Shadow Hills Mono Optograph

The Shadow Hills Industries Mono Optograph 500 Series optical compressor does a stellar job of bringing your frisky audio signals into compliance, and sounds wonderful doing it. Whether you're finessing a delicate vocal or crushing a drum bus, the Mono Optograph performs with pristine poise. Fitted with top-drawer components and indispensable professional features such as makeup gain, sidechain filters, and hardwire bypass, the Mono Optograph represents a significant upgrade to any studio. If you're looking to outfit your 500 Series rack with world-class compression, you should strongly consider Shadow Hills Industries' Mono Optograph.

Transparent sound - with assertive character

The Shadow Hills Industries Mono Optograph 500 Series optical compressor employs an Electroluminescent Optical Attenuator to control the transients in your source material. This approach is is highly effective at reducing dynamic range and imparts a characteristic two-stage recovery time. On the whole, the character of the sound is reminiscent of the best classic "optos,' however the Mono Optograph is startling transparent-sounding - so much so that you'll be tempted to use it for bus compression. Go right ahead.

Exert control over your transients

The Shadow Hills Industries Mono Optograph 500 Series optical compressor sports a unique technology for shaping overall sonic character: Transformer Desaturate. With this feature engaged, the Mono Optograph cancels any attendant distortion and frequency non-linearities by passing your signal through a special tertiary winding of the output transformer. You get a transparent, almost transformerless sound that nevertheless benefits from the transient limiting realized by having passed through the magnetics.

Seriously built to sound great

The uncompromising build of the Shadow Hills Industries Mono Optograph is, of course, to a large degree responsible for its amazing performance. Sporting a front end balanced by an original Jensen input transformer, and ending with a special-design Nickel output transformer, every component was painstakingly selected based on its contribution to the overall design objective: stunning sound quality. Of course, the Mono Optograph is fitted with everything you expect in a world-class compressor: makeup gain, sidechain filters, hardwire bypass, an intuitive rotary attenuator for makeup gain, and a deliciously vintage-flavored engraved front panel with a VU meter for display of gain reduction.

With its impressive sound and performance, ease of operation, and weapons-grade build quality, the Shadow Hills Industries Mono Optograph belongs in your 500 Series arsenal.

Features:

• A must-have compressor for your 500-Series-equipped studio
• Original Jensen input transformer
• Special-design Nickel output transformer
• Selectable sidechain filters: 90Hz, 150Hz, 250Hz, bandpass
• Transformer Desaturate gives you control over the Mono Optograph's handling of transients
• Detented switches give you easy settings repeatability
• Engraved, vintage-flavored front panel with VU meter for display of gain reduction