A well crafted stereo compressor with high-quality components.
The Chameleon Labs 7720 Stereo Compressor is based on a trusted design and is electronically balanced, utilizing "THAT Corporation" (formerly DBX) VCA circuitry. It features a low component count in order to provide the cleanest signal path possible. Chameleon Labs has incorporated unique features based on users' suggestions) to make the 7720 more versatile than your average mix bus compressor.
A switch allows the meter to indicate either channel's input level, either channel's output level, or the amount of stereo audio signal compression. It has a sidechain, which modifies the control of the compressor with a mono audio signal introduced through the sidechain XLR input. A blue LED gives you a visual indication that the circuit is active and that the sidechain audio is controlled by the compressor, not the left and right audio inputs. The High Pass Filter rotary control allows the sidechain or main audio signal to be equalized to minimize lower frequency audio signals' effect on the compression character of the unit. The HPF also affects the detection circuit, not the actual audio. The selector has six settings. The first setting does not introduce any filtration into the sidechain circuit. The next five settings are 60Hz, 90 Hz, 130Hz, 200Hz and 440 Hz. The high pass filter is designed so that the frequency selected is 3dB down, with a roll-off of 12dB per octave. In addition to the ratio settings common to popular stereo compressors (2:1, 4:1, 10:1), the 7720 feature a 1.5:1 setting. This allows you to maintain control over the dynamics of the input signal without squashing the life out of the mix.
What Makes Chameleon Labs Different?
Chameleon Labs is a new type of company, focused on delivering performance and value at a price previously thought impossible. How do they do it? By reinventing how global manufacturing is approached. Chameleon Labs engineers are not inexperienced kids in a garage, buying products that are designed and built in China. Chameleon Labs is comprised of audio professionals with many decades of experience in high-end pro audio gear. From its inception seven years ago, they pioneered the idea of "blended technology", using top-notch parts from the US, UK, and Europe combined with low-cost metalwork and assembly from China. This combination enables a superior performance level at a low price point.
Every Chameleon Labs product is first created and engineered here in the U.S. The goal is to achieve a specific sound through tedious testing in major U.S. recording studios and listening to numerous tracks and/or mixes with a very specific sonic target in mind. A new design must impress the best and brightest of our evaluation group before it ever reaches the factory floor.
