FMR RNLA "Really Nice Leveling Amplifier"

[Guest]

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This new product blurb on the FMR site is dated yesterday:
http/www.fmraudio.com/
.... yet I haven't read a word about this thing on RAP (it's not buried
in an OT thread, is it?). I recall discussion of the RNP for at least
a year before it was officially announced and released, so it's
surprising to hear about this thing first from the horse's mouth (Mark
must have stayed in a very dark closet looking at a very small light
bulb to grok the idea and write the code, and not let the secret out).
I thought I'd offer this up for some on-topic discussion. My quick
observation and assumptuion is it's an RNC with the DSP code changed
to do "opto" (light-bulb-and-light-dependent-resistor) emulation.
Quoting the basic blurb from the site (I presume this copy/paste is
covered under "Fair Use"):

What's the RNLA?
The Really Nice Levelling Amplifier (RNLA) is a compressor, of sorts,
with a character that works well with vocals, bass guitar, acoustic
guitars and two-mix sources. A friend describes the RNLA's tone as
"thick and gooey". Some very well-outfitted RNLA users report that
even with a full complement of expensive, vintage levelling
amps/compressors, the RNLA still fills a niche that the others don't!

The sonic performance of the RNLA harkens back to the Really Nice
Compressor's (RNC's) origins. The original RNC was, in fact, based
upon an optical gain element that was ultimately rejected (and tucked
away) due to its imparting of a sonic signature (i.e., "color").
However, just like trying to throw away a ball of adhesive tape, this
one has also stuck with (to?) us! What's the old saying? What's old,
is new again? The implementation is a little different (i.e., no opto)
from the 1984 version, but the final sound is eerily similar...

MSRP: $249US

-----
http/www.mindspring.com/~benbradley

 

[Guest]

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Ben Bradley <ben_nospam_bradley@frontiernet.net> wrote:

> This new product blurb on the FMR site is dated yesterday:
>http/www.fmraudio.com/
>... yet I haven't read a word about this thing on RAP (it's not buried
>in an OT thread, is it?). I recall discussion of the RNP for at least
>a year before it was officially announced and released, so it's
>surprising to hear about this thing first from the horse's mouth (Mark
>must have stayed in a very dark closet looking at a very small light
>bulb to grok the idea and write the code, and not let the secret out).
> I thought I'd offer this up for some on-topic discussion. My quick
>observation and assumptuion is it's an RNC with the DSP code changed
>to do "opto" (light-bulb-and-light-dependent-resistor) emulation.
> Quoting the basic blurb from the site (I presume this copy/paste is
>covered under "Fair Use"):
>
>What's the RNLA?
>The Really Nice Levelling Amplifier (RNLA) is a compressor, of sorts,
>with a character that works well with vocals, bass guitar, acoustic
>guitars and two-mix sources. A friend describes the RNLA's tone as
>"thick and gooey". Some very well-outfitted RNLA users report that
>even with a full complement of expensive, vintage levelling
>amps/compressors, the RNLA still fills a niche that the others don't!
>
>The sonic performance of the RNLA harkens back to the Really Nice
>Compressor's (RNC's) origins. The original RNC was, in fact, based
>upon an optical gain element that was ultimately rejected (and tucked
>away) due to its imparting of a sonic signature (i.e., "color").
>However, just like trying to throw away a ball of adhesive tape, this
>one has also stuck with (to?) us! What's the old saying? What's old,
>is new again? The implementation is a little different (i.e., no opto)
>from the 1984 version, but the final sound is eerily similar...
>
>MSRP: $249US

Well, it took me by surprise, but here's some of the rest of the story:

http/www.ITRstudio.com/RNLA-manual.pdf

We've had one here for over six months and I've been dying to tell
people about it. Apparently it's final now and Mark will be shipping in
a few weeks.

Bottom line: it's a "really nice" limiting amplifier that adds great
color, but yet still manages to sound very clean. Makes everything
sound rounder and fuller. The Lin/Log switch gives you a second flavor;
everything else on the RNLA lets you tailor those two flavors by giving
you more or less.

Harvey Gerst
Indian Trail Recording Studio
http/www.ITRstudio.com/

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

As someone who ordered both other products sight unseen before they
could be heard, I shall do the same with this one, as I'm sure 80% of
us will.

All Hail Mark McQ !!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Harvey Gerst <hargerst@airmail.net> wrote:
>
>Bottom line: it's a "really nice" limiting amplifier that adds great
>color, but yet still manages to sound very clean. Makes everything
>sound rounder and fuller. The Lin/Log switch gives you a second flavor;
>everything else on the RNLA lets you tailor those two flavors by giving
>you more or less.

Is it a limiting amp, or is it really a levelling device? Does it do
slow AGC? Will the AGC lock if the signal drops abruptly (say, to
prevent noise floor pumping between words)?
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

 

[Guest]

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In article <pkvce153jbhfocbn87ctn57bmuhqtntov1@4ax.com> ben_nospam_bradley@frontiernet.net writes:

> This new product blurb on the FMR site is dated yesterday:
> http/www.fmraudio.com/
> ... yet I haven't read a word about this thing on RAP (it's not buried
> in an OT thread, is it?). I recall discussion of the RNP for at least
> a year before it was officially announced and released, so it's
> surprising to hear about this thing first from the horse's mouth

Mark used to be a regular here, but went away, probalby disgusted.
It's about time he came out with a new product, and I'm not surprised
that it's a different flavor compressor.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

 

[Sidhu]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Scott Dorsey wrote:

> Is it a limiting amp, or is it really a levelling device? Does it do
> slow AGC? Will the AGC lock if the signal drops abruptly (say, to
> prevent noise floor pumping between words)?
> --scott

AGC=? I guess 'Audio gain conmensation' ?

Sidhu


>
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

 

[Guest]

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In article <1122460232.859756.8210@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> nitinsidhu@indiatimes.com writes:

> AGC=? I guess 'Audio gain conmensation' ?

Automatic Gain Control.

What's "conmensation?" It's not in my dictionary. It's not even a good
typo.





--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

 

[Guest]

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Sidhu <nitinsidhu@indiatimes.com> wrote:
>Scott Dorsey wrote:
>
>> Is it a limiting amp, or is it really a levelling device? Does it do
>> slow AGC? Will the AGC lock if the signal drops abruptly (say, to
>> prevent noise floor pumping between words)?
>
>AGC=? I guess 'Audio gain conmensation' ?

Automatic Gain Control, but yes, the same thing. Think of it as a very
slow gain-riding device that is intended to simulate a human being in
the master control booth, adjusting the knob up and down so all the program
material is at the same level.

A typical levelling amp like the Audimax will have a very wide range of
usable input levels, a fairly narrow range of output levels, but will
not add any sense of squash or increased density. And it normally has
circuits that lock the gain into place during quiet periods so it does
not pump.

The AGC device is usually the first thing in a broadcast airchain, to
get the levels in the ballpark for additional processing.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Ben Bradley wrote:
<snipped>

Okay, can someone explain the practical use of this device? It sounds
pretty much like a compressor with super slow attack and release. I
don't see how this is very useful, at least in a musical studio
environment....sure it doesn't breath, but if you setup the RNC properly
it shouldn't breath (much) either. Basically, is there any advantage to
this over say an RNC+RNP?

Jonny Durango

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 21:14:40 -0700, Jonny Durango
<jonnydurango1BUSH_FROM_OFFICE@comcast.net> wrote:

>Okay, can someone explain the practical use of this device? It sounds
>pretty much like a compressor with super slow attack and release. I
>don't see how this is very useful, at least in a musical studio
>environment....sure it doesn't breath, but if you setup the RNC properly
>it shouldn't breath (much) either. Basically, is there any advantage to
>this over say an RNC+RNP?

Or, to put it another way, is there anything possible (minimum phase)
beyond attack and decay times? These mysterioso routines would
necessarily need to run after-real-time, like analog "real-time"
side chain routines run, and would still have any amplitude
modulation artifacts.

Not, of course, necessarily bad things,

Chris Hornbeck

 

[Guest]

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Chris Hornbeck <chrishornbeckremovethis@att.net> wrote:
>On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 21:14:40 -0700, Jonny Durango
><jonnydurango1BUSH_FROM_OFFICE@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>>Okay, can someone explain the practical use of this device? It sounds
>>pretty much like a compressor with super slow attack and release. I
>>don't see how this is very useful, at least in a musical studio
>>environment....sure it doesn't breath, but if you setup the RNC properly
>>it shouldn't breath (much) either. Basically, is there any advantage to
>>this over say an RNC+RNP?
>
>Or, to put it another way, is there anything possible (minimum phase)
>beyond attack and decay times? These mysterioso routines would
>necessarily need to run after-real-time, like analog "real-time"
>side chain routines run, and would still have any amplitude
>modulation artifacts.

Levelling amps tend to:

1. Have slow attack and and release times, but generally slower release
than attack.

2. Have _VERY_ soft knees, to the point where there really isn't any knee.

3. Have gadgets to lock the gain in place during silent sections.

4. Be intended to replace manual gainriding.

This sort of thing doesn't seem to have much of an application in the
music studio, but it can have a whole lot of applications in broadcast
production and voice work.

It's a device that really doesn't do anything that you can't do by hand,
but which does it so that you don't have to do it by hand.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <JMCdnSDQmu-mxnXfRVn-1g@comcast.com> jonnydurango1BUSH_FROM_OFFICE@comcast.net writes:

> Okay, can someone explain the practical use of this device? It sounds
> pretty much like a compressor with super slow attack and release. I
> don't see how this is very useful, at least in a musical studio
> environment.

It's just the ticket for the singer who can't stay on mic or goes
"from a whisper to a scream" with no correlation with the music. Or
the bass player who can't play two adjacent notes at the same volume.

Like you say, no practical value in the MUSICAL studio environment,
but good for the non-musical people trying to record something that
sounds like music. Probably works pretty well in live sound
applications with amateur church singers, too. Kind of like the
AutoTune of volume.

But then I haven't seen it or heard it, so I don't really know what it
does or what it's intended purpose is.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"Jonny Durango" <jonnydurango1BUSH_FROM_OFFICE@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:JMCdnSDQmu-mxnXfRVn-1g@comcast.com...
> Ben Bradley wrote:
> <snipped>
>
> Okay, can someone explain the practical use of this device? It sounds
> pretty much like a compressor with super slow attack and release. I
> don't see how this is very useful, at least in a musical studio
> environment....sure it doesn't breath, but if you setup the RNC properly
> it shouldn't breath (much) either. Basically, is there any advantage to
> this over say an RNC+RNP?
>
> Jonny Durango


Check Harvey's post above. There's a link to the RNLA manual.

The attack and release are just a part of the story. Unlike the clean and
transparent RNC, the RNLA was designed to impart color and character to the
signal. It makes sense to have it alongside with the RNC just as it makes
sense to have LA2 or LA3 alongside with the 1176.

Predrag

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On 28/07/05 15:25, in article znr1122549228k@trad, "Mike Rivers"
<mrivers@d-and-d.com> wrote:

(...)
> But then I haven't seen it or heard it, so I don't really know what it
> does or what it's intended purpose is.

From their website:

-----
The RNLA ³colors² the audio. I don¹t consider myself a ³purist², however, I
have spent a fair amount of time/effort in the studio (and design lab)
trying to reduce sonic coloration (i.e., distortion). Although I appreciate
and applaud those who are skillful enough to record and mix with fidelity or
coloration at will , I¹ve always preferred fidelity over distortion...no
matter how artsy it is! So, why are we now producing a device that
deliberately distorts the audio? There are three reasons for this: (1) our
customers have requested it and feel that they can¹t get specific
combination of features elsewhere, (2) I believe that the RNLA distorts in a
tasteful, useful and controllable way, and, (3) Maybe you can teach an old
dog new tricks: I¹m actually learning to like and find uses for the sonics
of the RNLA!
-------


--
Joe Kotroczo kotroczo@mac.com

 

[David]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I wish it was a mono box or had an unlink button for the 2 channels. I
can't imagine using it on 2 different sources at once, or ever running
an actual mix thru it. (Same goes for the RNC for me.)

Ya, I know, it don't cost much, use it as a mono box.

I remember Fletcher talking about a more expensive version of the RNC
with no wall wart and some other stuff. Anyone know if it will ever go
into production?




David Correia
Celebration Sound
Warren, Rhode Island

CelebrationSound@aol.com
www.CelebrationSound.com

 

[jz834]

I'll tell you what guys I own this unit and when you say it has no place in a studio I think you are nuts... Leveling amps have a sound and a place in any studio... I would really only use it on stuff with slow transients or however you spell that. i.e bass and vocals It rounds them out in a very pleasant manner it does not clip them like say an 1176. So that means 1176 good on snare not not so much a bass. An LA good on vocals not so good on a mandolin. I love this thing!