WMD - Bus Rider

Bus Rider is a stereo output-stage processor holding three things at once: a three-band isolator EQ, a multiband compressor and a lookahead limiter. The signal hits the crossovers first, then the per-band compressors, then the EQ, and everything recombines before passing through the limiter. A three-way toggle decides which of the three sections the knobs are driving, and a SHIFT button reaches the secondary parameters — crossover points, ratios, ceiling and the rest. The LEDs take the colour of whichever page you're on, a nice small touch that saves a lot of squinting mid-set.

The isolator EQ is the performative part of the module. Each band gives +12 dB of boost and a full cut down to silence, the way a DJ mixer isolator does, and the low and high crossover points can be moved to suit whatever it is you are working on. A dedicated LOW CUT input takes CV straight to the low band's level, so dropping and bringing back the bass can run off a sequencer or an envelope rather than being manually triggered. A second CV input is freely assignable.

On the dynamics side, each band has its own threshold and ratio. The limiter gives you input gain, ceiling and release, with attack set by the 1.5 ms lookahead buffer, and stereo linking on the detector can be switched off if you want the channels working separately. There's a saturation stage with an adjustable clip threshold, applied to the mid and high bands only, so the low end keeps its shape while the top gets some grit. LOW MONO sums the bass to mono for club systems, nine presets are on hand, and the LED bar shows gain reduction until you touch a knob, at which point it displays that value instead.

Really nice for the last slot in a rack, where the mix needs to fit an unfamiliar room and still leave you something to grab hold of.

Features:

• Stereo multiband EQ, dynamics processor and lookahead limiter in one module
• Three-band isolator EQ with +12 dB boost and full cut (−∞) per band
• Adjustable crossover frequencies for the low and high bands
• Multiband compressor with threshold and ratio per band
• Lookahead limiter with input gain, ceiling and release; 1.5 ms lookahead sets the attack
• Switchable stereo linking for the limiter detector
• Saturation stage with adjustable clip threshold, on mid and high bands only
• LOW MONO function sums the low band to mono
• LOW CUT CV input over the low band level, plus one assignable CV input
• Nine user presets
• Colour-matched LEDs per control page; LED bar shows gain reduction or the value of the knob in use
• Whole module bypassable via the I/O button
• Stereo in and out; 24-bit / 96 kHz processing