A front wheel drive or rear wheel drive continuously variable transmission is provided having an input shaft, an output shaft, a continuously variable tilting ball planetary variator, a compound planetary gearset assembly having first, second, third, and fourth rotating elements, and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. The compound planetary gearset assembly has a simple single pinion gearset and a compound double pinion gearset, having fixedly connected planetary carriers and fixedly connected ring gears, creating a joint planetary gear carrier and joint ring gear. The outer planetary gears engage the ring gear which drives the output shaft. Selective torque transmitting devices include clutches and braking clutches.