KVR Audio

fgimian · Post by **fgimian** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:57 am

Hello reader

this thread had original begun to discuss how to get a good sound out of Voxengo's Crunchessor but has now morphed into a fun compressor topic. The topic contains many audio samples of different high end and low end compressors for your listening pleasure.

I will be adding a lot more to this initial topic soon, so if you don't want to go through 13 pages, just keep checking back on this first page and you'll see everything you need soon

I love this forum

Fots

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:10 am

soundpalace wrote:hey guys, I hear everyone raving about Crunchessor but I have a few questions...

I personally find it extremely difficult to give character to sounds with it, even though that's what everyone else loves about it lol ... how hard do you guys drive it ? What algorithm do you use ?

I mean, do you have to push it at 40 db Gain with ValveH mode 3 to get some results ?

With Kjaerhus or Sonalksis, I can easily hear character without too much compression..

Also, I can't get this to sound good on drums at all ... ummm, I just can't describe it, but it ends up sounding more like a gate rather than a compressor everytime I use it, tips anybody ?

I actually bought the plugin and am now thinking to also buy Kjaerhus since I just can't get Crunchessor to sound right (been playing with it for weeks with no joy at all). Any advise before I spend more cash?

No disrespect intended to Aleksey, I love his work so much ! I just need to figure out this plugin coz it's driving me nuts ! ... especially since everyone else is lovin it.

Thanks a lot !! I love this forum
Fots

personally I use four instances on my four drum tracks (kicks, snares, hats/cymbals and toms) I dont push up the gain much...with compressors the word of the day is subtle...that's how I use crunchessor..with a lite touch...

ClownOthorns · Post by **ClownOthorns** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:19 am

The thing about Crunchessor, is that it does most of the work for you. I'm pretty sure it was made to work that way and I actually find it hard to make it sound bad.

fgimian · Post by **fgimian** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:32 am

hey guys, thanks for the response. I find that sometimes, I tend to use compressors to produce character on particular things in which case I drive them pretty hard. For instance, on a piano, I delibrately want it to sound a little punchy and I want the decay to be further exxagerated. On vocals, the more character the better, especially since I'm producing alternative music with lots of guitars and the vocals tend to get buried. It seems that the harder i push Crunchessor, it just makes things sound all wierd rather than giving em that "melt" flavour lol ...

I think I might have to post some samples of this to describe. I can do that when I get back from work and we can all have a little play. I'm currently playing with Kjaerhus & Sonalksis and must say that I love em both, they actually sound quite similar.

They are definitely different compressors than Voxengo ... do any of you folks maybe use Voxengo & Sonalksis / Kjaerhus ? Where do you think each fits in when producing ? i.e. what would you use crunchessor on, and what would you use the other on.

Hink, have you ever tried pushing the compressor hard on the bass drum ? You'll see exactly what I mean if you do ... it actually will start to create "popping" type sounds ... :') that's what I had trouble with, even on the shortest attack and Fast mode, it still kinda pops / clicks on really quick transients. With stuff like Waves RComp, I can actually squash the bass drum a lot and make it sound a lot more "round".

ClownOthorns I guess I can't say I've had the same exprience lol

What sorta material do you run it on ? Have you tried things with really sharp / quick transients at all ? I find that this is where most of my trouble lies

Cheers guys

Fots

Aleksey Vaneev · Post by **Aleksey Vaneev** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:46 am

I probably know what problem you are experiencing here with Crunchessor - it's because Crunchessor's attack is longer than you could expect, so it may not be suitable at getting instant 'tape' kind of drum compression. I plan to fix this in the near future, by introducing 'U' attack mode.

fgimian · Post by **fgimian** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:00 am

Aleksey, you are the best ! I can't wait for the update. So sorry if I have been a difficult customer lol

I have been using the BuzzMaxi limiter in conjunction with the Crunchessor & Voxformer to ensure that no peaks get through. I chose BuzzMaxi over Elephant for track limiting since it only has 59 samples of delay but it doesn't sound good for entire mixes. On the master bus sits my Elephant2 limiter and sounds amazing !

I have noticed that many compressors have limiters on the output to prevent troublesome peaks getting through, obviously, quite a simple limiter with very little delay (< 64 samples). Not a bad idea to keep in mind maybe for the future.

Aleksey, is there any reason why the crunchessor is not as heavy as other compressors ? Do you think this is entirely related to the attack ? I have tried higher valve settings, but they simply add more distortion. I am just trying to get heavy analogue character to sounds, similar sound to the LA-2A

Thanks a lot for your help with all this, I think that you are doing a brilliant job with all your plugins ! (Fots hugs his copy of Pristine Space Light)

Cheerios
Fots

P.S.: what does U stand for ?

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:03 am

Aleksey Vaneev wrote:I probably know what problem you are experiencing here with Crunchessor - it's because Crunchessor's attack is longer than you could expect, so it may not be suitable at getting instant 'tape' kind of drum compression. I plan to fix this in the near future, by introducing 'U' attack mode.

Sounds interesting Aleksey.

kylen · Post by **kylen** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:05 am

soundpalace wrote:... I am just trying to get heavy analogue character to sounds, similar sound to the LA-2A

OK - now we're talkin - I'm in! I think I could go for some more of that Voxalogue character...

morelia · Post by **morelia** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:19 am

I'd really like to know more about what the input dial is doing. For example what is happening with the threshold when "in" dial is set to 0db, -16 and 16db?

P.S. Thanks for naming all plugs with Voxengo at the beginning. Makes it a lot easier to find.

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:22 am

morelia wrote:I'd really like to know more about what the input dial is doing. For example what is happening with the threshold when "in" dial is set to 0db, -16 and 16db?

The In knob is just an input gain control.

morelia · Post by **morelia** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:27 am

The In parameter can be also perceived as a threshold parameter available in conventional compressors.

So does that mean the threshold is a fixed point and adjusting the "in" changes the relationship between the incoming signal level and the threshold. Is compression taking place below 0db?

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:40 am

morelia wrote:
The In parameter can be also perceived as a threshold parameter available in conventional compressors.
So does that mean the threshold is a fixed point and adjusting the "in" changes the relationship between the incoming signal level and the threshold. Is compression taking place below 0db?

If I recall correctly, the early betas of Crunchessor did not have the In control - just the Drive knob - and we testers clamoured for the extra gain control and Aleksey indulged us so there it is.

In the design of Crunchessor the usual Ratio/Threshold controls are taken out of the users hands and handled instead by some smarts Aleksey has programmed into the beast, the basic idea being that this makes operating the compressor a no-brainer.

If you want to push the compressor harder the Drive will make the compressor work harder. If you are starting with a low level signal you could push it up with the input gain control. I don't think (from what Aleksey has said in response to earlier inquiries) that there is any simple correspondence between the level of the Drive control and the level of the threshold or compression ratio.

If Aleksey is around later he might be able to shed more light on this.

fgimian · Post by **fgimian** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:46 am

I also have difficulty understanding this system ... it is a little difficult to really understand what the In dial does in affect to the output. The way I understand it is that the In dial is simply there to ensure that the input signal is as close to 0 db as possible before reaching the Drive (where the compression actually occurs).

kylen lol I think you may have just come up with a new company name

I LIKE IT ! But yep, seriously, some bad-ass analogue character would be awesome. It seems no matter how hard I push the Crunchessor (and I REALLY do push it hard, 40 db gain and the input turned up too !), I still don't get any hard obvious character that sounds awesome on guitars, vocals and sometimes even drums. While with others, i just slightly put down the threshold and turn up the ratio to around 1:2 and wham !, hello character

Let's keep this thread up, we can all learn a lot more about Crunchessor

I might post some samples soon to show what I'm on about

Cheers
Fots

darrenn · Post by **darrenn** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:45 pm

I just bought crunchessor too and was having similar thoughts. I have been trying it on drums and can't seem to get the results I was hoping for. I also own PSP VW and while it certainly has lots of character it too does not have conventional compressor controls. I feel a bit lost without Threshold, Ratio, Attack and release on any compressor.
I tried blind testing some of the presets and struggled to tell if it was on or off and I cannot hear the difference between many of the valve character options.
I know it was not expensive, but many people here rave about it I thought I would give it a go but am a little disapointed so far.
Darren

emdot_ambient · Post by **emdot_ambient** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:05 pm

I bought Crunchessor in a package deal with Kjaerhus's GPP1 . . . and have unfortunately not ended up using it that much. GPP1, however, I use all over the place. I'm not sure if it's me not understanding when/how to use Crunchessor the best, or what. It's been a while since I tried it . . . so, I'd be interested in where people use it most and how, especially in conjunction with or in contrast to GPP1.

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