Omnipressor®

Classic Compressor with Side Chain

In 1972, when the first version of the Omnipressor was released, few engineers had any clue as to what to do with it. The box suddenly made possible a new, wide range of dynamics effects unlike anything that had come before it. But the Omnipressor wasn’t then, nor is it now, everyone’s cup of tea. In the days before the internet and youtube videos, users had to rely on written documentation, their patience, and their ears. Some ‘got it’ some didn’t. The impenetrable interface of the notorious “white face” model didn’t help. In fact, facing that reality head-on, the original Omnipressor Instruction Manual began:

Your Omnipressor® loves you and wants to be your friend. If you don’t understand it, if you don’t fondle its controls properly, it will cause you hours of confusion, and tempt you to dash it on the rocks or put it in a sack and drown it. PLEASE READ this applications section before blaming your Omnipressor for malfeasance or deviltry.

For those who hung in and mastered its controls, the rack mount unit became a secret weapon.