Free SynthMaker Compressor+EQ/Multi-stage distortion unit

[liars&ashes]

----Re : typical compression needs, or high quality requiring situations etc. <----I just meant I wouldn't know, I don't do much recording of real world instruments, vocals, that type of thing etc. I tested it on a handful of loops/samples.

----Re : The slanted line graph control, <----I did not realize it had to do with the Softclip knob, as I had that off. Thusly, please strike/ignore my comments on that.

----Re : The *off*/*sustain*/*peak* control <----I really only noticed off and peak, but again, I tested it for 20 minutes or so, and used samples, so hey.

----Re : the stereo link <----It seemed to really only do much off or on, but I'll have to try that again with some *wider* stereo sources, that may have been why I didn't hear much difference.

----To be fair, I only tested it fairly briefly, and I only posted because you had asked if anyone had tried the latest version. I have not kept up with this plug, I tried it quite a while ago, found it to be a hair iffy at the time, and erased it. It seems to have improved quite a bit since then, and I look forward to seeing how it ends up, or how much better it gets in 3-6 more months. So yeah, consider my feedback maybe 1/2 or less as relevant of what a regular, more serious tester/user might give, I only spent a little bit of time with it. But, I did feel it was more than decent, and has some good potential, which is somewhat rare really.

Jeff

[stefancrs]

Pff, your feedback is most welcome and I really do appreciate it FWIW, the "sustain" Auto Gain mainly makes a difference when having a low threshold. It won't then compensate for the peaks you get during the attack phase of the compression, but only for the level the compressor "settles" on. While the "peak" Auto Gain compensates for the attack phase of the compression.

[MRT]

Nice updates, the EQ is working much better here now. The feedback and saturate are a nice touch but noticed that CPU usage is much higher with the saturate control off and seems to to drop if only turned up a small amount.
I like the 11a ver of the compressor, looking forward to trying out this new ver.
Thanks for the updates.

[stefancrs]

Nice updates, the EQ is working much better here now. The feedback and saturate are a nice touch but noticed that CPU usage is much higher with the saturate control off and seems to to drop if only turned up a small amount.

Hm, it should be the other way around It should use less CPU if saturation is turned off, same goes for feedback. Needs looking in to Thanks for the info!

[stefancrs]

*bump*

Version 024 of the dual-band compressor/expander released (on the 11th).

Main features:

• Dual band with adjustable cross-over frequency and mix of the two bands.
  Adjustable look-ahead.
  Ratio from 1:1 to 1:inf.
  Attack and release times from 0.1ms to 10 seconds.
  Threshold from 0 to -50dB.
  Adjustable stereo linking.
  Adjustable Auto Gain, can compensate for sustain and/or peaks during attack phase.
  Adjustable amount of soft clipping applied, adjustable clipping curve.
  VCA (feed-forward) and Opto (feedback) style compression.
  Both up and down compression and expansion.
  Option to force the low band to mono.
  Adjustable Dry/Wet mix for "New York compression".

DLL Here

BTW, watch your ears when changing Compress/Expand and Down/Up modes. If you're using a high Ratio setting you might end up with very loud settings.

Let us know of any issues!

Cheers!

[DuX]

I love this compressor, it's such a creative tool with all those non standard options like wet/dry which is pretty essential for such a strong compressor, then the crossover and low/high ratio - it's fabulous, not to forget the possibility of upward and downward compression and expansion. Man, there's simply no need [room?] to add anything more to this . Perfect compressor. I'll be using it for education also this friday if it proves stable enough. Examplary dynamic tool.

I smell something strange happening when tweaking the graphics. Everything is fine, but my audio usually never crackles while tweaking and with this comp it happens ocasionally. Using EXT on WXP with ASIO.

Thanks so much Stefan! Will have a look at that EQ, too now This comp has written Industrial/EBM all over it! .

Cheers!

p.s. this is a bad mofo for drums. I mean it sounds very, very good and powerful

[stefancrs]

I love this compressor, it's such a creative tool with all those non standard options like wet/dry which is pretty essential for such a strong compressor, then the crossover and low/high ratio - it's fabulous, not to forget the possibility of upward and downward compression and expansion. Man, there's simply no need [room?] to add anything more to this . Perfect compressor. I'll be using it for education also this friday if it proves stable enough. Examplary dynamic tool.

Why thank you . I know a few things that could be added (without increased CPU usage unless used)... Sidechain filters (low and high pass) and support for external sidechain. I'd probably find filtering of the internal "sidechain" more interesting than the use of external sidechain though. For instance, if setting it up with a narrow band you could make the compressor react only upon certain sounds, like for instance just the snare, and compress or expand the entire channel just when things are going on in the "detection band" (or _not_ going on if doing upwards compression for instance). Could be very useful for non-standard dynamic shaping.

I smell something strange happening when tweaking the graphics. Everything is fine, but my audio usually never crackles while tweaking and with this comp it happens ocasionally. Using EXT on WXP with ASIO.

This needs looking in to! Does it happen with just certain knobs or with any knob?

Thanks so much Stefan! Will have a look at that EQ, too now This comp has written Industrial/EBM all over it! .

I've made my fair share of Industrial/EBM, maybe it has had an effect on these plugins

[DuX]

Yup, Sidechain .

[DuX]

Oooops, EQ spells trouble in EXT. When I connect it's output only [so no input, disconnected], CPU usage goes bonkers [all the way into 90% area]. Then, when I connect the input, CPU goes down every time. Otherwise, seems much more stable than the last version.

I can't replicate the problem with the compressor. hmmm I'm experimenting with EXT into Reaper over Rearoute driver, so maybe that helped to get those crackles.

[stefancrs]

Oooops, EQ spells trouble in EXT. When I connect it's output only [so no input, disconnected], CPU usage goes bonkers [all the way into 90% area]. Then, when I connect the input, CPU goes down every time. Otherwise, seems much more stable than the last version.

I can't replicate the problem with the compressor. hmmm I'm experimenting with EXT into Reaper over Rearoute driver, so maybe that helped to get those crackles.

Ok, seems like a simple denormals issue. Do you get the same with feedback set to zero?

[dasdeck]

yes! sidechain please! both variations! will we get those FX as synthmaker modules? would be nice! (is this one similar to the compressor in synthmaker?)

D3CK

[stefancrs]

yes! sidechain please! both variations! will we get those FX as synthmaker modules? would be nice! (is this one similar to the compressor in synthmaker?)

D3CK

I was mainly thinking of both versions. A choice for internal/external sidechain and high + low pass filter.
These effects will indeed end up as schematics somehow. Just needs a _lot_ of tidying up before being released. This compressor and the toolbox compressor _used_ to be exactly the same schematic, back when the first release was made.

[DuX]

I thoroughly tested EQ's behaviour, step by step, so to break it down:

1.) I put it in EXT with default settings [touching nothing], its output connected. cpu usage seems around 5%.

2.) I connect some VSTi to its input and the CPU usage goes to, say, 10% [double].

3.) I disconnect its input and the CPU uage goes to 20% [again double].

4.) I tried that a few times and it behaved predictably every time.

5.) Then I tried fiddling with controls. Just peaks and shelves. Nothing changed.

6.) Then I tried the "saturation" pot - BINGO! Even the slightest saturation, while the input is disconnected brought CPU usage to around 70% this time.

7.) Then I fiddled with other controls like feedback and couldn't get it to raise above 70%... buuuut then I noticed that in feedback 2 mode it "sucks" around 10% or more of the CPU.

8.) Now, when I connected the input again, CPU usage dropped promptly from around 80% to normal again.

And that's it . Seems like saturation behaves very badly, and feedback 2 mode behaves a tad badly .

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

[stefancrs]

The feedback 2 will always eat some more CPU than no feedback of feedback mode 1, because it ends up being four feedback chains (one per band), and hence four saturators (there's saturation in all feedback paths). But apart from that, the info you've given me should make it quite a breeze to track the error down. Thank

[DuX]

No problem man, thank *you* for these very creative and handsome soundshaping tools! Those saturators of yours sound excellent, I really like them a lot, both in EQ and Comp. You can drive them a lot, without them sounding very harsh as how the usual saturator plugins sound when you drive them so hard.

Cheers!