Equip Your Studio with Iconic API Compression
Looking for a versatile, high-performance 500 Series compressor? API wrote the book — literally. The company invented the 500 Series as the modular specification for its professional studio consoles, and since the early ’70s, the API 525 compressor module has graced countless recordings with its inimitable brand of efficient, musical-sounding dynamics control. Now, API has reissued this studio legend as the 525A, featuring the same discrete circuitry and no-compromise componentry. But while the original 525 was spec’d with a fixed attack time selected to catch the fastest peaks, today’s 525A boasts an additional rotary Attack control that lets you fine-tune the onset of compression based on the program material. With the exception of its added Attack control, the API 525A is an exacting reissue of the original 525, with all internal specifications derived from the original blueprints sourced directly from the API archives. As a result, you get all that famous API sonic character in an upgraded, even more flexible unit. Furthering the legacy of one of the most successful solid-state compressors ever made, the API 525A is a serious piece of kit no serious studio should be without.
Related Videos: 525A 500 Series Compressor/Limiter
Vintage sonic character and exceptional dynamics control
The API 525A is a feedback-type compressor/limiter that delivers vintage sonic character and exceptional dynamics control behavior that is distinctly different from modern VCA feed-forward compressors. Basic operational parameters are quick to set up using its In (threshold) and Out (make-up gain) controls. The unique Ceiling control lets you modify the threshold while simultaneously boosting or lowering makeup gain to compensate, so you can adjust dynamics on the fly without changing the output. Separate compression and limiting switches set the ratio for either 2:1 or 20:1, respectively. Attack times are adjustable from 15μs to 15ms; Auto release is adjustable from .05s to 2.0s.
Built for the long haul
Since the 1970s, API’s large-format consoles have been prized for their robust, mil-spec build quality. This is borne out by the impressive number of vintage APIs still in daily service around the world. Back in the Golden Age of Analog, pro audio equipment was meticulously assembled and wired by hand using fully discrete circuit designs and military-grade components — factors to which the timelessly superior sound and performance of coveted vintage gear are often attributed. And that is precisely how API builds their consoles and outboard gear today. Your API 525A is built to reliably deliver superior performance and sound, session after session, over decades of faithful service.
API: an American pro audio legend
Launched in 1968 by Saul Walker, Automated Processes Inc. began building high-quality consoles for broadcast applications. Soon, the company’s products found favor with recording studios, and a string of industry-leading innovations (including the 500 Series module, the first VCA, computerized console automation, and more) followed. API produced the 2520 amplifier, one of the most famous op-amps in the recording industry, and its consoles and products found homes in such iconic studio facilities as the Hit Factory, Record Plant, Ocean Way, Sunset Sound, and many others. In fact, there are over 700 vintage API consoles around the globe — many of which are still in use. Clearly, the company isn’t resting on its laurels; today’s API products give you the same unbeatable combination of utility, innovation, and stellar sound. That’s why, at Sweetwater, the name API commands reverence.
API 525A Features:
- 500 Series module based on API's original 525 from the early1970s
- Additional Attack time control lets you fine tune the onset of compression
- Peak detecting feedback-type compressor/limiter
- Variable Threshold and Output levels
- Unique Ceiling control enable on the fly dynamics adjustments without change in output
- VU meter for monitoring gain reduction
- Switchable release modes
- Traditional API fully discrete circuit design
- Hardwire bypass
