The Chandler Limited Zener-Bender consists of two classic Chandler Limited units, the Zener Limiter and the legendary Curve Bender. Both are classics on their own, but together they manage to bring some extra magic to the mix. Originally, our intention was to make a vintage mastering channel-strip, the Curve Bender has been a go-to analog mastering equalizer for decades, but then realized that this product isn’t limited to mastering, it can also be amazing on a vocal track, a drum bus or pretty much any track!
The two units are almost exactly as the original units, and the separate plug-ins, with the exception of the center sections. For more information about the Zener Limiter and Curve Bender, please see it’s respective chapter.
Zener Limiter (Top)
Compressor/Limiter/Saturator. Can be used as a gentle master compressor (COMP 1), a punchy limiter (LIMIT) or as a flat-out saturator (set switch to THD).
Curve Bender (Bottom)
Four bands of equalization plus high and low cut. For mastering purposes, set the switches in the lower row to X1 which gives the EQ a range of +/- 5 dB. For mixing purposes, set it to X1.5 and get a range of +/- 15 dB.
Center Section
The center section has options for linking and engaging the left and right sides, changing signal routing, external side chain and mid/side operation. The two yellow buttons (EQ Before Limiter and Mid/Side Processing) affects both the Zener Limiter and the Curve Bender, while the blue buttons (In Left/Mid, In Right/ Side, Link Channels) only affects the operation of the adjacent unit.
In Left/Mid In Right/Side: Engages/bypasses the left or right side on the Zener Limiter or Curve Bender.
Link Channels: Links the left and right channels. For more information, please see the chapter on the Zener Limiter. Linking channels in this compressor is slightly more intricate than just setting the knobs to the same positions: a linked compressor uses a single compression on both channels while an unlinked compressor has dual compressors that operate individually on each channel.
In short, if you use heavy compression (more than 3-4 dB of gain reduction) you’ll want to link your channels to avoid the stereo image to shift to drastically. If you’re using Mid/Side, you want to un-link the channels.
EQ Before Limiter: Changes signal routing. When engaged (lit up), the Curve Bender process audio before the Zener Limiter. When unlit, Zener Limiter process the audio before the Curve Bender.
Mid/Side Processing: Engages mid/side processing for both units.
A whole range of added control can be accessed with Extended Features. Please see the separate "Extended Features" manual for more information.