WHAT COMPRESSOR

David B. Thomas
dt@dt.prohosting.com
http://dt.prohosting.com/hacks/what.html
Jan. 28, 2000

circuit description
parts list
construction hints
testing and alignment procedure

CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION

See schematic sheet 1. The signal path consists of inverting buffer

U1A, follower U5B, and inverting mixer/amp U5A. The compressor action
happens at the voltage divider formed by V1 and R25. "April Resistor"
R28 mixes in a small amount of dry signal to restore transients
otherwise lost to the compression. This is the reason the maximum
gain reduction is 14dB, and also part of the reason this compressor
sounds so good.

U1-B implements a 3dB per octave high pass filter to shape the
compressor's sensitivity to different frequencies. R3, along with
gain stage U2A, sets the amount of sidechain gain and thus determines
the amount of compression.

U2B and U3A form a full wave rectifier for the envelope generators.
The first envelope generator is the peak detector consisting of active
rectifier U3B, R10, R13 and C1. The second is the simple passive
averaging circuit containing R14 and C2. Active rectifiers U4A and
U4B select the highest voltage from either envelope generator at any
given moment. This is how the dual release time is implemented. When
S3 is engaged, the highest voltage from either envelope generator from
either channel is selected, ensuring stereo tracking.

Mixer U8A combines the composite envelope generator signal with a bias
voltage, for driving the vactrol's led. The indicator led is also
driven from the same signal. The PNP transistor is used for current
gain, to drive the leds without loading the op amp.

That closes the loop. The vactrol's led shines on the photoresistor,
causing its resistance to drop, which lowers the amount of signal fed
from input to output, which is what compressors do best!

MISSING CONTROLS

Originally I was going to offer the traditional controls like

"Attack", "Release" and "Threshold", but I found that my design could
either be a first-rate transparent compressor for vocals and
instruments or a third-rate general purpose or effects compressor. I
decided to stick with what it does well and fix those settings. The
user need only dial in the amount of compression desired.

Naturally some people like having lots of knobs, but one friend did
tell me he can make his fancy dbx unit sound as good as mine, if he
has lots of time to tweak!
PARTS LIST

C7,8 1000 uF, 50V electrolytic

C30,46 100 pF
C29,45 10 nF
C5,43 1 nF
C34,50 330 pF
C31,47 33 nF
C6,44 3.3 nF
C32,48 470 pF
C33,38,39,49,51,52
680 pF
C9-28,53-58
.1 uF
C2,40,36,37
10 uF 16V tantalum
C1,3,35,41
1 uF 16V tantalum
C4,42 33 uF 16V tantalum
D17,18 1N4003 diode
D1-9,12-14
1N914 diode
D10,11,15,16
yellow led (must be yellow)
JP1,2 jumpers (removed for alignment)
Q1,2 2N4403 or equivalent PNP (2N3906 ok)
R1,2,5,9,10,14-16,18,26,33-37,42,44,50,58-61
10K
R13,41,43,65
1K
R6-8,19,22-24,45
20K
R32,57 221K
R30,55 22.1K
R28,51 27.4K
R4,17 2.21K
R40,64 464 ohms
R12,53 46.4K
R38,62 4.64K
R21,49 562 ohms
R11,47 5.49K
R25,46 681 ohms
R27,54 68.1K
R20,31,48,56
6.81K
R39,63 trim pot, 50K linear
R3,29,52,66
10K audio taper pot
S1,2 DPDT toggle switch
S3 DPDT toggle switch (may use SPST)
U2-4,6,8-10
TL062 op amp
U1,5,7,11
MC33178 low noise op amp
U12 7815 +15v voltage regulator
U13 7915 -15v voltage regulator
V1,2 Vactec VTL5C9 vactrols (matched)
CONSTRUCTION HINTS

The myriad .1 uF capacitors on sheet 3 are for bypassing each op amp

power supply pin and each voltage regulator terminal. Locate each as
close as possible to the pin being bypassed.

On the schematic, all polarized capacitors are shown with the negative
plate curved and the positive plate flat.

Keep all leads as short as possible. This circuit can work in a

breadboard but will perform better on a PCB, ideally a 2-sided board
with a good ground plane.

The MC33178 op amps can be substituted, but low noise op amps able to
drive 600 ohms must be used. The TL062 op amps are used for less
critical purposes and may be substituted more freely.

If possible, select the two vactrols from a larger batch, for matching
characteristics. The way I do it is to connect the whole batch (3 to
10) of vactrols in series (the led portions), then put a 100k resistor
in series and connect the whole mess across a 12 or 15 volt DC supply.
Then just go down the line measuring the resistance of each
photoresistor, and select the two that are the closest to each other.
The better the match, the better the tracking you'll get in stereo
mode.

The yellow leds really do have to be yellow. The led inside the
vactrol is yellow, and yellow leds have different voltage drops than
the other colors. My design requires all the leds to have
approximately the same voltage drop.

The small capacitors across the op amps are important if the

recommended low noise op amps are used. Low noise op amps exhibit
gain at radio frequencies and the last thing you need is 770 KOB AM
coming in throughq your compressor!

TESTING AND ALIGNMENT PROCEDURE

Once the circuit is built up, apply 20VAC and quickly check the +/- 15
volt supplies, feeling for any heat on the regulators or other chips.
If all is well, remove JP1 and JP2. For each channel, measure the
resistance across the photoresistor and set the trim pot for 50K
ohms. Then reinstall the jumpers.

Connect with an audio source at line level and monitor the output.
Ideally, use a microphone (with a preamp of course) and monitor with a
headphone amp. If you have a studio mixer, you can use a TRS insert
cable to patch the compressor into a microphone's channel. Enable
compression on the channel you've connected (non-bypass).

The compression is very subtle so at first you might think it isn't

working. Do your first tests with the post gain knob all the way
down, so you'll at least know for sure whether the vactrol is
attenuating the output signal. Set the compression knob all the way
up. The gain reduction led should light up with the incoming audio.
You should notice at least that the output signal is louder with the
compression knob turned down than it is with it turned up. Now with
the compression knob all the way up and the gain knob all the way up,
turn up the microphone enough so you can hear background noise in the
room. When you operate the bypass switch, you should hear the noise
level drop. Now speak at a normal level; it will sound loud in the
phones. While speaking, flip the bypass switch back and forth. You
probably won't hear much difference in the audio level as the switch
is moved. That means the compressor is working: quiet sounds (room
noise) are amplified but loud sounds (speaking voice) are not.

Try the other channel and make sure it behaves the same way. Then try
turning on the link switch for stereo operation. Input to one channel
will not be output to the other channel, but the gain reduction leds
will always light up the same, even if only one channel is receiving
audio.