not exactly leading me to play with a DB compressor plugin to answer the questions above.