Compressor study (windows VST)

[moses]

Thanks for the great feedback via PM! The plugin seems to work fine in Soundforge, Reaper, FL, Live & wavelab. Can anyone confirm more working DAWs?

A few more details (for all those who need that marketing yada ):

- 64 bit / 2x oversampled differential sound engine for good signal path purity and solid processing quality.
- dynamic integration time RMS detection.
- instant feedback structure (not that easy in the digital world).
- optional auto release algorithm, dynamically adapts the release curve "shape" (not just its timing).
- super fast attack.
- typical feed-back compression sound with lots of tone and warmth.
- delay compensated "blend" feature.
- Optional low freq saturation feature (subtle and dirt free!) (not visible on the screenshot above).
- Optional Sidechain 6dB high-pass.
- Clever stereo linking network with cross-modulation suppression.

[bandcoach]

Can confirm for Cubase Studio 5.5.3 which means it should be fine in Cubase 6

[Yuno]

"Blend"

I've seen quite a few digital compressor and emulators but I've never seen any with a dry/wet control. Looks great! How can I get a copy?

and what's the range of the ratio values? Can it also be used as a limiter?

[moses]

"Blend"

I've seen quite a few digital compressors and emulators but I've never seen any with a dry/wet control. Looks great! How can I get a copy?

and what's the range of the ratio values? Can it also be used as a limiter?

I sent you the link.

Well, there are several reasons for the blend feature. First of all, it's a feature that I use all the time. It has a very useful effect, especially in mastering applications (it effectively "relaxes" the compression curve, it can move the compression focus to lower levels). Second, the compressor introduces latency. That's why i decided to take the dry/wet on-board to guarantee a proper latency compensation. Oh and, third, the dry/wet concept is a feature that actually reduces distortion.

The range of the ratio parameter is very limited. It can reach up to 20:1 under certain conditions and never more than ~25dB of reduction. This is a common behavior of feed-back compressors. They see what "they've done", which makes it impossible for them to accurately reduce the level. Note that the ratio is extremely dynamic, much more than the static curve you can tweak via the "knee" parameter. This is the good side of feed-back compression.

The compressor is a very bad brick-wall limiter. The detection circuit not only listens to the output, it's also RMS based. The compressor doesn't even "know" about the exact input level - which makes it impossible for him to control overloads with technical accuracy. But you can still compress the signal like crazy, very much like analogue limiters do. But don't expect another L2

[Yuno]

man after testing it out, it's solid. Seriously good stuff. I think another reason I can already think of so many uses is the fact you laid everything out about it.

I tried it on some vocals from a remix I did for Lights and she sounds good

[sleepy]

It works nicely. Very smooth sound. Hard to clip it and make it sound harsh. Not an overly aggressive knee, which I like, since I rarely go for a really hard knee with compressor. The blend feature is handy. No funky quirks like some waves compressors, though I think waves does it by design. Transparent sound, which is good for the most part.

It's more along the lines of rcomp, which I like, because it's a no-nonsense approach to a compressor. A little bit smoother than rcomp and rcomp has something going on that I can't explain but I tend to like.

As far as using this a limiter, it will let some of the first peaks go through when you go for extreme compression so it's not what I would use it for. But it's not intended for that and that's typical of compressors so it's not a negative, it's just how it is.

[moses]

@sleepy: yes, I like the rcomp comparison. I'm a big fan of waves' clean interfaces and great sound. they avoid any kind of questionable voodoo and still sound great.

@Yuno: thanks for the feedback, glad found some use for it!

yes, the compressor will most of all even out the RMS level, but it won't control the fastest peaks with accuracy. A limiter is perfect to technically even out the peaks, a compressor is usually designed around the idea to even out the RMS region and let transients pass through. In some ways, limiters compress the waveform, compressors compress the music. They do it with similar techniques, but the motivation is totally different.

[laurend]

Great job! It's very nice sounding. I test it as buss compressor, for which it's almost perfect because it's smooth. I love the "wave shaper" on the bass and HPF on the sidechain which avoid the usual damage on the bass impact produced by usual compressors.
But I would prefer to have the make-up gain only on the compressor section before the mix control.

My 2 cents ;-)

[moses]

Thanks Laurent! The Low Saturation is basically just a maxxbass style processor, it's not related to the compressor algorithm. But I also feel that it can gently compensate the subjective loss or bass, especially on the mix bus.

Your idea about the mix/blend after gain make-up is interesting.

So, I currently do:
( wetInput + dryInput ) * makeup

And you mean this one, right?
( wetInput * makeup ) + dryInput

The latter looks like we need an additional output knob, but it could have a more natural handling. I need to try this out in the next days.

[P. Casso]

Impressive. Can I have a link?