Rupert Neve Shelford 5051 Inductor EQ / Compressor User Manual
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3. Miland Kunchur,Depart of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina.Probing the temporal resolution and
bandwidth of human hearing , M. N. Kunchur, Proc. of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA) 2, 050006 (2008)
HOW THE 5051 COMPRESSOR WORKS
A part of the audio signal is rectified and smoothed to produce a suitable control voltage for the VCA.
which has to respond very quickly and have low distortion. If the response is too fast, low frequency
signals will themselves, be “gain controlled”! If the response is too slow, the signal will overshoot
and the first few cycles will not get compressed. The speed and accuracy of the response, known as
the “attack”, and the time frame that gain remains under the initial control, known as “release” or
“recovery”, play a large part in the way a compressor sounds.
The 5051 uses very accurate, low noise, low distortion VCA having essentially no “signature” of its own.
This leaves the designer free to use amplifier and transformer combinations that are well proven and
produce the desired sonic quality.
All Rupert Neve Designs modules use input and output transformers and class-A amplifiers to produce
the musical “signature” for which they are known. These are factors that enable the 5051 to work
unobtrusively within the context of a very high quality audio chain.
If the VCA control voltage is taken from the 5051 compressor input, (i.e. before the VCA) the VCA
FF Thresh at 12 o'clock, Max Ratio
FB Thresh at 12 o'clock, Max Ratio
-20
-17.5
-15
-12.5
-10
-7.5
-5
-2.5
+0
+2.5
+5
+7.5
+10
+12.5
+15
+17.5
d
B
u
-20
+20
-15
-10
-5
+0
+5
+10
+15
dBu