Source Audio Atlas Compressor pedal (stereo + so much under the hood)

Has anyone used this on samplers/drum machines yet? If so, let us know your experiences.

From the looks of it, this seems to be the portable, stereo-capable compressor pedal I’ve been hoping would arrive for quite some time. Has both LA-2A and 1176 emulation.
More of a compressor+eq plugin in pedal format than a traditional compressor pedal. Has lookahead which I’ve been seeking, as just 1ms of lookahead can really make a difference in getting a good polished sound. A small, affordable, capable set-and forget compressor+EQ is exactly what I want for my Syntakt’s output.

“Fine tune your compression with features simply not found in other effects pedals, controls like Look Ahead compression, Soft Knee control, optional Auto Makeup Gain, Dual Compression signal routing, 8-Band Graphic Equalization, Parametric Equalization, flexible Knob Assignment, and Side Chain High and Low Pass Signal Detection controls.”

This editor gives a glimpse of all that’s under the hood and it is impressive.

The Sound On Sound blurb mentions line level input acceptance, stereo, and dual mono capabilities. All for $229.

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Nice! Would be most interested to hear what it does on the main bus for live purposes.

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Manual talks about guitar and bass a lot. Would like to hear some synth demos!

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more good details from the manual :

  • both graphic eq and parametric eq can be individually placed pre or post compressor

  • lookahead range is .25ms to 2ms

  • knob assignments are all adjustable

  • midi CC# support. (midi is via USB)

  • CC map can be customized

  • 24 bit converters

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Yeah with those eq’s it would make a great live companion. All necessary tools to tune to the room and PA in a small box. Need laptop/tablet for configuration though, i guess.

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Been looking for reviews on this pedal a lot as a end of chain pedal.

Would free my OT’s master track back up. I use a p-locked master track but HPF SC and lookahead would negate that.

True, but then it’s set and forget. If you have your bus comp configured the way you want to your tracks, custom map the knobs to the EQs to tune to the environment.
Editor also has iPhone/android compatibility.

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I’d take a flyer on one if my local store had any in stock. Sadly, no stock across any of their 50 or so stores in Canada. Seems to fit the bill for what I’ve been looking for in a small form factor stereo compression device.

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@AdamJay maybe try reaching out to them to see if they’ll send you a demo? Do some YouTube demos showing the applications for live techno performance.

Comment on YouTube: “I would love to see a demo of this pedal on synthesizers and drum machines.”

Reply from Source Audio: “Yeah, I agree. Who are some of your favorite synth demo makers?”

I think they would be open to a conversation if you’d be willing to demo your results. You’d have a lot of interest from Elektronauts as well as through your other social media channels (IG etc.).

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Hehe. I’m too humble to do that

I may just buy it from Sweetwater and put it though some paces, for science.
Sweetwater ships 1-2 day to my house, and have a great return policy if it doesn’t work out.

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update: arrives from Sweetwater tomorrow night
Should have a video demonstration together by Saturday!

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I’m very curious Adam! Please keep us abreast :0)

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And it’s very affordable. The neuro editor makes it a lot deeper and very customizable.

Great! :+1:

BTW: Did you consider the UltraWave as well?

I did but it’s too similar in the compressor circuit to tools I already have that I’m unhappy with.
It has no filters for sidechain, which is pretty key for my sound. Also, no lookahead.

And between Syntakt and my Analog Heat, I had no need for the added drive.

Still, a cool looking pedal, like an EHX Platform… Plus! The multi-band drive does look nifty.

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I would’ve been all over this but they dropped the MIDI DIN (unlike the EQ2 and Ventris which I own).

I wrote them asking why they decided to drop DIN jacks and they said it wasn’t possible in the size frame…but…they mentioned a new series of pedals coming out soon that would be larger and accommodate the MIDI din again.

So looks like I’m waiting for those.

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Arrived this morning.

Early findings:

  • Easy to dial in a usable compression sound with just the pedal and not loading the app.
  • Optical mode sounds great.
  • It has line level input compatibility but I’ve found hitting the input with the Syntakt full volume causes unwanted distortion, so brining the volume down to about 70-75% (3PM) cleans it up.
  • Full up ratio gives pleasant limiting
  • The little LED gives some momentary GR feedback, multi-color, green-yellow-orange-red (wasn’t aware, so this is nice) , edit: This can be tweaked in the app to stay on all the time, if you don’t want it to be momentary. I like having it on all the time.
  • Comes with nice long 6ft mini (not micro) USB cable.

Now I’ll do some tweaks with the app to see if I can really make it do what I want.

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No ugly high freq digital noise (as in EHX Platform)

Disclaimer, this is going through an OT MK1’s inputs, but no FX

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thanks for all this @AdamJay - noting with great interest!

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Audio, simple live limiting. single band, stereo, light EQ/post comp.

One Syntakt pattern.
4 bars bypassed,
4 bars engaged Atlas
4 bars bypassed
4 bars engaged Atlas
-rest is with kick/bass mute to show the HPF SC working well.

level matched.

settings:

And yes the editor works on M1 mac (via Rosetta2)


more to come…

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