Daft Punk's Behringer Compressor: Let's Finish This.

It’s the XL.

really? the 'good one' that Ithink doesn't sound good? well none of them sound good

The crazy thing is that Homework is the album that opened my eyes to how important dynamics processing was in dance music. I remember hearing the album for the first time in a tiny college-adjacent record store in early 1997, and it just pummeled me. It sounded so "full" (for lack of a better vocabulary/understanding) at the time. I remember ripping the CD to a .wav file and looking at it in SoundForge later that year, and relative to the indie rock and trip/hip hop in my little CD collection at the time, the waveform just looked like a big fat solid bar... so I start reading books, magazines, horrible 1997 Geocities websites... "oh! that's what a compressor can do!"... Up to that point, I only thought of a compressor as something an individual musician used to even out the dynamics on their bass guitar or their twangy country telecaster slide guitar tone.

It's funny to me that the compressors they used to achieve most of that were the models you'd get if you'd walked into a Guitar Center at the time and asked for the cheapest stereo dynamics processors they had.

I'm sure Mastering Engineer Nilesh Patel used a bevy of much more high-end gear to bring that album to it's final form, but still...

I don't think their cheapie compressors are doing what you're thinking.... I'm fairly certain they're being used as duckers via the sidechain inputs and the final sausage form is cumulative processing plus that mastering engineer you mentioned, this was PEAK of the loudness wars and that record was winning until Death Magnetic..... I find its lack of dynamics a bit difficult to handle at times personally but if you're blasting it at club levels anyway it makes sense at least

I don't think their cheapie compressors are doing what you're thinking.... I'm fairly certain they're being used as duckers via the sidechain inputs

If they're only handling the sidechain ducking, and actual great/classic dynamics processors were used to fatten the final product... well, that would make a lot of sense ;)

this was PEAK of the loudness wars and that record was winning until Death Magnetic.....

Homework came out the same year as Face/Off -- think about that -- it was a good year for being 100% committed (to the extreme!!!!) to your concept.

In 2021, there are subtler ways to make your point, while still sounding good on the dance floor, but someone had to take it all the way in that direction in 1997... for the good of humankind.

I don't think their cheapie compressors are doing what you're thinking.... I'm fairly certain they're being used as duckers via the sidechain inputs

If they're only handling the sidechain ducking, and actual great/classic dynamics processors were used to fatten the final product... well, that would make a lot of sense ;)

I'm pretty sure they're being used to duck the and shape sampled vinyl primarily although I;m sure the kick had to have been treated too... the sausage waveform is probably mastering gear out of the box (it wasn't a viable format yet really) at that time... they probably really overloaded a mastertape that may have been a cassette like orbital's first track! Its hard to know but I don't think you would be happy with overt limiting from any of the compressors they were using, I've been there, its not pleasant even when you WANT artifacts. These untis are also pretty noisy at extreme settings

Timeline:

• 1992: Behringer MDX-2000 released
• 1993: Soma receives first demo tapes from Daft Punk
• 1994: Behringer MDX-2100 released
• 1995: Da Funk/Rollin' & Scratchin' single released

It's one of those two for sure...

*Note: I can't find a hard date on when the 2100 hit the market, but the v2.2 User manual is dated 1994.

I can't figure out where I even put mine to see which one it is, it definitely asserts on the panel that its an optical compressor which other ones don't and aren't.... I wish i had the manual it might have a date, I save manuals but when you get soemthing secondhand its fair not to get that manual

its hard to figure out... all of these compressors were big in late 90s dance music because they were dead cheap and the guy I got mine from did in fact have minor dance hits

wow, they actually made that music with a mackie CR series, beats a VLZ, but wow guys, hats off, those are some brittle mixers, headroom for days but brittle shrill top end.

whoa, the atari shirt and the leather jacket, I looked just like that circa 99 but with orange hair instead of a frog mask, I ahd no diea I looked like daftpunk

wow, they actually made that music with a mackie CR series, beats a VLZ, but wow guys, hats off, those are some brittle mixers, headroom for days but brittle shrill top end.

whoa, the atari shirt and the leather jacket, I looked just like that circa 99 but with orange hair instead of a frog mask, I ahd no diea I looked like daftpunk

wow, they actually made that music with a mackie CR series, beats a VLZ, but wow guys, hats off, those are some brittle mixers, headroom for days but brittle shrill top end.

Is that your recollection of the CR series from back in the 90s, or your opinion based on recent hands-on? The reason I ask is that, you know, @#$% degrades over time, and none of the reviews of the original 1202 from 1992 make that observation... I trust your evaluation either way, just curious.

whoa, the atari shirt and the leather jacket, I looked just like that circa 99 but with orange hair instead of a frog mask, I ahd no diea I looked like daftpunk

I believe they were trying to look as anonymous as possible, Detroit-Techno-style. I think everyone under 25 in 1996 had that Atari shirt, I'm pretty sure I did too. I also had the orange hair, but no manic-panic required in my case. XD

from back then, haven't touched one since 2001 I would guess... its no 8bus and no onyx.... but the parts in a mixer are unlikely to degrade apart from the pots..... power supply caps maybe, but it usually takes longer than 20 to 25 years, we're just getting into failure turf on a piece that's been used irregularly now, but it could only be an improvement..... the CR series sure isn't a mix wizard or crest X rack... I would even take an alesis multimix over a CR, I feel like me and a buddy pounded one of these mackies with a bat once when it acted up but it mighta been a diamond studiomaster or something.... these mixers were directly responsible for my interest in 80s soundcrafts, after the ramsa something like a CR sounded so painfully bad even though it had a lot of headroom comparatively and rackability is convenient.... A&H and Crest rack mixers were even more money than the soundcraft 200b back then and the 200b sounds a distinct cut above in a relatively small form factor.

I honestly was bleaching my hair back then and got bored waiting and washed it out at streaky van gough orange and that was my trademark for like 5 years because once you do that you need to press forward with it until you're ready for a pink mohawk

it is known

from back then, haven't touched one since 2001 I would guess... its no 8bus and no onyx.... but the parts in a mixer are unlikely to degrade apart from the pots..... power supply caps maybe, but it usually takes longer than 20 to 25 years, we're just getting into failure turf on a piece that's been used irregularly now, but it could only be an improvement..... the CR series sure isn't a mix wizard or crest X rack... I would even take an alesis multimix over a CR, I feel like me and a buddy pounded one of these mackies with a bat once when it acted up but it mighta been a diamond studiomaster or something.... these mixers were directly responsible for my interest in 80s soundcrafts, after the ramsa something like a CR sounded so painfully bad even though it had a lot of headroom comparatively and rackability is convenient.... A&H and Crest rack mixers were even more money than the soundcraft 200b back then and the 200b sounds a distinct cut above in a relatively small form factor.

Good to know. I recently plugged in my old Spirit Folio Notepad from like '00 and it sounded like warm garbage... no way it sounded that awful 20 years ago. I wonder what is about to give out on that little thing? Anyway, great info and thank you.

I honestly was bleaching my hair back then and got bored waiting and washed it out at streaky van gough orange and that was my trademark for like 5 years because once you do that you need to press forward with it until you're ready for a pink mohawk

This was the way back then, yes. The @&$#y bleach job that left most people orange was the gateway... then you'd try the crayola red, blue or purple. Good times.

I think I was coming over from crayola red that year I washed out a bit and it got really interesting with more bleach over it and a bit of impatience.... that was one of the periods of my life where my hair just broke off

on the spirit series.... there are soundcrafts and soundcrafts

I still can't guess what these guys used for comrpessors

I still can't guess what these guys used for comrpessors

We're down to 2 extremely similar Behringer Composer models of the early '90s. There's no guessing to do. Someone else reading this forum has to come forward with some new information... that's all there is to it.*

Maybe there's a shot of their first studio in that Showtime documentary from a few years ago?

I mean, also, it's not like Guy-Manuel and Thomas are dead. They still have homes here LA as far as I know. The information still exists, and it's close... we just can't get to it...

*We can always just give up, flip a coin, and log it as either the 2000 or 2100 and let it live with a yellow "need more info" tag for the rest of its life... but I'm not ready to give up yet.

Maybe there's a shot of their first studio in that Showtime documentary from a few years ago?

they look exactly the same unless you really zoom in

Maybe there's a shot of their first studio in that Showtime documentary from a few years ago?

they look exactly the same unless you really zoom in

you're right... #@$%

I know, I have one and I can't remember which one it is because I don't know where I put it! even the autocoms look similar at a glance

this is bull... 4 numbers: 1176

Okay, I’m joining in on this. So far I’ve found a guy on oldschooldaw.com who’s claiming it’s the MDX2000.

Reading Exhibit A, we get the following info:

Behringer Composer: il s’agit d’un appareil appellé “Enhancer”, utilisé pour préciser te dynamiser le contour du spectre sonore: les extrèmes graves et les extrèmes aigues. En principe, cet appareil est connecté en sortie stéréo.

As we know, the enhancer function, the stereo capacity and the Composer name means it’s definitely an MDX. The lack of “Pro” evinces 2000 and 2100.

This Tumblr post dates the photo in Exhibit A to June 29, 1996, so live performances around that time might offer a better glimpse. Here’s a start, even though the glimpse we get doesn’t include a Behringer Composer. Same here.

There’s also this 1997 email sent to Analogue Heaven that gives an eyewitness report of some equipment. It matches pretty well with Exhibit A:

No identifiable synths. They had with' em two 909's and something of which I think was a studio 440.

Last time I saw them their setup was : 909, 808, linndrum, juno-106, tb-303, se-1, roland s770 sampler, mackie 1402, a few effects (guitar pedals, behringer composer, dp4, equalizer), waldorf 4pole filter.

What intrigues me most is the Gearslutz claim. How does he know it was used on the drum bus? There might be an article out there describing that, unless he’s just going off of a rumor. Maybe it’s one of these if someone can find them? These might also be helpful.

I've decided you can't confirm this short of trying to reach out to one of these guys, maybe they'll be more forthcoming now that they're broken up officially but they may not even remember. If they upgraded at any time the exact model of composer may be hazy at this late date. The difference between the 2 models we've settled on is probably really academic. Maybe its a different gain control circuit but more likely its really minor. I'm finding the composer line to be a bafflling rabbit hole, I have one around somewhere that said it was a stereo optical compressor someone gave me about 20 years ago, maybe more but there's also VCA models?

Tom, I'm tasking you to find the complete history of the Behringer Composer line for us and post it here, I wanna know every variant now and you're good at this. Its Saturday. I have a record to finish and a comic strip to draw for a new 'zine today so its on you. If anyone can give us a detailed, year by year outline with info on gain control circuits, detector type, I/O, print on the case, metering.... my LED meters were square, I know it for sure, I thought the square flush meters looked cool but were harder to see in a dark room after a few bees than the traditional ones like on a dbx or the 3630. Other than that I am at a loss, please research and report back.

and I would love to be proved wrong and for you to find legit evidence of the model after Is aid it was impossible and likely irrelevant

later gators

What intrigues me most is the Gearslutz claim. How does he know it was used on the drum bus?

he doesn't, people just mouth off like crazy there, that's why I quit! the disinformation based on people's guesswork or magic ears is worse than the constant flame wars

What intrigues me most is the Gearslutz claim. How does he know it was used on the drum bus?

he doesn't, people just mouth off like crazy there, that's why I quit! the disinformation based on people's guesswork or magic ears is worse than the constant flame wars

His last post was a week ago apparently. Here is what he says about why he quit.

More not really helpful photos: https://daftbootlegs.weebly.com/photos.html

Higher res version of Exhibit A here: https://daftbootlegs.tumblr.com/