Representing yet another groundbreaking product from the inveterate innovators at Cranborne Audio, the Brick Lane 500 is a fully analog 500 Series compressor with a compression circuit like no other. Built around Cranborne’s proprietary Modal PWM Compression technology, the Brick Lane 500 features six unique compression modes — colorfully named Velvet, Float, Smash, Tame, Glue, and Polish — that function as presets, setting compression style, ratio, knee, and rate of change automatically. This is a tremendous time saver, as one of these modes will instantly get you in the ballpark of what you’re after. For further fine-tuning, you have the traditional Threshold and variable Attack and Release controls, the ranges of which are dependent on the chosen mode. The icing on the cake is a unique Stress control that lets you enrich the compressed signal by dialing in euphonic even-order harmonic content. Rounding out the Brick Lane 500’s robust feature set are stepped controls, I/O gain control, three highpass filters, and OptoSync wireless communication with auto-calibration for linked stereo operation.
 
Sonic Transformation Engine
Cranborne Audio calls the Brick Lane 500 a “Sonic Transformation Engine,” and while that may sound like fanciful marketing speak, we find it’s accurate. At Sweetwater, we get our hands on every worthy dynamics control device that comes to market, and we’ve rarely seen one quite as effective at transforming the sonic essence of a signal. The key to this remarkable performance is Cranborne’s proprietary Modal PWM Compression technology, which gives you six distinct compression characteristics, each designed to deliver a unique sonic signature.
Velvet: Smooth, musical, and organic-sounding vintage vari-mu type compression with tube-like harmonics
Float: Transparent opto-style dynamics with gentle, wavelike compression ballistics
Smash: FET-style compression with aggressive dynamics control, explosive punch, and high impact
Tame: Transparent, ultra-fast transient management with surgical dynamic precision
Glue: Classic master bus compression fortifies mixes with punch and apparent loudness
Polish: Fast, clean mastering-style limiting with Cranborne’s Analogue Lookahead technology
 
Cranborne Audio Brick Lane 500 Features:
1-channel 500 Series compressor with custom PWM compression circuit
Proprietary Stress control for adding harmonic content
6 compression modes: Velvet, Float, Smash, Tame, Glue, and Polish
Threshold control and variable Attack and Release controls
12-segment LED level meter; 12-segment LED gain-reduction meter
4 selectable sidechain HPF modes: Off, 60Hz, 100Hz, and 200Hz
Input gain control; Output/makeup gain control
OptoSync wireless linking for stereo operation
1/4-in. TRS jack for linking non-adjacent modules
Circuit auto-calibration for stereo matching between modules
True bypass I/O switching with trim modes available via DIP switch
Top-panel stepped controls for quick, precise settings recall