Vintage Audio MSL User manual

Vintage Audio
MSL
Quad VCA Buss
Compressor

Vintage Audio
MSL Quad VCA Compressor
Congratulations on your purchase of your new Vintage Audio MSL Quad VCA
Buss compressor.
The MSL is based on the standard of Quad VCA Buss compressors and Rivals the
finest designs. These wonderful sounding compressors provide the “Glue” needed
for great mixes as well as wonderful drum buss compression. Our design uses High
Performance Burr Brown input and output stages for clean audio with great
headroom and wide bandwidth. We also offer a Cinemag input and output
transformers option, simply ask.
We put tremendous effort into all of our preamps and compressors to make your
music more enjoyable and your sessions less droll. Each unit is hand built to our
specifications and is constructed of nothing but the highest quality parts. As with
all of our units, the MSL uses remote relay switching which shortens the signal
path, lowers noise and provides a True Bypass. Excellent filtering is also provided
to lower ripple and thus lower the noise floor even further making them extremely
quiet in terms of self noise.

Caution!
As with all professional equipment, please be sure to read all necessary
literature prior to hooking devices up and powering them on. All units are
set for voltage based on the original sale destination. Please consult the tag
below the AC inlet if you purchased a unit “used” or second hand to make
sure it is set for the right voltage before applying AC voltage.
About Vintage Audio
Vintage Audio is a small group of folks who love electronics and music. All are
musicians and Geeks at heart. Johnny Five is a screen saver and Star Wars and Star
Trek share the airspace. We have been building pro audio gear for years and have a
real passion for offering affordable, extremely well made reproductions to the
audio community.
Note!
We are not re-inventing the wheel; Vintage Audios mission is to recreate the best
sounding modern reproductions of some of the most sought after classic circuits in
the world. We have a lot of experience on what it takes to make an excellent
sounding preamp or compressor. We hand select all of our components, pieces and
parts based on the character they impart and reliability. Most parts are Mil Spec,
are designed to last and provide years of unparalleled performance.
All of our designs are set up to be extremely simple to use and obtain
great results.
On to the good stuff!

So about your new compressor
The Vintage Audio MSL is a stereo channel VCA buss compressor with a familiar
architecture. The MSL utilizes dual RMS detection, dual VCA compression and
provides all of that great “glue”needed at mix down.
The MSL has a selectable Ratio, Attack, Release, and Sidechain input with
frequency selections that we found to be most useful to mix engineers. The
frequencies range from 60Hz to 440Hz. We found that 440Hz, while not very
useful on the Mix Buss, is a useful function for tracking and mixing instruments
like piano or other percussion instruments.
Compression character is one of the main reasons engineers reach for a certain
piece to do the job. Reach for the MSL for great buss compression!
The MSL has two different detection circuits to choose from and therefore two
different compression characters. You will most likely find yourself leaving it in
normal mode, but we have incorporated the Detect Out feature to remove one of
the RMS Sidechain circuits. This feature provides great character and an
aggressive compression. The feature is nice for effects, squashing room mics or
other sources that simply need to be aggressively tamed.
Sometimes it is hard to tell exactly what is happening to the program material
when using subtle compression. Our True Bypass is a perfect solution, it routes the
input directly to the output completely bypassing the compressor and all line amp
stages.
Left and Right Vu Meters illuminate the front panel and dance to the music! The
Vu meter selector allows you to choose: Input, Output and Aggregate Gain
Reduction.
Compression bypass allows the user the ability to bypass the compression but still
run signal thru the line amplifiers for coloration.
The design is very simple and easy to use to obtain excellent results.

In the next section you will find a list of all controls to help you get started.
Front Panel Controls Overview
True Bypass: The MSL features a true relay bypass that effectively routes the
input to the output bypassing the circuit completely. This is a nice feature when
you simply need an accurate reference.
Sidechain Select: The Sidechain selection control allows the user to choose from:
External sidechain input, no sidechain filter and sidechain frequencies 60, 90,150,
240, 440HZ. This effectively reduces the amount of compression sensitivity one
hears at the selected frequency.
Meter Select:Here the user can select to see the Left and Right input levels and
the aggregate compression for both left and right channels.
Ratio Select: The Ratio control allows the user to select from:2:1, 4:1, 10:1
compression ratios
Attack Select: The attack controls selects the attack time of the compressor. The
user can select from: .1, .3, .5, 1, 3, 10, 30mS
Release Select: The release control controls the release time of the compressor and
allows the user to select from: .1,.3,.5,1.2, AUTO (Sec)
VU Meters: These allow viewing of the input, output and aggregate compression
levels for both Left and Right channels.
Compression Bypass: This switch when engaged bypasses the compression but
allows the signal to still pass thru the MSL which can be a useful color feature.