For this installment in the 500-series guide, we’ll be looking at the available offerings of effects modules in the 500-Series format. I’m also including more utility modules that aren’t necessarily an “effect,” but don’t fall under the Preamp, EQ, or Compressor categories and are quite useful, nonetheless. Some more recently released 500-series effects modules have a combination of preamps and dynamics processors or can be used as such, so if you’re looking to get started on a budget, these could be good places to start your 500-series journey!
Transient Shapers
These modules are similar to dynamics processors but specifically control the transients of audio—the immediate start of fast-attack sounds with the tallest waveforms. They can do many things and act in many ways, but they shine most on drums.
SPL Transient 500-Series Module
For more than two decades now, the SPL Transient Designer has been one of the most revolutionary tools used to process drums—but it can work wonders on all sorts of audio. Rather than needing a signal’s level needing to hit a threshold to engage (like compressors or dynamic EQs), the transient designer engages when it detects significant transients, regardless of the signal level. This gave engineers the ability to control the aggression of note onsets and sustains without affecting the overall level of the track.
The SPL Transient Designer is a modern classic and owning one will produce tremendous results in your sound, especially if you’re recording a lot of drums.
elysia nvelope 500-Series Transient Shaper
The SPL Transient Designer was invented by the current CEO of elysia while he was a young engineer at SPL—and as such, the elysia nvelope is its spiritual successor. The nvelope offers more precise control over attack and sustain parameters within specific frequency ranges because it’s a dual-slotted 500-series module that can run as a full-band or two-band processor.
The nvelope can also be utilized as a high/low shelf EQ and its two channels can be used in linked stereo or dual mono, or as a mono channel that can use one side as a transient changer and the other as an EQ when signal is fed to it in series.
To get into the unique versatility of this machine would require its own separate article (and probably a review model for us to test), but rest assured, this is one of the most powerful 500-series modules you can add to your Lunchbox—and its price reflects that. You can also get a portable standalone version with elysia’s “qube” models.
Parallel Processors
These modules will allow you to add more flexibility and creativity to you signal chain. There are many practical and creative uses for parallel processing, and each tool differs slightly in its design—make sure to do plenty of your own research before pulling the trigger on one!
TK Audio M/S Blender 500 Universal Parallel Processing Tool
The TK Audio M/S Blender is a standalone mix/blend module that works out of the box with parallel processing but can also be used to combine two individual signals, such as dual mono or stereo blending—or other traditional summing applications. The front panel includes a pair of dual in/out balanced XLR send/return jacks (essentially acting like two individual mono blenders) and allows the monitoring of left, right, mid, and side channels separately, or in conjunction with its mirrored pair.
Serpent Audio 500-Series Send N' Blend Mix / Blend Module
The Serpent Audio Send N' Blend Module is essentially a small one slot piece of gear that can add a mix/blend function to any piece of outboard gear so you can parallel process with any module out-of-the-box by adding a single input. Like the TK Audio blender, it can also be used for typical dual micing or summing applications, so you can use it as a standalone blender as well. The module features Elna capacitors, a sealed potentiometer, steel housing construction, and three-way hard bypass.
Saturation/Distortion
Saturators are modules that add character, warmth, and grit to a signal by adding harmonic distortion (called Total Harmonic Distortion or THD in manuals and user guides). Their utility might seem niche, as all analog gear will add some level of THD and harmonic distortion to your signal, but adding specific saturation characteristics of vintage consoles or tube-based analog gear with precise control can bring your recordings to the next level.
elysia karacter 500 Dual-Channel Analog 500-Series Saturator
If you’re looking for a module that provides serious attitude and is versatile enough to throw on single tracks or the entire mix, the elysia karacter is a powerful dual-slotted machine that has the ability to inject your recordings with energy—get soft saturation to chaotic distortion with its dual-channel design that supports mono, stereo, and mid/side processing.
Asymmetrical signal structure from FET distortion and discrete class-A circuitry gives the karacter features like mastering grade saturation, tube-inspired distortion, a complex color filter, and dual mono, stereo, and link M/S modes.
Rupert Neve Designs Portico 542 Tape Emulator
For the sound of analog tape, the Rupert Neve Designs Portico 542 Tape Emulator is a single-channel rack module that simulates the sound of analog tape using analog circuitry, as opposed to digital processing. The 542 features a "True Tape" circuit, which utilizes an authentic magnetic record head and a replay amplifier, giving the applied audio the warmth of tape compression and a boost of third-order harmonics.
Texture and harmonic content can be added by pushing the Silk button, selecting Red or Blue mode, and adjusting a knob. This adds harmonic content that's reminiscent of vintage Neve consoles. Additional features include a 15/30 IPS selection, a saturation knob with blend to dial-in the perfect mix of the pre- and post-signals, and a soft clip function to prevent your signal from peaking.
Line Amp/Boosters
These modules’ main function is to boost signals to a proper level so they may sit cleanly in a mix—but there are far more uses for them in practice.
Rupert Neve Designs 545 Primary Source Enhancer (500-Series Unit)
The Rupert Neve Designs 545 is a 500-series version of the Portico 5045 analog feedback eliminator, a device that boosts and enhances a primary source mono signal while naturally reducing feedback. This is a module you should use during live performances or in the tracking stage of recording, especially when recording or amplifying vocals or high-feedback instruments like distorted electric guitar cabinets.
The 545 acts as a sort of noise gate, attenuating the signal when the level falls below a user-defined threshold, reducing the tendency for a microphone or guitar to feedback during stage performances, tracking, and recording. The all-analog nature of the 545 is important for keeping the integrity of the primary source intact—there is no filtering or digital processing added during the signal processing, making for a level-increasing device (up to 20 dB) that can bring plenty juice to a signal before allowing any feedback to occur.
API AUDIO 535-LA 500-Series Line Amplifier Module
While the API 535 is called a line amplifier, its ability to attenuate a signal is just as powerful as boosting signal from your source. Like any other mic lifter, it can amplify gain hungry signals so they can soar above a mix or recording stage, but also attenuate high gain output from zesty preamps, especially those from active guitars and basses, synths, or if you’re using an old school preamp without parameter controls—it even goes all the way down to null.
The front panel has a detented variable input level knob, polarity button to switch phase, -20 dB input pad, and an output knob that can add 6 – 25 dB of extra gain.
AD/DA Converter
AD/DA converters can increase scalability and i/o count when used with a console or interface, and offer high quality analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion. These are advanced machines, but they can be infinitely useful when you get to the professional level of audio engineering.
WesAudio _CALYPSO ng500/500-Series AD/DA Converter
Sometimes you’ll need some high-quality AD/DA conversion in your setup, and the dual-slotted WesAudio CALYPSO is some of the best gear to get the job done. The module has a built-in LCD screen with channel metering for on-the-fly monitoring, 24-bit conversion rate, supported sample rates from 44.1 to 96 kHz, and world class word and jitter clocking for precise timing and reduced noise—so no addition of undesirable audio artifacts during conversions.
The module uses two Dsub25 connectors, can integrate with any 500 series chassis from the back pins, and features two converter references levels at +8 dBu and -10 dBv for flexibility. If you’re serious about analog to digital conversion and vice versa, check out the Wes Audio CALYPSO.
Specialty Filters/De-Essers
These specialty modules can add character and grit to your signals while also offering features that will clean up recordings, removing rumble, hiss, plosives, and sibilance in a program dependent way. If you’re heavy on analog postproduction, check out and see if these modules belong in your 500 series chassis.
Trident Audio Hi-Lo 500-Series Tracking Filters
The Trident Hi-Lo is an adaptive (program dependent) Hi-Cut/Lo-Cut frequency filtering module that can enhance or clean up incoming signals, offering features like dynamic noise reduction, hum and rumble elimination, stereo-linking and advanced routing control, and the ability to use two adjacent modules to stack filters with cascading slopes, allowing for 36 and 48 dB/octave slopes.
Along with emphasizing and cleaning up your signal, you can use the Trident Hi-Lo to create resonance and formant emphasis, controlling cutoff points for tonal shaping not unlike what you’d find on analog synthesizers. This is a specialty tool, but can bring drive, polish, and creative energy to your music.
EMPIRICAL LABS DerrEsser ELDS-V 500-Series Dynamic Fixer
The DerrEsser ELDS-V is a level-insensitive de-esser that will adjust the gain on high-frequency content to tame overly bright sibilance or high-pitched spiky audio with saccharine analog attenuation.
But the DerrEsser functions as more than a simple de-esser—in HF Limit mode, the DerrEsser becomes a dynamics compressor only in the high registers—gain reduction only occurs when high-frequency content pushes past the threshold, and it will ignore the energy from below a set frequency. The module also has a dual LP/HP listen mode, where the user can isolate the compressed/de-essed high frequencies or the uncompressed low frequencies, making sure the entire spectrum of audio is clean and clear when coming out of the DerrEsser.
Stereo Widener
Stereo wideners aptly widen the stereo image of a stereo signal. While most stereo wideners do this with a change in phase alignments or through mid/side processing, our favorite model has a different approach, allowing the signal to be perfectly mono-collapsible without any phase cancellation.
SPL BiG Stereo-Widening Processor 500 Series Module
The SPL BiG Stereo-Widening Processor is a super simple piece of gear that comes with only three knobs: range, which selects the frequency range in which you want widened, stage, which moves the stereo image “backwards or forwards” (basically the listener being closer or further away from a stereo monitoring setup), and bigness, which defines the intensity of the stereo widening effect. Two switches are true bypass and “bass” which either boosts or controls and attenuates the stereo widening in the lower-frequencies—very useful indeed.
The SPL BiG doesn’t just boost the level of the side channel audio content but uses a type of stereo processing that derives a new signal from the stereo input and mixes it back in with the stereo signal. This makes summing to mono perfect with no loss in stereo image, and adds far more musical quality than just boosting the side content of a mix through an EQ.
Guitar Processors
Radial Engineering is the champion of guitar-based processors and includes modules for re-amping your guitar signal, introducing guitar-based stompbox effects into line level signals, and a speaker-emulation module.
With the Radial Engineering X-Amp 500 Reamper Module, you can route a pre-recorded guitar track out of your recorder and send it back to amplifiers and effects to tailor the sound to suit. Reamping allows the guitarist to concentrate only on the performance while recording. Working out specific sounds and optimal microphone placement can be done later. This eliminates hours of tiresome repetition, while allowing the producer to adjust the character of the track as the production evolves.
The EXTC-500 Guitar Effects Studio Interface enables creatively inclined engineers to introduce guitar pedals into the signal chain by unbalancing the balanced recorded signal and reducing the level so that it can properly interface with hi-Z guitar pedals.
Conclusion
There are a bevy of 500 series modules that can do all sorts of strange and unique things, and these are just some of our favorites. Check out our entire 500-series catalog on our online storefront, and feel free to reach out to our pro audio specialists if you have any questions about a certain product!
