KVR Audio

Aleksey Vaneev · Post by **Aleksey Vaneev** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:07 pm

The next updated should hopefully fix this 'instant compression' gap. I've already tested this 'U' mode and it does give tape kind of compression on drums - smashed drums.

dburgan · Post by **dburgan** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:53 pm

emdot_ambient wrote:I'd be interested in where people use it most and how

Crunchessor is my primary go-to compressor. You can't beat it for vocal compression. It's also amazing at compressing pads and strings and beds. And be sure to use the Valve and Warm settings - you get a nice roundish tone that way. I love this compressor. It's the first one I've found that I liked as much as Waves RCL.

The only thing I dislike about Crunchessor is the attack time. Sometimes I like to squash something completely, meaning I don't want any initial transients. Attack time close to 0ms ya know. Crunchessor just can't do that, in its current incarnation. I *definitely* look forward to a new version that could!

Never used Kjaerhus's commercial plugs. Their freeware compressor, however, really is a pretty nice sounding beast. Nice clean VCA compressor. If they took that and improved it even more, then their commercial compressor must be very nice indeed.

fgimian · Post by **fgimian** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:33 pm

dburgan, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Crunchessor. Have you also tried Sonalksis and compared with Voxengo ? In fact, have you compared the Classic Compressor to Crunchessor too ? What are your thoughts on these ? I am seriously considering buying Sonalksis ... sure, it's expensive, but it sounds so analogue, that I forget that it's a plugin a lot.

emdot_ambient, I have tried the GPP too and prefer it to the Crunchessor, it just seems to affect the sound a lot more. Crunchessor is so transparent that (as dburgan said), I simply can't even tell it's turned on most the time. Even with the strongest valve settings, the only additional character that's introduced is a little distortion.

I strongly suggest you guys try the Sonalksis compressor and compare. You will know exactly what I mean. It is just so reactive, if you see any gain reduction, then you will hear it. While with the Crunchessor, I can push it to its limits (where the reduction meter is as far as can be displayed)), yet I still don't hear any change in the audio in some cases. The times where I do hear the compressor working, it just doesn't sound all that good lol ... MAybe this new U mode will do the trick, I hope so

Like darrenn said, I too am quite dissapointed with this compressor, especially after all the rave reviews. I guess the reason a lot of people like it is the non threshold-ratio style control, but has everyone else tried the Sonalksis, Waves or Kjaerhus compressors ? Especially on drums and sub-mixes of instruments.

Well regardless, I do enjoy other Voxengo plugins like the Voxformer (which also has a compressor) especially using its saturation control and the Elephant limiter is simply the best limiter out there. CurveEQ is the closest thing to FreeFilter and it's actually better

and Prstine Space is just great.

Any further thoughts on the Crunchessor folks ? Can you give us an idea how hard you drive the processor to hear the compression ? i.e. what do you set your input, drive, mode to ? What sorta attack / release times do you use ?

Thanks a lot
Fots

dburgan · Post by **dburgan** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:53 am

soundpalace wrote:dburgan, thanks for sharing your thoughts on Crunchessor. Have you also tried Sonalksis and compared with Voxengo ? In fact, have you compared the Classic Compressor to Crunchessor too ? What are your thoughts on these ?=

I've never used the Sonalksis plugin, so I can't comment there.

Comparing Crunchessor to the Kjaerhus classic compressor is sort of like comparing rocky road to vanilla ice cream. The Kjaerhus is a straight-ahead conventional VCA threshold/ratio attack/release type compressor. In the hardware world it would be an Alesis 3630 or a dbx 266. The Crunchessor is much more of a exotic compressor, that is unabashedly designed to color the sound. In the hardware world it would be a Teletronix LA2A or a Manley Vari-Mu. Or something like that...

The Kjaerhus approach has its place - I use it where I want plain vanilla compression with the typical compressor sound. It's also pretty low CPU so it's good for live use. The Voxengo is the one I use most often when recording though.

wsaidah · Post by **wsaidah** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:40 am

[quote="dburgan"] The Crunchessor is much more of a exotic compressor, that is unabashedly designed to color the sound. In the hardware world it would be a Teletronix LA2A or a Manley Vari-Mu. quote] have you used these boxes? and how are you getting the Manley Vari-Mu type compression from Crunchessor i have an la2a and i cant get Crunchessor act like it if you can let me know how you did it

fgimian · Post by **fgimian** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 2:08 am

dburgan, hey mate, thanks for your response

How hard do you drive the Crunchessor to hear character ? I honestly hear none at all lol While with Sonalksis, I hear it instantly.

wsaidah, yes I must agree, I have heard an LA-2A and it has around 100 times the character of crunchessor. The cruncehssor (to my ears) even with Valve mode, is one of the cleanest compressors I've ever heard

Considering you own such a prestigeous unit, what is your favourite VST compressor (excluding UAD-1) ? And how does it compare to your piece of hardware ?

Would you put the Sonalksis compressor in the same league as the LA-2A ?

Cheers guys
Fots

wsaidah · Post by **wsaidah** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 2:19 am

none! VST compressor are used for special effects but uad-1 is on to something no big secret

fgimian · Post by **fgimian** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 2:26 am

coolies, thanks a lot

Fots

dburgan · Post by **dburgan** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 3:47 am

Heh well I was comparing Crunchessor to LA2A *loosely* ...

I was comparing more of the model, using an opto or an alternative compression algorithm to the standard VCA type compressor.

I guess this warmth thing is a matter of taste. When I hear Crunchessor, I hear all kinds of colorization and warmth. I don't hear that in almost any other compressor I've tried. Admittedly, I haven't tried Sonalksis (maybe I should the way everyone is raving about it).

fgimian · Post by **fgimian** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 4:51 am

dburgan lol yeah

It's definitely worth giving Sonalksis a try for sure. My choices for best compressor in native environments is something like this...

Kjaerhus Gold Compressors - Really nice, like a smooth analogue sound, really nice. Love their classic free one too. I use it a lot more than my Voxengo at the moment

Waves RComp - I still like this one, but I am trying to avoid iLok's. It just seems to be able to get the most loudness out of sounds. Beautiful on drums. Nice limiter on the output too

I personally believe that limiters on the output stage of compressors should be a standard feature

so damn useful for catching those nasty peaks

Sonalksis - I am not the only one to notice that this one has character. It's created by 4 ex-Neve engineers. And just incase you didn't know ... Neve is basically one of the best / most expensive brands of mixers around the world. Mind you, the plugin just sounds magical ... it REALLY REALLY does sound analogue and it is a well respected brand among professionals. A little expensive though (over 200 $ for the compressor).

Cheers
Fots

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 4:58 am

dburgan wrote: Admittedly, I haven't tried Sonalksis (maybe I should the way everyone is raving about it).

The Kjaerhus compressors and the Sonalksis both have demos which give you a pretty good chance to try them out for nothing. Both well worth a listen.

The option of very fast attacks will really extend the application of Crunchessor I think - looking forward to trying the new version out.

As for the question of Crunchessor and character -- when it is working hard on an electric bass or a snare drum it certainly colours the sound in an obvious way IMO.

I use the Gain Reduction meter as a guide to how hard it is working. If you are getting towards full scale deflection the coloration is usually quite strong.

I have used it on keyboard parts, guitars and saxophone too. Kjaerhus GUP and Crunchessor are the track compressors I reach for first these days.

fgimian · Post by **fgimian** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 5:49 am

egbert, hey

I find your insight very useful. I will try out your ideas tonight.

Looks like maybe Crunchessor is more suited to very individual isolated sounds rather than full drum kits or group tracks.

Thanks a lot for posting, it's awesome to hear someone else's point of view !

Cheers
Fots

Aleksey Vaneev · Post by **Aleksey Vaneev** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:42 pm

soundpalace, I suggest you to check out Polysquasher for steady mix compression. Both Crunchessor and Voxformer are not best suited for mixes. For example, I personally cannot get good smashed drum sound from Sonalksis compressor. There is some kind of balance exists - some compressors are good for mixes (broadband signals) while others are better for 'single tone' signals.

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:56 pm

soundpalace wrote: 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.

I actually bought crunchessor because it can sound in a way that the sonalksis compressor can't. Crunchessor is most definately a slightly 'weird' compressor but this is why I like it. It doesn't produce that familiar *smack!* or punch (well, it does, if you open the attack to about 10ms or more but it sounds clumsy, like a big block coming trough instead of a smooth 'ramp'). Instead it's a master of melting things together and keep them 'stable'. That is, on drums, I use the sonalksis compressor first and after that I might add crunchessor on the final drum+bass buss to keep them in one 'block' together.

It's just like with hardware compressors, some just sound/behave very different (think Joe Meek compressors, they behave very weirdly) and hence do not work for all tasks. For general compression I would highly recommend Kjaerhus GCO or Sonalksis compressor as they seem to work on nearly everything. Crunchessor is more of a specialized version that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. However, when it does, there is no other compressor that can replace it! So, Aleksey, whatever you do, keep the sound backwards compatible if you plan on changing it!!

Cheers!
bManic

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:58 pm

Aleksey Vaneev wrote:soundpalace, I suggest you to check out Polysquasher for steady mix compression. Both Crunchessor and Voxformer are not best suited for mixes. For example, I personally cannot get good smashed drum sound from Sonalksis compressor. There is some kind of balance exists - some compressors are good for mixes (broadband signals) while others are better for 'single tone' signals.

Hmm, are you sure you push the sonalksis compressor enough? IMHO it's one of the best to get a solid smacked drumbus sound. One just has to learn NOT TO watch the gain reduction as it needs to be pushed into insane levels (over -12dB of reduction but usually much more like -24dB or so).

I'll post some examples.. one second.

-bManic

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