Drawmer 1976

Maybe a one trick pony ?

First, keep in mind I've only had this device for a few days, so everything here is just first impression.

It sounds good, and, paradoxically, I ended up using it to smooth out an electronic music master. It was great.

Then I used it on a vocal-forward ballad and... No. You don't saturate the vocals in a ballad. ;-)

On one hand, I'm not sure what it does justifies its price, but on the other, I don't see what else could do what it does. I do have an Elysia Karakter, but it's a whole different character.

As for controls: adjusting the globall amount of effect with the input gain is great. You've got to compensate at the output, but we're used to that.

I'm not so fond of the width control, on the other hand, or I think it should at least be bypassed (or switchable into a 'balance' setting. Here is why: I hit my whole mastering chain in M/S. The mix comes out of the computer already M/S-encoded, and the master is decoded only once back into the computer. So, any L/R balance control becomes a M/S balance control, and every M/S control becomes a L/R control. See the problem here ? Imagine you have a continuous balance dial with no bypassing in the middle of your mastering chain ! This reason alone makes me hesitate to return it... Well, I can still hesitate for 2 weeks.

(I won't go into the reasons why I won't hit my mastering chain in L/R mode, it would be too long here.)

So, yeah, it's good. But 1000 euros ?

Great tool for drums

I use the 1976 on the drums. It definitely thickens the sound and adds color and clarity. Golden rule rule is again "less is more". Even so, I miss it when it's bypassed.

This not your typical saturator. Apart from multiband saturation you can treat it as a broadband eq and a stereo enhancer.

Bypass and mute for each band simplifies a lot the process even for an inexperienced person.

You can achieve mild saturation up to distortion. Driving the input hot will exaggerate the effect.

All in all, I am quite satisfied with this unit.

Very dope unit especially for the price

If you're looking for a saturation unit I honestly don't think you can go wrong with this one.

I bought it after seeing a couple of reviews on it but working with this using is almost fool proof and the sound is really good.

With true bypass you can actually hear the incredible difference this unit makes(obviously level match before hand).

The build quality is A1. And the arrows on the pots make recall so much easier. The saturation is very pleasing to the ear just don't over do it.

The width processing certainly does the trick depending on the signal coming in. Overall I am VERY happy with this unit.

If you're on a medium to low budget and are looking for analog saturation and warmth, this is for you.

Secret Weapon

The 1976 has a unique sound I haven't been able to recreate with any plug-in. Saturation combined with width control is literally my secret weapon on vocals in a track. You have a lot of control with 2 crossover frequency knobs. Mute and bypass on the different bands help make decisions easier. 5/5! Must have.