Description
The use of Light Dependant Resistors (LDR) as the control element of an audio compressor was pioneered in the 1960’s and we are all aware of the value placed on those famous vintage “LA” units. The SOC-1.1 was designed not to copy, but to take that signature and improve on it by offering the user more control. With 4 ratio settings, 3 attack options and 6 release times, the SOC-1.1 puts you in command of the dynamics rather than dealing with set parameters.
The design of the SOC-1.1 back in 1993 lead to the development of our Differential Drive Side Chain circuit which is unique to Buzz Audio and is used in all our optical compressors. This circuit processes the negative and positive portions of the audio wavefrom separately (attack and release parameters) and along with the “soft knee” action creates a very smooth coherent compression characteristic. The SOC-1.1 is perfect for recording vocals, acoustic instruments and is really cool on bass guitar. On the mix buss the SOC will provide instant glue and will never dig holes in your tracks.
One of the short comings of the LDR is it can be sluggish to respond to changes in light and therefore the attack time of an optical compressor can be quite slow. However, our side chain design incorporates a clever little circuit to speed up this reaction time resulting in an attack time of less than 1mS in fast mode. This, along with the release and ratio controls, makes the SOC-1.1 a lot more versatile than vintage compressors with fixed attack and release timings.
