Chameleon Labs 7721 User Manual [en, fr]

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7721 VCA Stereo Compressor

User’s Manual

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

Page 2

Important Safety Instructions

1. Read these instructions.

2. Keep these instructions.

3. Heed all warnings.

CAUTION AVIS

RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK

DO NOT OPEN

RISQUE DE CHOC ELECTRIQUE

NE PAS OUVRIR

4. Follow all instructions.

5. Do not use this apparatus near water.

6. Clean only with a dry cloth.

7. Do not block any ventilation openings. 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. Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the apparatus.

11.

Only use attachments/accessories specified by

the manufacturer.

12.

Use only with a cart, stand, tripod, bracket, or

table specified by the manufacturer, or sold with the apparatus. When a cart is used, use caution when moving the cart/apparatus combination to avoid injury from tip-over.

13.

Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time.

14.

Refer all servicing to qualified service

personnel. Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as power-supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped.

15.

This apparatus shall not be exposed to dripping

or splashing, and no object filled with liquids, such as vases or beer glasses, shall be placed on the apparatus.

The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence

of uninsulated “dangerous voltage” within the product’s enclosure, that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons.

Le symbole éclair avec point de flèche à l’intérieur

d’un triangle équilatéral est utilisé pour alerter l’utilisateur de la présence à l’intérieur du coffret de “voltage dangereux” non isolé d’ampleur suffisante pour constituer un risque d’éléctrocution.

The exclamation point within an

equilateral triangle is intended to alert

the user of the presence of important

operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the literature accompanying the appliance.

Le point d’exclamation à l’intérieur d’un

triangle équilatéral est employé pour alerter les utilisateurs de la présence d’instructions importantes pour le fonctionnement et l’entretien (service) dans le livret d’instruction accompagnant l’appareil.

Caution: to reduce the risk of electric shock, do

not remove cover (or back). No user-serviceable parts inside Refer servicing to qualified personnel

Attention: pour eviter les risques de choc

Electrique, ne pas enlever le couvercle. Aucun Entretien de pieces interieures par l’usager. Confier L’entretien au personnel qualifie.

Avis: pour eviter les risques d’incendie ou

D’electrocution, n’exposez pas cet article A la pluie ou a l’humidite

At the end of its useful life, this product must be carefully and correctly disposed of, and not placed in with household waste. Please contact your local, state, or national services for information regarding the safe disposal of electronic equipment.

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

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Introduction

Congratulations on your purchase of a fine Chameleon Labs’ 7721 VCA Stereo compressor. We hope that it gives you many years of reliable and high-quality service.

• Dry/Wet control (Full Dry CCW is full uncompressed signal, Full Wet CW is full compressed signal

• Output Gain control (-60db to +20dB)

Your 7721 compressor has stereo inputs and outputs and uses a voltage controlled audio engine to generate the control voltage that provides the amount and type of limiting and compression you desire. It feature a highly effective VU meter, a Wet/ Dry control knob, Peak/RMS detection, Soft and Hard knee selection as well Threshold, Attack, Release and Compression ratio controls.

The 7721 has been carefully constructed and individually tested for quality at our facility in Woodinville, Washington. It utilizes an ultra low noise pure, IC based topology.

We have spent three years developing the 7721 and are extremely pleased to have built this unit for your use. Although highly influenced by the famous buss compressors of the 70’s, we have strived to introduce significant improvements especially in the area of increased precision for the controls, improved noise floor and a useful set of features.

• VU Meter selector control (input and outputs and gain reduction)

• Output Signal Overload LED (+4dB)

Rear Panel Features

• AC Power Input (IEC) and integral fuseholder

• XLR inputs

• XLR outputs

Power Supply

• Internal universal power supply

Limited Warranty

• One year

Features:

• Stereo Inputs / Outputs (balanced XLR’s)

• Selectable Side Chain input (balance XLR)

• Class A/B signal chain topology

• Peak or RMS Detection

• Hard or Soft Knee Compression

• Compression In/Out Switch

• Threshold Control - (-15dB / +15dB)

• High Pass Filter (20, 60, 90, 130 and 200Hz)

• Attack (0.10ms - 30ms)

• Release (0.10s - 1.5s)

• Compression Ratio (between 1.5:1 and 10:1)

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

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Front Panel Features

3 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

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1. Power Switch

When all your connections to and from the

preamplifier have been made, use this switch to turn the unit on or off. When the unit is turned ON the VU meter will light up.

2. Compression

This switch turns the compression ON and

OFF. When the compression is OFF, the red Compression Out LED is ON.

3. Knee

Select between a Soft Knee and Hard Knee

compression curve. (See Graph Page 10)

4. Side Chain

This switch selects the Side Chain input as

the reference audio signal for engaging the compressor.

5. Detection

This switch allows you to select between Peak

and RMS Detection. The 7721 compressor engages by analyzing the audio signal arriving at the Left and Right inputs. Peak detection engages by looking primarily at the signal “peaks”. RMS detection engages by looking at the average RMS power of the signal waveform.

6. Input Overload

This red LED fires when the input signal

reaches +4dB of signal level.

7. High Pass Filter

This control applies a 24dB per octave High

Pass filter to the audio signal being used for engaging the compressor. Selectable frequecies are 20, 60, 90, 130 and 200Hz. This control is primarily used to keep the compressor from pumping when analyzing audio signal with high level, low frequency content. (See Graph Page 9)

8. Threshold

This control establishes the level at which the

detector will be engaged. The threshold level can be set between -15dB and +15dB.

9. Attack

This control establishes the amount of time it

takes the compressor to engage and trigger compression. You can select between attack times of .1 and 30 milliseconds.

10. Release

This control establishes the amount of time

it takes for the compressor to release and return the signal to its initial gain level. The release time is adjustable between .1 and 1.5 seconds.

11. Ratio

This control establishes the amount of gain

reduction desired which can vary between ratios of 1.5:1 (mild) and 10:1 (aggressive). (See Graph Page 10)

12. Blend

This control allows you to listen to an output

signal that contains a “Blend” of compressed and un-compressed signal. When the knob is turned full counter clockwise (full Dry), the output signal contains only uncompressed signal. At the detent center position the signal blend is 50/50 and when the knob is turned full clockwise (full Wet) the output signal is fully compressed content. This control blends the two signals only and does not effect on the compressor settings.

13. Output Gain

This control allows you to boost or attenuate

the output signal level between -60 to +15 dB.

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

Page 5

14. VU Meter Control

This five position control allows monitoring

of Input and Output channels as well as Gain Reduction.

15. VU Meter

This precision VU meter shows either the

input, output or gain reduction levels, depending upon the position of the VU Meter control switch (14).

16. Output Overload

This LED will light when the output levels are

overloaded. Carefully adjust the Output Gain control (13) so this LED does not come on, during louder passages.

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

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Rear Panel Features

1. AC Power Input

The unit contains a universal power supply

that will operate with AC mains voltages from 100 VAC to 240 VAC at 50/60 Hz.

Connect one end of the supplied AC power

cord to this input, and the other end to an AC mains supply.

The AC input has its own integral fuseholder.

Before changing or inspecting the AC fuse, turn off the unit and unplug the power cord from the AC mains supply. Use only the specified fuse. If the fuse is replaced and blows again, please contact your dealer for repair. DO NOT use a larger fuse.

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3. Side Chain Input

This input allows connection of a line input

for use as a stand alone trigger signal for the compressor.

4. Stereo Inputs

Connect the stereo output of your line-level

device to these inputs.

These female XLR connectors are wired with

pin 2 HOT, pin 3 common, and pin 1 ground (shield).

2. Stereo Outputs

Connect this to the line-level input section of

a mixer or to other devices such as Analog to Digital converters etc.

These male XLR connectors are wired with

pin 2 HOT, pin 3 common, and pin 1 ground (shield).

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

Page 7

Initial set up of the Model 7721

1. Mute your monitors or headphones and make your connections to the rear panel. These connections are commonly made to a patch bay panel or to a channel or bus insert on a mixer.

2. Turn ON the unit.

3. Set the Compression switch to IN position

4. Set the Side Chain to Out position

5. Set the Knee switch to either Soft or Hard

6. Set the Detection switch to either Peak or RMS

7. Set the High Pass switch to 20

8. Set the Blend control to full clockwise (Wet) position.

9. Set the Compression switch to the IN position

10. Set the Threshold control to full clockwise position (+15dB)

11. Set the Attack knob to 1ms (12 o’clock)

12. Set the Release knob to .6s (12 o’clock)

13. Set the Threshold control to full clockwise position (+15dB)

14. Set the Ratio control knob to 4:1

15. Set the VU Meter switch to Left or Right Input settings and verify that the incoming input levels are within a usable range (-10 to -3dB)

16. Set the VU Meter switch to Left or Right Output settings and verify that the output levels are at maximum usbale levels within a feasable range (-10 to -3dB) using the Output Gain control

17. Set the VU Meter switch to GR (Gain Reduction)

18. Lower the Threshold level control by turning the knob counter clockwise and you hear and see Gain Reduction engaged.

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

Page 8

Technical Specications

General Speciﬁcations

Noise < 120dB with compression out

Output Type Transistor Class AB to drive 10kΩ

Maximum Output +20 dBu into 600Ω load impedance

Frequency Response 10Hz - 50kHz -0.5 dB

Indicators

Meter Light

Red

Internal Power Supply

100 to 240 VAC (50/60 Hz)

User Controlled Functions

ON Switch Turn Pre Amp ON - VU meter light on

Compression Switch In / Out

Side Chain Switch In / Out

Knee Switch Soft / Hard

Detection Switch Peak / RMS

High Pass Filter Switch Provides a 24dB/octave high pass ﬁlter at

Threshold Control Sets Threshold level (-15dB to +15dB)

Attack Control Sets Attack time between .1 and 30ms

Release Control Sets Release time between .1 and 1.5s

Ratio Control Sets compression ratio between 1.5:1 and

Blend Control Blends the uncompressed audio signal with

Output Gain Control Provides output gain control between -60db

VU Meter Switch Selects VU Meter drive signal between input,

Inputs/Outputs

Stereo Inputs IC Based Class AB Balanced Circuit

Side Chain IC Based Class AB Balanced Circuit

Stereo Outputs IC Based Class AB Balanced Circuit

Physical Speciﬁcations

Noise level is gain reduction dependent with compression engaged

Power ON

Compressor Out

Output Overload

Switch mode power supply, fully shielded Quiescent Consumption 0.5 Watts

Peak Output 3 Amp

20Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 130Hz and 200Hz

10:1

the compressed signal path

and +20dB

output and gain reduction signal paths

Depth

280mm / 11.02 inches

Box Size

Height

44.5mm / 1.75 inches (1 RU)

Width

480mm / 19 inches

Weight

4.4 kg / 9.7 lbs

Depth

400mm / 15.75 inches

Height

150mm / 5.90 inches

Width

620mm / 24.4 inches

Weight

6.1 kg / 13.4 lbs

Chameleon Labs reserves the right to change these specifications at any time without notice. Not to be a pain, but to improve things in general.

Chameleon Labs is a trademark of Chameleon Labs LLC. All other brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders, and are hereby acknowledged.

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

Page 9

Typical Performance Graphs

50k

Frequency Response

-3

-6

-9

50 100 200 500 1k 2k 5k 10k 20k

Hertz

Control Signal High Pass Filter - 20Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 130Hz, 200Hz

+24

+18

+12

This graph shows the frequency

response

High Pass Filter

The high-pass crossover frequency

can be selected from 20, 60, 90, 130 and 200 Hz.

-6

-12

-18

-24

20 50 100 200 500 1k 2k 5k 10k 20k

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

Page 10

Typical EQ Performance Graphs

Hard Knee

Soft Knee

Soft Knee vs Hard Knee

compression curve

Output Level (dB)

Threshold

+35

+30

+25

+20

+15

+10

-5

-10

-15 -10 -5 0 +5 +10 +15 +20 +25 +30 +35

Input Level (dB)

1:1

1.5:1

2:1

4:1

10:1

Typical compression curves with

threshold set to -5dB, hard knee and RMS detection

Compression

Ratio

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

Page 11

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual

Page 12

Warranty and Liability

Your Chameleon Labs product is warranted to the original owner for a period of one year. Chameleon

Labs guarantees this product to be free from electrical and mechanical defects and will repair or replace defective components, or replace the unit at Chameleon Lab’s option. Should service be required for your Chameleon Labs product, please contact the manufacturer. Service is provided for products beyond the warranty period. Seller warrants that the goods are described in this agreement, but no other express warranty is made in respect to the goods. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the good is with the buyer. Seller disclaims all warranties either expressed or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, and seller neither assumes nor authorizes any other person to assume for it any liability in connection with the sale of said goods.

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Please visit www.chameleonlabs.com for the latest updates and technical information.

Chameleon Labs LLC, Woodinville, WA USA www.chameleonlabs.com 7721 User’s Manual