The DBX 266XS compressor has all the features you need to effectively reduce and control the dynamic range of your audio signal, add punch to lifeless sounds, or add sustain to instruments. The 266xs starts with the classic dbx compression that made our 160 Series compressors famous. Simply set the Attack and Release controls to the 12:00 position to achieve the same response as those units. At the same time, the program-dependent Attack and Release controls have been scaled with dbx's AutoDynamic™ circuitry, so the full range of controls on the 266xs can produce voicings ranging from gentle leveling to more aggressive peak limiting.

The 266XS noise gate is already ready to meet all your gating needs, whether you only need to remove unwanted noise or other background sounds from your audio signal, reinforce drum sounds, or modify the characteristic envelope of an instrument. The 266xs noise gate offers greater flexibility than traditional switching gates because it truly functions as a combination noise gate/expander. While switching gates can generally only be used for a series of very specific situations (e.g., gating percussion), the 266XS gate also acts as a gentle inverse expander at low Ratio settings (very useful for vocals, guitar, mixes, etc.) and can act just as effectively as a traditional noise gate when used with high Ratio settings.

COMPRESSOR APPLICATIONS:

· Give more body to a kick drum or snare drum
· Add sustain to a guitar or synthesizer string sound
· Smooth out a vocal performance
· Make a signal stand out from the rest of the mix
· Prevent overloading the sound system
· Digital-to-analog transfers

NOISE GATE APPLICATIONS:

· Gating dry percussive sounds (e.g., snare drum, kick drum)
· Gating sounds with a longer decay (e.g., cymbals, piano)
· Hum suppression on live instruments or recorded tracks
· Inverse expansion to reduce noise in quiet sounds (e.g., vocals, wind instruments)