De la Mancha Sixty-Five versus Sknote c165a

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Has anyone directly compared these two very reasonably priced dbx inspired compressors? Thx.!

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I did a quick test earlier today, and they're really quite different, but both are excellent. I would have trouble recommending one over the other...

I found them to be kind of opposites in some ways: with sixtyfive's auto mode off, you can get really heavy compression without distortion, whereas with c165's auto-off, you get a pretty crispy, tubey signal at high settings.But with c165 in "auto" mode, you can get a super-heavy compression without distortion, whereas sixtyfive's auto mode tends to sound rather transparent, even at high settings.

And oddly, with sixtyfive, the signal drops quite low with auto mode on, and it's hard to get enough gain compensation back with the output gain. Not sure why that is....

So the funnny thing is: I can get them to sound somewhat similar with c165 in "Auto" mode, and sixtyfive with "auto" off. But if I remember correctly, sixtyfive is more "inspired by", and c165 is more of a 1:1 recreation. I'm sure the devs can illuminate us. :)

Oh! Also: c165 uses a lot more CPU (at least on older machines) with its oversampling, but it also has a 3-band internal/external sidechain, which is pretty impressive. Which one to get? Hard to say.

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Bduffy, when you get a chance give DiscoDSP Nightshine a go...you will be surprised. :o

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Chrisma wrote:Bduffy, when you get a chance give DiscoDSP Nightshine a go...you will be surprised. :o
I was just looking at that yesterday, thinking, "when did DiscoDSP make a compressor?? And it's free???" - and then I cursed that it was Windows-only.

However, I'll have to try it out on my virtual machine-XP...(Nightshade is based on a completely different make of compressor, of course.)
Last edited by bduffy on Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Nightshine is an ALESIS comp, the dlM and SKNote ones are both based upon DBX.

Though they're both different beasts really. Can't be compared like DBX160 to DBX165.
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I know it is based on the Alesis. The reason I mentioned it was because I have been using it in places where I normally reach for DBX type compression and it is just a really good compressor that is somehow transparent and it reminds of the DBX type compression. But here is what I really like about most. It doesn't make the sound smaller when it compresses. For example when I compress a kick with other compressors I can get the snap or punch I want but with the trade off of sometimes losing some low end or fullness. Nightshine doesn't do this. In fact I think it make the bigger (in a good way...Phatter? LOL!) I just wanted some other experienced ears and opinons on it. Compyfox, what is your take on it? Very curious to know.

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Haven't used Nightshine in years actually, so I can't comment on it. And I don't know if I will use it again. I try to get more and more cross platform plugins recently since I work at a partner studio on Logic (mac), and at home in Cubase (win). Nightshine is from old Windows days.


I've also recently been using the SKNote comp only, not the dlM one. Though I had a quick run in it with. I still try to wrap my head around the comp per se cause I haven't used the C165A hardware in years and I'm mostly used to the current modern (read digital) comps.

I say it's different - you have to(!) listen in terms of what's going on. Though so far I haven't had an "aha!" moment like with the 1176. Then again, I also tend to use less and less compression these days. Just EQ and comp only where it's needed. Not all channels up and down.


I might need to test it again the next weeks if I try to get "more" out of the Jamstix 3 drums. But this will take a while. Other stuff has higher priority.
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Chrisma wrote:I know it is based on the Alesis. The reason I mentioned it was because I have been using it in places where I normally reach for DBX type compression and it is just a really good compressor that is somehow transparent and it reminds of the DBX type compression. But here is what I really like about most. It doesn't make the sound smaller when it compresses. For example when I compress a kick with other compressors I can get the snap or punch I want but with the trade off of sometimes losing some low end or fullness. Nightshine doesn't do this. In fact I think it make the bigger (in a good way...Phatter? LOL!) I just wanted some other experienced ears and opinons on it. Compyfox, what is your take on it? Very curious to know.
Just gave the Nightshade a go, and I gotta say: WOW. Great compressor. I'm sad it's Windows-only, and I see what you mean: it does give you that kind of pointy-sounding compression you expect from a dbx compressor, with respect for the low end (I haven't used the Alesis unit in years, but I remember liking it).

I didn't find C165a took away much more low end (sixtyfive, maybe), and still brings some extra "spank!", but Nightshade keeps a nice body to it with a great little attack. The auto-gain was a bit insane at times (but probably good for creative distortion), and I wasn't crazy about the sound of the "Depth" control, but an amazing compressor.

DiscoDSP: you ever consider a Mac version? I'd pay for that. :cry: :help:

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