Weiss Engineering Gambit DS1-Mk2

The Weiss Engineering Gambit DS1 mk2 is a digital compressor/limiter/de-esser that is a very unique piece of gear. It's got the make up of a piece of outboard gear, but also has a digital screen that allows you to save sounds, set your parameters, and see everything going on in one place. As you can probably tell just from looking at the device, it isn't your typical dynamic signal processor. In terms of analog connections, it's got an input and output for AES-EBU, and then has a slew of MIDI connections. It also has connections for a remote, which I have not seen or used. It is rack mountable and will take up two spaces in a traditional rack space.

UTILIZATION

Learning how to use the Weiss Engineering Gambit DS1 mk2 can definitely take some practice. I'm definitely not going to claim to know all the ins and outs of this powerful piece of gear, as I've merely scratched the surface in my use with it. As far as external hardware parameters go, it's got those for gain/data, bandwidth, frequency, attack, release delay, release fast/average/slow, soft-knee, threshold, ratio, and gain make up. So as you can tell, all of the parameters you would want in a dynamic processor are present. Then to save and recall your sounds, the DS1 mk2 has a series of buttons for snapshots and recalling them. The digital screen will show everything going on, and in addition there are some other buttons to control only things on the screen. The manual is very thorough and should be kept available to reference regardless of what level you're on.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound quality across the board with the Weiss Engineering Gambit DS1 mk2 is absolutely outstanding. As far as digital piece of gear goes, this is definitely the best sounding dynamics processor that I've had the pleasure of using. While I do prefer the sound of many analog compressors out there, none of them contain even close to the amount of features and versatility as this one does. So while it's definitely a trade off, you're really not trading off too much with the DS1 mk2 as it not only has flexibility, but also sounds incredible! Having the ability to save your sounds in something that isn't a plug-in is simply remarkable - especially at this high level of sound.

OVERALL OPINION

For those who can afford the Weiss Engineering Gambit DS1 mk2, it will undoubtedly pay dividends, however, most people (even professionals) probably won't be able to afford or justify spending this amount of money on a single piece of gear. However, for those top tier professional studios looking for incredible gear regardless of price to add to their collection, the Weiss Engineering Gambit DS1 mk2 is really a must have. While I must admit that there is a collection of other great gear that you could get for this price, I definitely couldn't argue with anyone who picked up one of these.