Recording - May 2017 - 46

elysia mpressor 500
A versatile high-end compressor
comes to the 500 Series
REVIEW BY PAUL VNUK JR.

e last looked at elysia's 500 Series line in June of
2016 when we reviewed the karacter 500. After
years of super-clean compressors and equalizers, it
was the first elysia box to get a little "dirty".
Also among the company's 500 series offerings are the xfilter,
nvelope, and xpressor. Like the karacter, each one is a dual
channel/stereo unit that takes up two 500 Series slots and is also
available in a 1U 19" rack version if you are not of the 500 Series
persuasion.
The latest 500 Series offering from elysia breaks its established
mold in a few ways. It is elysia's first single-channel/
single-slot 500 series module, and the first one to
be directly descended from one of elysia's ultra
high-end boutique boxes: the alpha compressor,
mpressor, and museq, which gave the German
company its start.

The mpressor 500

The original mpressor is a 2U 19" 2-channel
compressor with many unique features like GRL,
Anti-Log, Auto Fast and a niveau filter. It also
boasts a $4700 street price, and right now
you're probably thinking, "Come on, is this
really a 500 Series mpressor?" The honest
answer is, "Yes, yes it is, but-" and before you
think, "Aha! I knew there would be a catch!",
rest assured that it's not a very big one.
The fine print is that the mpressor 500 really
is a full-fledged mpressor circuit with all of the
above features, given the following caveats: it's
a single channel unit, it has no niveau filter,
there's no external sidechain option, and some
of the circuits had to be adapted to fit in a
single-slot 500 Series box. The rest of the abovementioned features are retained, and elysia has
even added one.

mpressive

The mpressor 500 keeps with the look of the
elysia 500 Series line, but in miniature. It has the
thick midnight blue faceplate with silver accents,
but features a smaller version of the company's
46

RECORDING May 2017

backlit frosted logo window that indicates power. The unit features
smaller brushed-silver caps on each of its six pots, all of which
are detented with 41 steps to aid in recall. There are four LEDequipped buttons and a 15-stage LED gain reduction meter.
From top to bottom, the six pots control the same six functions
found on the larger mpressor, as do the buttons. On the standard
compressor side there is Threshold (+15 to -25 dB), Attack
(0.01 to 180 ms), and Release (5 to 2500 ms).
Ratio control, while standard on many modern compressors,
is unique on the mpressor. It includes not only standard ratios,
but also the ability to choose negative ratios. This changes
the curve of the compression ratio, and after the threshold is
crossed, rather than simply controlling and holding, the curve
arcs back down. In effect this means the louder the input signal,
the lower the output signal. In use it creates a rubbery and
super-squishy sound depending on the attack and especially
the release settings.
Next is GRL or Gain Reduction Limiter. This is a second
threshold circuit, but it is not in the audio chain; instead, it's
linked to the control voltage. This allows you to set a limit on
how much compression can occur to the signal, regardless of
how high the regular threshold is set. In use, you can strongly
compress loud peaks but stop the unit from compressing medium
and quiet passages. It's kind of like a fine-tune adjustment for
the threshold and compressed feel of the unit.
The last of the six pots is for makeup Gain, with
0 to 22 dB available.

Hit it!

Moving to the buttons, the first two are lifted
from the larger mpressor. First is Auto Fast. Despite
its name, this is not a true Auto setting like, say,
the auto release on many compressors. It engages a second attack chain that catches and
clamps down on strong transients very quickly, but as soon as they pass, the attack speed
returns to the set attack time on the dial. This
allows you to slap down fast transient spikes,
hits, and plucks without distortion. It's a very
transparent control that grabs and controls the
big peaks without making the unit sound too
clipped or grabby. The other mpressor feature
is the Antilog function, which switches the release curve from linear to antilogarithmic. This
induces pumping and a heightened swooping
in the compressed sound.
Button number three is unique to the 500
series mpressor and not found on its big brother.
It's labeled THD (Total Harmonic Distortion)
Boost; when it's activated, the input signal into
the compressor is boosted. This adds harmonic
overloading that ranges from subtle, gritty thickness to analog input clipping, depending on
how extreme and peaky the incoming signal is.
It reminds me somewhat of the karacter 500.
The final button, labeled Hit It!, is the engage/
bypass control and is a true bypass. Note that

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