Drawmer 1978

I bought my first 1978 about half year ago. Compressor section was too clean for my taste . So i bought an SSL and sold my Drawmer. First time i was happy with it but after a few weeks of hard work on studio every day i started to realise how much i underestimated my Drawmer. I opened some projects which i mixed/mastered by Drawmer and realised that i can't reach this sound with my SSL.
So i had to by it again.

I need to say, that compressor section is still too colorless for itself (on my taste), but with proper use of shaping tool it becomes sooooo much better. Character section allows it to be as much versatile as possible but in 97% of my cases it's only linear release curve (lin, button ON) and unlinked channels (wide button ON).

Saturation section is handy in 90% of cases and only on 5-15% of knob. I wish it would be more settings for this section but for this price you can only dream about it. This "saturation" is more a soft-clipper but sometimes it becomes an awful
distortion that you can't use for mastering (but you can for drum bus or whatever bus).

Pretty good compressor with fet coloring and saturation stage. I used it as main bus compressor for a few months and can say that this thing is extremely versatile, from hip-hop to acoustic ballads it sounds awesome. Tone shaping function is pretty good thing but to my ears it doesn't work like usual sidechain filter, sometimes it works great, sometimes it makes sound too colored and boomy (for the low freq) so be careful with the knobs and add the level slightly from the zero point. Overall if you want classic "HP SC filter sound" you need to think about external sc. The only one thing that disappointed me is that to my ears it's not the best compressor for the vocal, 1176 plug-in from uad did this job better.

I originally purchased it as a "secondary" bus compressor, mostly to print drum stems out of the box for some analogue goodness. And it does that job very well! The integrated sidechain EQ is a very good idea, it can be subtle but for more aggressive compression effects it gives you more room to play with, along with the compression behaviour adjustments. It can be extremely fast and grabby (wonderful!) but with longer attack and release settings, can also do more delicate bus leveling stuff. It does not mess up with the sound, but instead makes it larger (as a good compressor should). The knobs feel good and in general it's a joy to work with. Bonus points for the VU meters that light up red when more saturation is being applied!

That being said, the most mind-blowing moment was when I once sent the outputs of my Roland Fantom through it and added some saturation and makeup gain - bang! Then I realized it sounds so good on everything in general (for electronic stuff that I make) that I made it the main stereo bus compressor in my studio. It will take a LOT of money to replace it with something better, if I ever will.

If you need a versatile, great-sounding hardware stereo compressor, I don't think there's a better deal than this. Well done, Drawmer!

I give it four stars for handling because the power switch is located on the rear of the unit, meaning when it's in the rack between other equipment, you cannot switch it on/off easily (I am not in the studio every day so switch equipment off when I'm away).

Other than that, I quite enjoy that there is no recall (really forces you to listen and adjust accordingly, rather than flipping through presets). It does require some jack-XLR adapters to be purchased if used with a patchbay (which is the case with me) so I would have preferred the connections to be TRS on the rear but this is just a minor complaint.

Sound is great, didn't find myself using the saturation feature on bus mixdowns (but sometimes on single-track compression/mixing yes) and the two band tone-shaping seems a bit limited to me (I would have liked the option of subtractive EQing too), but again I haven't found it to be a major issue.

I use it mainly for shaping mixes. It works wonderfully in this department! Takes away digital harshness and adds warmth and clarity. When set up right, you really get a finished record sound. The tone shaping possibilities and the adjustable saturation are a big plus, these make the compressor so verstile that you can use it on basically any type of music.

Overall I like it a lot, it sounds awesome, it's a unique piece of gear, the build quality is top-notch as well. Only one thing I missed is the lack of jack connectors (only XLR for audio). If you're after a top quality buss compressor at a great price I would definitely recommend it.

This compressor has so many tonal options it is insane. It is an ideal tool to learn compression, pro quality at an affordable price. You can order this for North America as I did (Canada in my case), just read the manual and learn there how to make the change from 240V to 120V. You will need to buy a little fuse to replace the one that is there. No welding or particular knowledge required.
Anyway, back to the Drawmer...this compressor will shine on the drum buss or on bass...with a little saturation to taste it can really bring things forward in a mix. Thomann web site browsing and general customer experience is second to none. Buy without hesitation!!