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Compressor Extended Parameters [SOLVED]


Jan Steele

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There are a lot of mistakes in the article you linked to. I will only address the ones that pertain to the compressor:

 

Activity pop‐up menu: Enables or disables the side chain.

The activity pop-up menu allows you to enable or disable the FILTER on the side chain, or to listen to the effect of the filter on the side chain signal. As for the side chain, it is enabled the instant you choose a source in the Side chain menu, independently of the activity pop-up menu selection.

 

Frequency slider: Sets the center frequency for the side‐chain filter.

CUT-OFF frequency, not "center" frequency. Center frequency implies you have two cutoff settings, which you do not have in any of the filter modes offered here.

 

Gain slider: Sets the amount of gain applied to the side‐chain signal.

Sets the amount of gain applied to the FILTER BAND, not to the side-chain signal. The compressor never applies any gain to the side-chain signal.

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What the OP asked for was some documentation and did not specify if the information within the documentation was correct or not.

 

I could have referred to the Logic manual, which appear to be where the reference was pilfered from.

 

Therefore, I abstain myself from the content within based on the question asked. :mrgreen:

 

"... Activity pop-up menu (Extended Parameters area): Enables or disables the side chain. Choices are: Off, Listen, and On.

 

Mode pop-up menu (Extended Parameters area): Choose the type of filter used for the side chain. Choices are: LP (lowpass), BP (bandpass), HP (highpass), ParEQ (parametric), and HS (high shelving).

 

Frequency slider and field (Extended Parameters area): Sets the center frequency for the side-chain filter.

 

Q slider and field (Extended Parameters area): Sets the width of the frequency band affected by the side-chain filter.

 

Gain slider and field (Extended Parameters area): Sets the amount of gain applied to the side-chain signal.

 

Mix slider and field (Extended Parameters area): Determines the balance between dry (source) and wet (effect) signals."

 

Maybe Logic update 9.1.8 will correct this error?

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I could have referred to the Logic manual, which appear to be where the reference was pilfered from.

You're correct. Then that means... the manual is wrong. :shock:

 

I mean it's pretty easy to test for yourself, for example, that setting "Activity" to "off" does not disable the side chain.

 

In fact there are many more errors in the manual (therefore in that blog you linked to which is a copy/paste job from the manual). Here's another one:

 

Distortion Level slider and field (Extended Parameters area): Determines the level of the distorted (tape saturation) signal.

That slider does not affect the level of the distorted signal, it allows you to adjust AT which level your (clean) signal begins to distort. Therefore the LOWER you set it, the MORE distortion you will get, which is exactly the opposite of what the manual is saying.

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There are a lot of mistakes in the article you linked to. I will only address the ones that pertain to the compressor:

 

Activity pop‐up menu: Enables or disables the side chain.

The activity pop-up menu allows you to enable or disable the FILTER on the side chain, or to listen to the effect of the filter on the side chain signal. As for the side chain, it is enabled the instant you choose a source in the Side chain menu, independently of the activity pop-up menu selection.

 

It also activates the filter on the compressor's input, if there's no side chain selected.

 

Frequency slider: Sets the center frequency for the side‐chain filter.
CUT-OFF frequency, not "center" frequency. Center frequency implies you have two cutoff settings, which you do not have in any of the filter modes offered here.

 

Can't check right now, but doesn't it have a bandpass filter? Wouldn't that have a centre frequency?

 

Anyway, if you understand basic filter terminology, then it's fairly self-explanatory, and it will become self-evident what is being filtered out when you have it in "listen" mode. It's very handy, I use the filters a lot.

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Output Distortion

Off = No clipping

 

Soft = Soft clipping. This is digital clipping with a rounded curve. Somewhat similar to limiting, but the distortion will likely be more noticeable, especially on clean material. Soft clipping can actually be more obvious than hard clipping on some sources because it's affecting a large range of the signal.

 

Hard =Soft clipping with a steeper curve. Not actual hard clipping, despite the label.

 

Clip = Hard clipping. Similar to the clipping effect you would get from overloading a converter input. There's a small attack error in this mode, probably caused by the compressor algorithm. The error is only significant if you use the Clip function alone without using the other compressor functions.

 

The "Output Distortion" (clipping) takes place after the make-up gain slider. Pushing the make-up gain slider up will gain the signal into the clipper, squashing the signal.

 

Side Chain Filter Activity

Off = No side chain filtering

Listen = Listen to the side chain in solo

On = Side chain filtering is active

 

Side chain filtering is an effective way of:

 

· Cutting off frequencies you don't want to affect the control circuit of the compressor, i.e. to avoid pumping

· Force the compressor to compress more on certain frequencies by boosting a filter, e.g. de-essing

 

Remember that the side chain is not part of the audio chain. It will never affect the actual audio signal, only the detection part. All feed forward compressor have a side chain, but the internal side chain can be substituted with an external signal - this is done in the upper right corner of the plug-in. Confusion often arises from the failure to understand that the side chain is an integral part of the compressor, not by default an external side chain.

 

Side Chain Filter Mode

LP = Low pass filter (high cut)

BP = Band pass filter (combined low cut and high cut)

HP = High pass filter (low cut)

ParEQ = Parametric EQ (bell type)

HS = High shelf

 

Depending on which mode you select, the Frequency, Q and Gain settings will be active or not. E.g. for the LP and HP filters the Gain setting will not be active - even though you can change it.

 

Side Chain Filter Frequency

Frequency = Either center frequency or corner frequency/cutoff point depending on which filter type you've selected. E.g. for the ParEQ or BP it will control the center frequency, while it will control the cutoff for the LP and HP filters.

 

Side Chain Filter Q

Q = Bandwidth or resonance of the filter. With a ParEQ it will control the bandwidth, with a LP or HP it will control the resonance.

 

Side Chain Filter Gain

Gain = The amount of gain applied to the filter. As mentioned earlier it will have no effect on some filters.

 

Output Mix

Output Mix = A dry/wet slider between the compressed and uncompressed (original) signal, enabling you to do parallel compression inside the plug-in without the need for an extra track or bussing.

Edited by lagerfeldt
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