Broughton Omnicomp

Optical Compressor

The Omnicomp is a fully featured optical compressor that combines the precision and clarity of the Apex with the presence and tone of the Monocomp. The Omnicomp is so flexible it can be used on a pedal board for live use, or in a studio for precision compression for all of your tracks.

The Omnicomp is built with an internal 30 volt regulated supply to be able to cleanly and clearly handle signals all the way up to line level. The audio path is driven by a Burr Brown op amp for superior audio performance and extremely low noise. The compression element is a vactrol--an optical element that provides musical compression that is easy dial in.

The side chain of the Omnicomp contains a gentle high pass filter that gets more steep for very low frequencies. This is tuned so that bass heavy instruments will not overly trigger the compression. Bass, guitar, drums, and vocals all work well with this compressor, with very even compression across their bandwidth.

The Omnicomp controls are:

Gain - Up to 20dB of clean gain on the output to make up any volume lost due to compression
Blend - A blend between your clean signal and compressed signal
Ratio - Determines how much signal is shunted. Ranges from 1:1 to full limiting
Attack - The amount of time it takes for compression to apply
Release - The amount time it takes for compression to release
Threshold - The amount of signal sent to the side chain to trigger the compression

The Omnicomp features a compression LED indicator. This indicator shows precisely the same illumination as what the vactrol receives. This means the user can dial in exactly the right amount of threshold to get the LED to consistently illuminate. This also allows the user to see precisely how the attack and release controls affect the timing of the compression. The LED indicator and optical element will be dimly illuminated at all times to keep the optical element in the active region of operation. By keeping the element in the active region, the optical device can make very fast changes, and operate consistently despite rapid changes in illumination.

Suggested starting point: Blend fully clockwise, other knobs at noon. Adjust the Threshold until the LED illuminates when you want compression to occur. Adjust the Ratio for more or less compression.

https://www.broughtonaudio.com/product-page/omnicomp