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New Darkglass Compressor: The Hyper Luminal Hybrid Compressor

#441
I’m on my second Hyper Luminal. The first one, I only had for a few days, and sold it before I took the time to really see what it could do. I now have another, and I’m really liking it, now that I’m exploring different settings. It really does make your bass sound better. I’m 50/50, deciding between FET and BUS mode. It’s hard to choose one.
My only small complaint with the pedal is that the power input jack is too close to the instrument input jack. I wish they were another cm or two apart, but that’s certainly no deal-breaker. I’m sold on the Hyper Luminal! It’s a top-notch comp pedal!
 
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#442
I just got the Hyper Luminal limited edition black model and so far I am very happy with the sound I’m getting with it.

It’s replacing a Walrus Audio Deep Six which I found to be really noisy. The HL is much cleaner. Setting the HPF to 120Hz definitely does make a difference in taming the low end rumble.

I have the HL at the front of my chain and a Microtubes X Ultra at the end and it’s a great combo. The Microtubes EQ gives you some extra sculpting at the end that brings out more growl from the HL.

Darkglass seem to be making some awesome modern pedals.
 
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#443
GentProvocateur said:
Anyone else setting the LPF running on max (500hz)? Factory settings sounded amazing, then I upped it to 120 and mind was blown. As I've had the HL for a while now I've been upping the side chain hpf, until I hit 500. Sounds great!

Edit:
- Time is up fully clockwise (settings set to inverse). Blend is around 3 and compression 2:30
Click to expand...
I have a Hyper Luminal on the way and am getting pretty excited.
I've read through this entire thread, but believe I missed something.
Did anyone ever state what the factory default setting is as far as the HPF?
It appears everyone seems to like setting it around 120.
 
#444
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#446
#449
Yeah I sent an email to their technical folks. It won't connect to my mac, nor will it connect to my Microsoft Surface. So obviously something is wrong with the pedal itself. I've troubleshot everything else. It doesn't look like there is a way to do a factory reset on it so I'm stuck. It's a bummer.
 
#450
willsellout said:
Yeah I sent an email to their technical folks. It won't connect to my mac, nor will it connect to my Microsoft Surface. So obviously something is wrong with the pedal itself. I've troubleshot everything else. It doesn't look like there is a way to do a factory reset on it so I'm stuck. It's a bummer.
Click to expand...
I know you said tried a different cable but I’d try another one. Preferably one that came with an external hard drive or something like that. I’ve found my B7k ultra v2 is super picky about which usb cable is use. Annoyingly picky , Like most of mine that came to charge things like Bluetooth speakers and LED lamps etc don’t work.
I’ve had luck with Anker USB cables like these:
Anker PowerLine Micro USB (6ft) - Durable Charging Cable, with Aramid Fiber and 5000+ Bend Lifespan for Samsung, Nexus, LG, Motorola, Android Smartphones and More (Blue) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013DOCZAC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_wYL.Db38DZY0R
 
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#451
I just got my Hyper Luminal on Saturday and have been playing around with it.
For what its worth I did have a Super Symmetry when they first came out a few years back.
From what I can tell the Sym mode sounds pretty much spot on with what I remember.
In reading this thread through a few times I think that mode (Sym) is highly underrated.
Obviously, its all a matter of personal taste, but I think Sym sounds amazing.
I have the HPF set at 150.

Questions for Scuba (or anyone else in the know):
  1. Would it be correct to state that FET mode is the least transparent in terms of adding harmonic content and (if you go all buttons in) is the most aggressive?
  2. What are the hallmarks of BUS mode?
    • I did a number of Google searches, but really didn't find much other than "BUS" is based on the BUS solid state blah blah blah
    • What should I be listening for with BUS that differs from SYM or FET?
    • My gut is that of the three its supposed to be the most transparent
Thanks.
 
#452
So this is the response I got back from DG support was that the problem is most likely a USB cable without data pins. They said I am likely using a cable that is meant for smart phone charging, but not data transfer. Although every smart phone cable I've had did both. I know this pedal came with a USB cable and I thought that was the one I'm using. I will check back once I find the right cable.
 
#453
TheCouchBassist said:
I just got my Hyper Luminal on Saturday and have been playing around with it.
For what its worth I did have a Super Symmetry when they first came out a few years back.
From what I can tell the Sym mode sounds pretty much spot on with what I remember.
In reading this thread through a few times I think that mode (Sym) is highly underrated.
Obviously, its all a matter of personal taste, but I think Sym sounds amazing.
I have the HPF set at 150.

Questions for Scuba (or anyone else in the know):
  1. Would it be correct to state that FET mode is the least transparent in terms of adding harmonic content and (if you go all buttons in) is the most aggressive?
  2. What are the hallmarks of BUS mode?
    • I did a number of Google searches, but really didn't find much other than "BUS" is based on the BUS solid state blah blah blah
    • What should I be listening for with BUS that differs from SYM or FET?
    • My gut is that of the three its supposed to be the most transparent
Thanks.
Click to expand...


The FET mode is based off of the 1176, you can read about that and get an idea of what it does.
The BUS mode is based off of an SSL G Bus compressor - same thing applies here
SYM mode is based off of their Super Symmetry - tons of info on this site about that compressor

In general the FET mode is the classic kind of compressor sound, with all buttons in being kind of an extra fat harmonically rich tone.
BUS is much cleaner and more precise type of sound, your ears were spot on with the transparency.
Symmetry has that dark tone shaper type of thing going on.
 
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#454
willsellout said:
The FET mode is based off of the 1176, you can read about that and get an idea of what it does.
The BUS mode is based off of an SSL G Bus compressor - same thing applies here
SYM mode is based off of their Super Symmetry - tons of info on this site about that compressor

In general the FET mode is the classic kind of compressor sound, with all buttons in being kind of an extra fat harmonically rich tone.
BUS is much cleaner and more precise type of sound, your ears were spot on with the transparency.
Symmetry has that dark tone shaper type of thing going on.
Click to expand...
I think the BUS mode is the one I was most curious about.
I'll try revising my search regarding it.
 
#455
Ok, here is what I was looking for regarding BUS mode:
  • The original SSL G Bus Compressor uses a voltage control amplifier (VCA) to compress the signal, as well as a VCA-enabled detection circuit to adjust how the compressor is applied.
  • VCA
    • Let’s start with the VCA model which is the most “modern” sounding one. This model is inspired by the one found in some large console of the 80s, at it’s core there is a linear Voltage Controlled Amplifier (VCA) in fact when the sidechain signal crosses the set threshold, compression start to act linearly with a hard knee. This is pretty simple stuff, the trick is that since it’s a feed-forward compressor if it acted on peaks it would pump really too much so the sidechain driving the VCA is derived by an RMS calculator. It’s quite easy to calculate the perfect RMS of a signal in the digital domain, but here we must emulate what’s done in the analog world so the calculation is not precise, and this is what gives the compressor “a sound”.
  • FET
    • The FET model is build after a very famous boutique compressor of the latest 60′ it’s completely different from the VCA one because it’s not linear at all and it’s a feed-back compressor. This in addition to the attack and release times is probably the main contribution to the peculiar sound of the model. In a feed-back compressor the sidechain is derived *AFTER* the gain reduction stage so it’s very program dependent, this signal is then fed to a model of a FET transistor acting in its linear region. What happens to the compression curve is that after you cross the threshold it start to get more drastic as the signal increases, this also affect the knee, in fact using higher ratios result in a harder knee.
  • Super Symmetry
    • The Super Symmetry is a VCA-based compressor with a parallel-compression topology. A VCA (voltage controlled amplifier) compressor is one of various methods for achieving audio compression that also includes tube, FET, and optical designs. In a VCA compressor, a control voltage is derived from the incoming audio signal. This voltage is then applied to a VCA to vary its gain in proportion to the voltage amount, thus achieving a compression effect. VCA compressors are generally considered to be among the most transparent designs; this may or may not be desirable depending on whether a player wants a compressor to both compress and add some harmonic color. Unlike many compressors that output only the compressed audio when engaged, the Super Symmetry offers parallel compression, governed with its blend control. This allows a player to mix the compressed and uncompressed signals so as to tame dynamics while not overly squashing transients. It also makes it easier to achieve unity (equal) gain with the bypassed signal, as the blended signal can make the natural gain reduction that’s a by-product of compression less pronounced.
 
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#456
Here’s my current setting which I’m really liking at the moment. I tend to fall more into the compression as an effect camp, but this strikes a good balance for me.

American Pro P-Bass (obviously with flats and a tort pick guard) into a Rumble 200 combo,
6EEE6490-00BC-40D3-80E2-020D82D6300B.jpeg


D187E30A-B2B3-4253-A8A8-BDD5F3108A5E.jpeg
 
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#457
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