TRAKKER SINGLE CHANNEL DISCRETE CLASS A COMPRESSOR-LIMITER OPERATOR'S MANUAL Version 1.10 CRANE SONG LTD. 2117 East 5th Street Superior, WI 54880 USA tel: 715-398-3627 fax: 715-398-3279 www.cranesong.com ©1998, 2009 Crane Song,LTD. Subject to change without notice. Printed in the U.S.A.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS 1. Read these instructions 2. Keep these instructions 3. Heed all warnings 4. Follow all instructions 5. Do not use this apparatus near water 6. Clean only with dry cloth 7. Install in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions 8. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including amplifiers) that produce heat 9.
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PAGE ........................................... 2 PANEL REFERENCE ..................................... 3 CLASS A DISCRETE TOPOLOGIES ................. 4 Heating and Warm-up ............................ 4 CONTROL DESCRIPTION .............................. 4 The Link Switch .................................. 6 The Character Switch ............................... 6 AMPLIFIER TYPES ......................................... 7 TRAKKER NOTES Character Switch Suggestions .......
PAGE 2 INTRODUCTION TRAKKER is a high quality Single Channel Discrete Class A Compressor-Limiter. It functions either as a musically transparent compressor or as a vintage compressor-limiter with selectable hard or soft knee. TRAKKER can create distinct new sounds or maximize existing ones. An additional feature of the TRAKKER is the ability to link up to 8 units for surround mixing. The TRAKKER has adjustable threshold, attack, release, knee shape, and makeup gain controls.
THRESHOLD Determines the amount of gain reduction ATTACK Determines the time it takes the compressor to respond to input signal for gain reduction to take place. KNEE - Changes the shape of the gain curve. * soft knee settings METER SWITCH - selects the type of display for the meter. The red CLIP indicator lights when the unit is clipping in the output stage on either of the two settings. LINK - allows up to 8 units to be linked together GAIN - adjusts compressor gain from 0 - 14dB.
PAGE 4 CLASS A DISCRETE TOPOLOGIES The TRAKKER has a Class A audio path which is significantly different than designs that use integrated circuits. Class A circuits sound musically pleasing because their distortion components tend to be Second Harmonic. IC Op-Amps do not have class A output circuits and their distortion components tend to be high order odd harmonics; not musical.
PAGE 5 of a wide variety of sounds possible only because of a proprietary gain control device used in Crane Song compressors. KNEE CONTROL The knee control changes the shape of the knee or gain curve. With the control set to 0 the curve and slope are gentle. With the control set to 10 the curve is more aggressive and the slope is higher. Be aware that as the knee setting becomes higher the attack and release times are modified, they are made faster.
PAGE 6 LINK SWITCH A unique feature of TRAKKER is the ability to use one unit as a master/controller with up to 7 slave units. The rules for operating TRAKKER in link are as follows: 1) Only one master unit 2) If any unit is turned off the link goes away. Allowing Link Turning the link switch "on" will light the red indicator next to the switch when link is allowed. Switching the link "on" turns that unit into the master/controller unit.
PAGE 7 is an airy high end to the sound. The Soft knee settings provide a classic soft characteristic similar to many tube and solid state feedback type compressors. The soft knee setting does not have a program dependent release time. The release time is determined by the release control only. The hard knee can be thought of as a limiter although TRAKKER has adjustable attack and release times. The knee control changes the ratio when operating in the hard knee mode.
PAGE 8 TRAKKER NOTES: CHARACTER SWITCH SETTING SUGGESTIONS A good starting place is optical clean, attack set at 4, release set at 5.5, and knee set at 6. Sound with these settings will be similar to the classic LA-3. When the character switch is set to optical vintage, attack set at 4, release set at 5.5, and knee set at 6; the sound is similar to the classic LA-2A. Varying the release and shape knobs will change the sound from more up front to softer.
PAGE 9 INTERFACING Input: Floating, balanced. Maximum input is +25 dBm. The connectors are XLR. Output: Floating, balanced. Maximum output is +25 dBm. The connectors are XLR. For Input and Output : Pin 2 is Sig + , Pin 3 is Sig – , Pin 1 is GND Side Chain Connections: Floating, balanced. Connections are made by using a DB-9 Male Connector. This is a loop insert and must be normaled back to the TRAKKER. Unbalanced Connections: Are made by tieing the SIG – Pin to the GND Pin.
PAGE 10 TRAKKER SIDE CHAIN PIN OUT CHART
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CRANE SONG LTD. 2117 E. 5th Street Superior, WI 54880 USA tel. 715-398-3627 fax. 715-398-3279 TRAKKER SINGLE CHANNEL CLASS A COMPRESSOR REGISTRATION FORM Please fill out this form and return. It will be used for sending updates and pertinent information as it becomes available. Thank you.
