By this stage you’re no doubt wondering if the RNLA really does sound nice. FMR apologises for using a wall-wart, and then again for using an AC power supply, but, as I said, costs are kept way down using this powering method, as is internally produced noise. A sidechain insert appears for building de-essing circuits, next to the wall-wart power input. It also allows for connecting the unit directly to a console or computer audio card’s insert points using only two stereo patch cables. Consequently, the RNLA will provide better noise performance when used in a balanced system but will perform perfectly unbalanced. It’s a non-differential balancing system implying that the ‘cold’ portion of the signal isn’t driven. Out the back there are left (mono) and right inputs with the unit happy to operate in balanced or unbalanced situations. ROOLY NOICEĬonnection to the RNLA is via TRS jacks. Use it as a single mono or stereo processor. Oh, did I mention?: The RNLA is a stereo device with mono controls. It’s a handy tool for situations such as taming drum overheads without sucking the life out of them. This results in restoring punch to material that you may be limiting the daylights out of. The unit will even function in bypass mode if the power is withdrawn! One final button switches in a logarithmic release contour: when the LogRel button is on, the release time is accelerated according to the amount of gain reduction happening at the time. A bypass button does just that, but does it extremely well by utilising sealed relays for a completely true bypass. Gain reduction is displayed via an eight-segment LED meter which FMR claims to be free of any latency or lag – you can rely on the meter to give you an accurate representation of what’s going on. Pay attention to the front panel screen-printing and you’ll notice these controls actually start at ‘one’ (a quaint little ‘trap’ for the younger player). Gain provides ☑5dB, with the attack and release controls going all the way to ‘11’, a selling point gleefully broadcast in the manual. Threshold, Ratio (from 1 through to 25:1), Attack, Release and Gain controls allow the setup of a multitude of levelling scenarios. The philosophy being, ‘who cares what it looks like as long as it sounds great!’. FMR seem to take a perverse pleasure in making their gear as ugly as possible – which I kinda like. Across the front of the RNLA you’ll find four ridiculously red knobs. Often these devices merely provide input and output gain with no control over attack or release, let alone varying the actual compression ratio. Operationally, the RNLA offers considerably more control over your signal than older discrete designs. The unit definitely does offer a number of sonic similarities to these older style Class-A opto-compressors but achieves this using DSP coding and ICs. This doesn’t imply that the RNLA is an LA-2A emulation, because it simply isn’t. So, unlike the RNC, this compressor is designed to impart a degree of sonic colouration to the sound. Its intention is to provide a compressor along the lines of the traditional ‘levelling amplifier’ circuits of yesteryear – units such as the LA-2A and LA-3A that exhibit a strong sense of character due to their optical gain element design. So why is this a ‘levelling amplifier’ and not a ‘compressor’? Surely they’re the same thing? FMR has decided to distinguish the RNLA from the RNC, as the RNLA is more of a ‘coloured’ compression circuit. It’s constructed from aluminium, as opposed to plastic, and really shouldn’t present any structural issues. To be honest, I can’t see the enclosure falling apart anytime soon. The units all feature a screw hole on the underside of the enclosure to aid attachment to a rackmount shelf. In order to keep costs down, FMR prefers to spend money on the important stuff and skimp on the enclosure. FMR makes no bones about the fact that its units have a decidedly ‘DIY kit’ feel about them. Like all the FMR devices, the RNLA is a 1/3-width single rack device. Yep! It’s the Really Nice Levelling Amplifier! Now the FMR Audio range has extended even further to include the RNLA. Following the success of the RNC, the firm doubled its product stable by offering the RNP (Really Nice Preamp). You’ve only to take a quick glance at the specs of FMR equipment to realise these little boxes are capable of holding their own with some of the best. Or, should your racks be devoid of the esoteric and expensive, it’s a great little compressor, full stop. Its RNC (or Really Nice Compressor) is generally acknowledged to be a very handy piece of kit: a dynamics processor that can stand sonically alongside more esoteric and expensive compressors. 5 December 2005 A new device from FMR? Nice.įMR Audio has a pretty fine track record for coming up with sonically superior devices for a minimal cost.
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