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compressor modelisation ?


bigramp

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  • 2 weeks later...

yes, it would be nice to get some info about the compressors.

especially the output distortion option:

 

im compressing this kick drum and i have the output distortion set to Soft, if i move the gain slider up, volume goes louder but the channel level meter stays at the same level and doesnt go red even if i whack the compressors gain slider right up.

 

when one should use these output distortion options?

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ok

 

maybe i should ask everyone which setting you use the most ?

i'm looking for a natural sound to compress a drumkit bus...

 

thx

 

Well, I'm mostly using the analog tape compression but it surely is far from natural, if your natural is same is mine.. transparent. But I dig the sound of that tape compression for drums.

 

Just try out the presets, see which one does what you like and go from there.

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I can tell you which it *isn't* by process of elimination:

 

VCA = voltage-controlled amplification

FET = field effect transistor (used in MOSFET amps)

Opto = (most likely) optical semiconductor

 

My guess is that the ClassA _R & _U are tape compressors, or at least one of them is, a Class-A compressors are generically analogue. I could be wrong here, as I don't know a great deal about real-world compressors (only the software plugin type :))

 

Any info on the Platinum and ClassA compressor settings would be appreciated!

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VCA = voltage-controlled amplification

 

... Or Voltage Controlled Attenuator (doesn't matter, since mathematically spoken attenuation is and amplification by factors <1). Funny name, since every compressor contains inevitably a section with variable amplification. They only differ in the components used for this purpose.

 

FET = field effect transistor (used in MOSFET amps)

 

One of the possibilities. A field effect transistor changes its channel resistance depending on a control voltage.

 

Opto = (most likely) optical semiconductor

 

Or maybe a photo resistor. The control voltage makes a light source (light bulb or LED) glow more or less bright, and the light influences the resistance of the photo resistor. Light bulbs and photo resistors are quite laggard (aside from the attack and release settings).

 

My guess is that the ClassA _R & _U are tape compressors, or at least one of them is, a Class-A compressors are generically analogue. I could be wrong here, as I don't know a great deal about real-world compressors (only the software plugin type :))

 

Any info on the Platinum and ClassA compressor settings would be appreciated!

 

Well, I think some special tests would be helpful to understand the different settings. Maybe I will create a test song when I have got some spare time (i.e. most likely never).

For this test, I would use sidechaining as it allows to separate the control section from the VCA section. I would feed a triangle wave into the compressor as you can see nonlinearities immediately and then send bursts of 1kHz sine waves with (from burst to burst) increasing amplitude to the sidechain to watch the dynamic behaviour of the control section/simulated laziness of components. The bursts and the breaks between them must be long enough to allow the result to settle.

Maybe anyone else wants to seize these suggestions...

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  • 2 months later...
the manual don't give any info about the new compressor's modelisations in LP8 ...

 

Platinum, ClassA_R, ClassA_U, VCA, FET, Opto ... what to expect from each?

 

We really can't expect the manual to teach the craft behind this stuff. If it did, it would easily be twenty times longer than it already is.

 

The link David provided to the UAD article gives a good overview of the various technologies used over the years, but it doesn't provide much info on usage. It's easier to get to know these based on their limitations and how they sound. For example, the class A, aka variable-mu, tube designs have a soft, fixed knee and a characteristic hysteresis. These tend to color the sound though. The Manley stuff is a good example.

 

The Logic 8 compressor doesn't attempt to emulate any specific model, but it does a pretty good job emulating the basic sound and limitations of those technologies, with some added frills, making it a very versatile plug-in.

 

i'm looking for a natural sound to compress a drumkit bus...

 

Typically, that would be the VCA style. While all compressors have a VCA, this style refers specifically to integrated circuit VCA's which are much more controllable and transparent than their discrete counterparts.

 

There aren't any hard and fast rules for the use of these things. After a while you start to get used to what is going to sound best on what.

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Tape compression? which one is that?

 

05 Compressor Tools > Analog Tape Compression

 

sorry 'bout this, but I was wondering if you could be a bit more specific. I looked for this, but a bit more of a starting point might help a newb like me.

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I don't think any are modeled on tape compression, tape compression wouldn't have an attack and release time etc etc. It's more like brick wall limitation.

At least none of them sound like tape compression to me.

 

You know the cheapest way to obtain cheap genuine tape compressions is to go buy an old reel to reel machine, the likes of which you'd find for about £150.

They're cross platform as well you know, compatible with all audio interfaces without need for drivers or updates, and work on protools, logic, cubase, nuendo, you name it.

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Tape compression? which one is that?

 

05 Compressor Tools > Analog Tape Compression

 

sorry 'bout this, but I was wondering if you could be a bit more specific. I looked for this, but a bit more of a starting point might help a newb like me.

 

its a preset in the compressor plugin.

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  • 2 years later...
Wow! More than two years have passed since the last reply was posted... And yet I got a "Topic Reply Notification"!

 

Huh... no, there was a new reply 12 minutes before you posted this.

 

I worded that poorly... i meant the reply before the last post. I was, um, amazed by the fact a thread that had died two years ago was found and revived by someone and I got the notification. There's a universe of threads we had visited, then we forgot about them... But one day we receive notifications from netherworld... It's spooky.

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I should try this before posting but someone once recommended using the Tape Echo to get the tape compression sound.

 

If you mean the "Tape Delay" plug-in, then it doesn't offer compression, only delay and tape flutter, but no compression.

 

Yes and no. I think it can perform a simulation of tape saturation.

Saturation is similar to what is termed compression since higher levels are reduced. Of course saturation means nonlinear behaviour, distortion that adds artifacts to the overtone content. If you like, you can think of saturation as compression without attack and release times; the change of amplification occurs immediately for every moment of the waveform's displacement from zero.

You can use saturation for reducing dynamics and thickening sound, if you just don't want it crystal clear.

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i meant the reply before the last post. I was, um, amazed by the fact a thread that had died two years ago was found and revived by someone and I got the notification. There's a universe of threads we had visited, then we forgot about them... But one day we receive notifications from netherworld... It's spooky.

 

It's possible that a spammer replied to that thread, which would send a topic reply notification to you, and later one of us saw the spam post and deleted it.

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