George
Shilling reviews:
Cranesong Trakker
The Trakker is a new mono compressor/limiter from Cranesong. Although similar in appearance to the STC-8 Stereo Compressor, the designer has taken a somewhat different approach. However, there are also some similarities, such as Class A electronics, solid construction from steel and aluminium, and bluey-green knobs. Although the workings are squeezed into a 1U height, it is a fairly deep box which feels decidedly weighty, no doubt due to the large torroidal transformer, and multitudinous heatsinks, including a huge external one protruding from the rear. These seem generously over specified, as the unit feels fairly cool for a Class A unit.
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Designer David Hill
has a boffin’s obsessive attention to detail in all
areas, an example of which is four different voltage
settings (set internally). Using the 230V setting instead
of 240V in a 240V environment would probably not be
disastrous, but perhaps the unit might run hotter. Input
and Output XLRs are accompanied by a DB9 connector for
attaching a fully balanced sidechain, and a DB15 for
linking up to a further 7 Trakkers. In this mode, the
Trakker claims to, erm, track within 0.1dB for accurate
surround-sound program compression. In this mode, only
the slaves’ Gain controls are active. These unusual
connectors make things neat and tidy, but could be a
nuisance in any situation other than a permanent installation,
due to their non-standard nature.
On
the front are slightly damped rotary controls for Threshold, Attack,
Release, Knee and Output Gain, and a 16-position switch for mode
selection. Legending could be better, but is a slight improvement
over that on the STC-8: the mode switch is here accompanied by
colour-coded LEDs. The variable knobs are mostly given scales of
1-10, which is sensible as settings interact and are dependent on
program and mode. They seem to vary to always provide a perfect
range of adjustment. These are a joy to use. Output Gain is simply
that – no attenuation can be achieved with this knob, simply a
make-up of up to 14dBs, which is perfect. The long LED meter is
superb, relating accurately to what one hears when set to Gain
Reduction mode. There is also an Output Level indication available.
Toggle switches are provided for power, meter, link, and hard-wired
bypass, in which mode compression is still metered, which can be
handy or confusing depending on your point of view.
The
sixteen-position switch offers four modes, with the same four
variations of each mode. I don’t know why there are not two
four-position switches, which would have made operation simpler and
mode comparison easier. The four quadrants of the switch equate to
modes Hard, Soft, Optical and Air Optical compressor
characteristics. Hard refers to the knee, (the Knee knob is for fine
tuning), and this mode effectively turns the unit into a peak
limiter. Optical aims to emulate the sound of certain vintage units,
and when the other knobs are set to recommended settings, this is a
fairly convincing replication of a vintage Teletronix LA3
compressor. Air Optical mode adds a small high frequency boost to
replicate compensatory treble-lift circuits found in certain vintage
valve compressors.
The
differences between these modes can be fairly subtle, dependant on
program and other settings, but it should be noted that all controls
interact, and the Optical settings especially have an element of
program-dependency. VCA artefacts are only apparent when the gain is
changing; only on faster settings are the colourations apparent.
Vintage VCA adds the most extreme colouration, with an apparent
emphasis and added dynamism in the high-mid frequencies and an
obvious presence boost in the region associated with guitar string
finger noise or vocal detail. On drums, extremely fast settings
sound terrific, especially with a steep knee. The differences
between the modes are more obvious in these extreme circumstances.
With slower settings, instruments are especially clean and detailed,
and vocals really cook.
This
unit is excellent in sound quality and operation. It is difficult to
make it sound bad or distort in a nasty way. All deliberate
colourations are subtle, and the overall impression is always of
cleanliness and supreme signal integrity. Sometimes it is impossible
to decide on the suitability of one particular subtly different
setting over the other 15! But it would take a long time to really
get to know this machine, and perhaps that is the beauty of it. I
would love to spend some more time with it…
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