Chameleon Labs 7721 Stereo VCA Compressor Reviews

I was once like everyone else, ITB is the only path. Until the 7721 sits on the 2bus. Suddenly I hear the sonic difference between plugins and hardware. And the difference is huge. Excellent customer service. Nah, I mean EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE! Will purchase from Chameleon Labs/Dangerous Music again.

I had been looking to add a vca bus compressor to my studio that could pull double duty for tracking and mastering. I had been looking at a the Warm Audio bus comp but found the 7721's feature set much more to my liking. The meter is invaluable to me and the reviews that claim that the gain reduction metering is wonky make me question the users gain staging and expectations of a hardware VU meter (this isn't a plug in).
In use, I have found the noise floor thrilling low and the wet/dry blend is incredibly useful, particularly for pianos and raising the perceived volume while maintaining a natural sound.

I confess I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the 7721's total functionality but it clearly is a powerfully effective product. Very impressed with Chameleon Labs!

My application is a bit different. I'm using this as part of my highend p.a. monitor/bass amp stack using some of the best horns and drivers available to diy'ers.

Main features I was looking for:
- Very low noise.
- Low/no coloration.
- Parallel compression.
- HP filter.
- Build quality.

I currently use a Grace Bix or Presonus RC500 as my preamp and a QSC PLD4.5 tri-amped for power. Passive wide bandwidth pickups into the di input.
This rig sounded amazing already and this compressor does a great job at reigning in dynamic range while adding punch. It does this without raising the noise floor over my other devices and without detracting from the character of whatever is running into it. I couldn't ask for more for my tastes. Studio signal quality at live sound levels.
I wanted the 7603 channel strip when it was announced years ago but couldn't justify it. Just might have to try one at this point.

Well done Marcelo and Chameleon Labs. Keep up the great work!

I sold my ART Pro VLA and purchased this compressor and I couldn't be happier with it. It is the exact compression "glue" I was looking for and it sounds amazing on my drums. The mix knob is incredibly useful. 10/10

My workflow the past few years has been Track Analog and Mix %100 In the Box. That's until recently when the 7721 made it worth it to change things up. I've been using the 7721 for months and LOVE it on everything from drums & guitars to piano and vocal busses. It's also now my main 2-buss compressor.

I've owned the "original" 7720 for about 10 years, and can attest that the 7721 is a big improvement! Not only does it sound better but it's also more flexible/versatile. 
Welcomed new editions: more useful/musical HPF settings, Peak or RMS detection, Soft or Hard Knee, Variable settings  (Attack, Release, and Ratio), multi-use VU Meter, Wet/Dry signal Blend, and very low noise.
Chameleon Labs has itself a winner here and I won't be at all surprised when we'll be seeing these orange, silver and blue knobs in studios everywhere in the years to come.

The only word of "warning" is that with the VU meter in GR (gain reduction), a little goes a long way, so as always, rely on your EARS and not your eyes.

The 7721 is not alone in the VCA Stereo Comp arena, but you'll be hard-pressed to find anything that sounds as good with as many features at this price point (let alone double or triple the $).
You won't be disappointed by this latest analog gem from Marcelo and the rest of Chameleon Labs crew.
Intelligent design, quality components, assembled by hand, from a company that stands behind its products. I can definitely get behind that!

I quickly realized that is not a SSL bus compressor clone. It has way more features than an SSL. Its more transparent than my C1LA and wider stereo image than my API 529. All knobs have center detent, and are completely variable. So you can get in-between attack, release, and ratio settings making it very versatile. The input and output overload indicators are a nice touch. If you owned the 7720 you know how wild the ballistics are on the VU meter. Very nice ballistics on this meter. RMS detection is a unique feature. If you like the 7720 you'll love the 7721.

When it comes to compression, This unit has been living on my mixbus and drumbus lately. The sound you can dial in with this compressor will seriously make you want another one. Having a blend knob and high pass filter to leave your low end untouched if that's the flavor you're going for, simply makes it so versatile. Yet you can really crush it and drive it for character and heavier duties without getting any kind of nasty artifacts. Super happy with this compressor and the kind of Mojo it has been bringing to my mixes.

Overall sound of this unit is solid and it's nice to be able to push it hard without worrying about unwanted artifacts. This thing SHINES on drums and shines when SLAMMED. If you're looking for a bus compressor for stems or are looking to get some extra mojo out of your tracks or while tracking, this is a gem. If you're looking for subtle, uncolored compression, this is probably not your box. A couple things that keep me from a 5 star rating are:

1) Would love to be able to control the input level coming in. It seems hyped and when using it as an insert, even when there's lots of headroom, it can get to input clipping pretty quickly (with that said, however, even when the light is on, there's no audible crunch unless you light it up like a christmas tree--but if you're looking to make this a mastering box, that could be some concern).

2) The VU meter on this box, is pretty much worthless. Even when the meter is only hitting 1-2 dB of reduction, it seems that there is A LOT more happening there. So the good news is, it's a great box if you have well trained ears, or are trying to train your ears to hear compression better, but if you're looking to try to recall anything, with the absence of stepped controls and an inaccurate meter, this could be troublesome. Also, at times, the VU meter will simply wig out and not provide any gain reduction at all and not respond to the signal level at all (even when switching through the various readouts (GR, Input, Output, etc). It's random and usually corrects eventually, but again, not reliable for any kind of visual monitoring, so you're left with "just" your ears (which may be a good thing at the end of the day anyway, depending on your ears) :)

The things I LOVE about this box:

1) If you want a warm, artifact free compression on any source, it sounds great. Outperforms a lot of boxes more than 2-3x its price.

2) It's SUPER quiet - won't add to your noise floor and is the quietest piece of outboard gear I have by far

3) If you want a great bus compressor for heavy handed, colored compression, I don't think you can find anything better even close to this price point

4) The build quality (other than the meter issues, I described above) is solid and it seems to be built like a tank.

5) BLEND KNOB - having this option along with super great sounding compression allows for an infinite amount of sonic possibilities and can also help compensate for it's tendency to have a "heavy handed" sound (especially in a master bus or mastering scenario).

Overall, if you're looking for a great swiss army knife bus compressor that can do it all, you'll be hard pressed to find better at this price point. If you're looking for (mostly) a subtle, mastering grade compressor, that's consistent and easy to recall, this is probably not your choice.

Look for the hardware compressor and limiter comparison thread on gearslutz. I posted some audio examples of the chameleon on page 7 there that will allow you to compare it to the big boys and some of the other other lowly clones. To my ears? This one holds up decently on drums and program material. I bought it hoping to use the soft knee and rms detector on vocals. It's not a superstar on vocals, though it still beats plugins. However, I've since invested in a vari-mu compressor for that application, which I expect will be better. For the typical SSL bus compression applications, it's definitely pulling its weight and successfully quelling my desire for an x-logic g series or api-2500, for the time being.