Vertigo Sound VSC-3 Mastering is the version of the VSC-3 with threshold and make up on 41 click stepped potentiometers. The electronics are unchanged: four discrete 1979 VCAs, one in the audio path and one in the sidechain of each channel, but the whole unit is now fully recallable.
Full recall in a mastering chain
The client comes back two weeks later asking for a revision on one album track. On a standard compressor, threshold and make up are continuous pots, so matching the earlier setting is guesswork by ear. Here both parameters carry 41 detents, exactly like the ratio, attack and release switches the VSC-3 has always used. You write the click positions into the session notes and return to an identical setting two weeks or two years later. The same applies across the two channels: matching left to right stops being a trim by eye.
Soft TipToe and a sidechain that does not pump
Soft mode is not a conventional soft knee but a ratio that rises with level, from 1:1 up to 8:1, which keeps the onset of gain reduction inaudible. For firmer work there are 2:1, 4:1, 8:1, 10:1 and Brick at 40:1, all with loudness compensation. The SC filter in each sidechain offers two gentle curves, so the low end does not vanish from the detector, it simply stops causing pumping. Stereo, Dual Mono and Mono SC modes plus a Peak or RMS detector cover both mastering and mix bus duty.
KEY FEATURES
- Threshold and make up on 41 click stepped potentiometers
- Full recall of every parameter
- Four discrete 1979 VCAs across two channels
- Soft TipToe mode with a ratio rising from 1:1 to 8:1
- Ratio settings: 2:1, 4:1, 8:1, 10:1 and Brick at 40:1
- Ten attack times from 0.1 ms to 40 ms
- Ten release times including Auto fast and Auto slow
- SC filter with two gentle curves in each sidechain
- Operating modes: Stereo, Dual Mono and Mono SC
- Detector switchable between Peak and RMS
- Non linear gain reduction meter with fine resolution to 6 dB
- True hardwire bypass of the whole processor
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Threshold range: -22 dBu to +23 dBu on a 41 position stepped pot
- Make up gain: up to +22 dBu on a 41 position stepped pot
- Dynamic range: 117 dB
- Frequency response: 10 Hz to 70 kHz (-3 dB)
- Maximum input level: +22 dBu
- Maximum output level: +27 dBu into 600 Ohm, balanced floating
- Signal to noise ratio at +6 dBu: 97 dB (20 Hz-20 kHz, unweighted, RMS)
- Noise: -91 dBu (20 Hz-22 kHz, unweighted, RMS) at 0 dB unity gain
- Crosstalk between channels: better than 100 dB at any frequency
- Cinemag transformer input, That 1646 or Burr Brown output
- Power consumption: max 12 W
- Mains voltage: 115 V or 230 V
