FG-116 Modern

FG-116 Blue Modern is a custom revision of the classic FET compressor that offers two unique circuits that blend the old school tone with new school topology. The output transformers have been cleaned up so that it will have no output saturation, and the attack has been decoupled from the release so that it can be set much slower than the hardware for more transient articulation. Both circuits of the Blue Modern sound hifi, punchy, musical, and yet, they still can achieve the classic aggressive tone that makes the FET compressors so famous.

Circuit 1 is somewhat similar to the Vintage in that it will have a bit of a forward sounding character, but it is much cleaner and more pristine. The attack is slow enough that this compressor can sound amazing on close drum mics with the slowest attack and fastest release. Try it on a snare to bring out the punch while extending the decay. The mix knob works great in this situation where you can slightly over-compress and dial it back. On bass you can get a very edgy sound on this same setting. By backing down the release you’ll start to tighten up the sound which can be great on kick drum.

Circuit 2 will have a more breathable and punchy low end and overall smoother response on the top end. It sounds amazing on drum buss with the Hi Pass filter engaged, and even full mixes can really benefit from this musical compressor! Yes, with the Blue Modern, with the attack on the slowest and release on fastest, then with the HP filter on, you can use it on full mix and compress about 10db, then back off the mix knob to about 25% for a seriously incredible energy and excitement.. Even in combination with another mix buss compressor like FG-Grey or FG-Red. This setting will be really great on a lot of mix material in all genres.. Try it on electronic drum beats too to make them pound out of the speakers.

GR Meter

Displays the amount of compression in dB.

Input/Output¹

Increasing your Input Gain will result in more compression. To compensate the gain reduction introduced, use the Output Gain.

Ratio

Sets the amount of gain reduction. For example, if the ratio is set to 4:1: this means for input level 4dB over the threshold, 1dB will be output.

Attack

Controls the speed at which compression occurs after the signal has exceeded the threshold value. Turn clockwise for a fast attack, and counterclockwise for a slow attack.

Shift+Click the Attack knob to turn compression on and off. When set to off, the unit will bypass the compression, while continuing to process with the Input and Output Gains. This allows you to impart some nice transformer saturation, without reducing the dynamic range of the track.

Release

Controls the speed at which compression stops, once the signal has fallen below the threshold value. Turn clockwise for a fast release, and counterclockwise for a slow release.

Circuit

Toggles between the two circuits.

High Pass Filter

Adds a high pass filter to the compressors sidechain.

Mix

Blends between dry and wet signals. This is very useful to achieve parallel compression without any additional routing.

External Side-Chain

The FG-116 Modern is a compressor with a fixed threshold; you normally increase the Input Gain to apply more compression to the sound without causing a corresponding drop in output volume. When using the External Side-Chain, it is the Side-Chain Gain that will determine the amount of compression on the signal; increasing the Side-Chain Gain will increase the compression, but the sound may drop in overall volume if you don’t also increase the Input Gain manually. Input Gain itself has no impact on the compression amount when using the External Side-Chain.

1. Moving the Input or Output Knob while holding the Shift key will inversely link the two controls. It is very useful in Attack OFF mode to use the module as a line driver ↩