SimonEdward Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Hello! I've just picked up a used TC Nova Dynamics NDY-1.. and saw this review of one on Amazon.. I know TC don't make these any more.. so what's the story with this unit? Hope you can help! Thanks & god bless [i]"... Now for some SUBJECTIVE opinions that you can embrace or ignore. I have a love / hate relationship both with TC and all things digital. Certain effects, ( noticeably reverbs ) sound better when processed in the digital domain. By "better" I mean "clearer, with less noise and distortion." But some effects sound better in the analog domain; most noticeably, ANY kind of guitar or bass compression, and definitely ANY type of distortion or "amp modeling."[/i] [i]By using compression in the front of your chain, you can get a clean-controlled output that makes your guitar playing sound 'slick' or 'pro.' But when you do that with a digital device up front, you have irreversibly changed the signal. ALL DIGITAL devices have a high-frequency cut-off; a "ceiling" they cannot go above. Though your ears may not directly hear those super-high frequencies, your brain responds to them in many ways. One way is how those inaudible frequencies interact with the audible; they combine to produce rich harmonic interactions that are impossible to reproduce with normal digital audio. Another way your brain notices this effect is how the amp "feels" as you play.[/i] [i]Now this pedal has a good (though not unique) feature which supposedly helps thwart those negative effects. It has a "dry / wet" blend that allows some of the uncompressed signal to come through. However, even that great feature will not produce the complex high-frequency interactions in your amp. Why? Because the entire signal has been converted to digital inside the box. Once the signal is digital, it has a "sonic-circumcision" that can never be undone.[/i] [i]For all its great features, this is NOT the ideal compressor for guitar. That not because of a design flaw or cheap components. It is simply because it is digital. It has an inaudible "ceiling" of 20kHz that DOES affect frequencies your amp "hears." That irreversibly alters the "magic" of a real tube amp or even a good analog pedal.[/i] [i]Does that mean it sounds bad? No. It sounds fine to most people. It works great when placed before digital reverbs. It can tame dynamics so that other digital devices work better.[/i] [i]But if you are an experienced pro-player with any of your hearing left, you WILL notice that 'missing-mojo' if you put this in front of an amp.[/i] [i]If you want to squash your guitar before the amp, GO ANALOG. If you want a full-featured, dual-engine compressor / gate in a to use after the preamp but before other effects, this is about as good as they get. For the money, it is fantastic.[/i] [i]If you want the "blend" feature in an analog pedal, the Double-Back compressor by Seymour duncan has a knob that does that. The tiny Guyatone ST-2 has a switch that works about as well for 50 / 50 mix.[/i] [i]TC makes numerous good products, and this IS one of them. But they haven't read the latest science about analog vs digital, or they don't care because they are too busy raking in the bucks.[/i] [i]It is up to US to be informed and knowledgeable about audio products. I hope my comments in these review forums are useful to others for that purpose".[/i] [i](From Amazon)[/i] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichF Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 i did quite a bit of research into compressors when I was buying a new one. Famously Ovnilab (Bongomania) has a very mixed review, with an apparent flaw/fault in stomp mode preventing him putting it near the top of his list. He knows what he is talking about and does not seem to identify the issue the Amazon review does. [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/tcnovadyn.shtml"]http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/tcnovadyn.shtml[/url] no talk of missing "mojo" or issues generally with digital compressors, indeed Bongo makes the point that while maybe not as quirky as some analog units, it doesn't sound digital at all. I dont know why TC discontinued. Haven't heard whether this is because of an issue. Also I note that the reviewer is using it for guitar, maybe a different impact? I am interested in picking up a 2nd hand one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EskimoBassist Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Definitely talk to Shep on this one, he's used one for ages and sings its' praises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichF Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 [quote name='EskimoBassist' timestamp='1347203496' post='1797978'] Definitely talk to Shep on this one, he's used one for ages and sings its' praises. [/quote] Dood too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EskimoBassist Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 [quote name='RichF' timestamp='1347209878' post='1798063'] Dood too. [/quote] How could I forget. I saw he much regretted recently shifting his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 I still do regret selling mine yes! I'd take that review quoted in the OP with a pinch of salt too. Frankly, the person who wrote it should work for one of those 'hifi' companies who manufacture power leads for £100 lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 P.s. if you can't find a Nova Dynamics and can do 'rack' then the TC C300 or C400 are both amazing I had the C300 and changed to the N.D when downsizing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japhet Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I've been using one of these for about a year now and just love it. It's easy to set up and gives good visual feedback of what is actually happening to the signal via the flashing 'scale' on the unit. I've had various compressors in the past that often seemed to be doing nothing at all. can't imagine being without this one though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deksawyer Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Wouldn't deam of parting with mine either....unless a C300/400 came my way. D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonEdward Posted October 8, 2012 Author Share Posted October 8, 2012 :hi:Thanks a lot for all your posts on the NDY-1.. [quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1349355103' post='1825182'] I've been using one of these for about a year now and just love it. It's easy to set up and gives good visual feedback of what is actually happening to the signal via the flashing 'scale' on the unit. I've had various compressors in the past that often seemed to be doing nothing at all. can't imagine being without this one though. [/quote] Japhet - couldn't agree more! thanks for your post.. P.S. I wrote to TC recently and asked them if they were going to make an 'Octaver' stomp box (similar to the [color=#000000][font=arial, verdana]Sub’n’ Up Octaver 'Toneprint' that you can upload to the BH250 Head).. they said, "[/font][/color][color=#333333]thank you for your product idea - I have forwarded it to our product team for consideration. At this point I can unfortunately neither tell you whether we will ever make an octaver pedal nor provide you with a possible time frame for when this could potentially occur.[/color] [color=#333333]Best regards,[/color] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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