Free SynthMaker Compressor+EQ/Multi-stage distortion unit

[DuX]

I don't like killing transients, if there's a way to attenuate them in a clean way-I'd use that, but looking at the bigger picture everything can be useful. It is already a quite creative compressor and Stefan is very open to new ideas, I mean why not making it even more creative .

Somwhow I think I could live with sidechain AND crossover, too. When you compress [rarely but possible] a kick and snare together or any two very different sources, it's very useful to separately compress them.

Scenario: You want to compress the kick and snare both. Sidechain can be useful to filter the frequencies above like 10kHz and under like 60Hz, and the crossover can be put at around 400-800Hz to achieve a nice balance between them. I think that could sound nice and powerful, although regularly it's better to compress kick and bass together.

Cheers!

[stefancrs]

Adding weird stuff to the 'internal' sidechain is fun. I mean, it IS the sidechain information together with the "detector" that creates the compressors main characteristic. Yes, I meant, mess around with gates/expanders (gate is maby too rough but expander should do fine) in the internal sidechain. This way you can control the way it reacts to transients versus sustained information. Also, doing the audio into multiply -> multiply -> multiply (aka peak/transient enhancer) and using that in the sidechain can be quite fun.

Then another idea, the opposite of look ahead, umm, "look too late" (:hihi:), a variable slight delay in the sidechain, can create all kinds of funny results. Also, anything that destroys the transients (like splitting the signal, applying a gate, that separates only the transients, into one stream and then phase reversing this and combining it with the other stream) can be quite interesting.

There are so many things to mess around with to make compressors more like effects instead of boring tools.

Cheers!
bManic

All these ideas are interesting. Instead of the cubic waveshaper (mult->mult->multi), a more generic editable transfer curve (a curve with one or two handles on it) could provide a more versatile behavior. Will have a good thinking about these things, I have a feeling they might be suitable for that multi-stage compressor I was having in mind.

For the current compressor I think I'll try using a peaking EQ with normalized gain (that is, if you boost the band 10dB overall gain is reduced 10dB) instead of high/low cut filters for the internal / external sidechain.

All these things are great fun

BTW, with "killing the transients", you meant for the sidechain / detection, right?

[stefancrs]

I don't like killing transients, if there's a way to attenuate them in a clean way-I'd use that, but looking at the bigger picture everything can be useful. It is already a quite creative compressor and Stefan is very open to new ideas, I mean why not making it even more creative .

Somwhow I think I could live with sidechain AND crossover, too. When you compress [rarely but possible] a kick and snare together or any two very different sources, it's very useful to separately compress them.

Scenario: You want to compress the kick and snare both. Sidechain can be useful to filter the frequencies above like 10kHz and under like 60Hz, and the crossover can be put at around 400-800Hz to achieve a nice balance between them. I think that could sound nice and powerful, although regularly it's better to compress kick and bass together.

Cheers!

I _often_ compress kick and snare together. But I don't see what the purpose of filtering the sidechain like you described would be? Unless you have ridiculous amounts of very low bass and high treble stuff going on, it won't make much of a difference.

And, oh, I almost never compress kick and bass together I separate them with quite heavy EQ'ing instead, but this is probably not suitable for all kinds of music

[stefancrs]

*keeping this on every page*

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!

[bmanic]

BTW, with "killing the transients", you meant for the sidechain / detection, right?

Yes.

Cheers!
bManic

[Klemperer]

Adding weird stuff to the 'internal' sidechain is fun. I mean, it IS the sidechain information together with the "detector" that creates the compressors main characteristic. Yes, I meant, mess around with gates/expanders (gate is maby too rough but expander should do fine) in the internal sidechain. This way you can control the way it reacts to transients versus sustained information. Also, doing the audio into multiply -> multiply -> multiply (aka peak/transient enhancer) and using that in the sidechain can be quite fun.

Then another idea, the opposite of look ahead, umm, "look too late" (:hihi:), a variable slight delay in the sidechain, can create all kinds of funny results. Also, anything that destroys the transients (like splitting the signal, applying a gate, that separates only the transients, into one stream and then phase reversing this and combining it with the other stream) can be quite interesting.

There are so many things to mess around with to make compressors more like effects instead of boring tools.

Cheers!
bManic

All these ideas are interesting. Instead of the cubic waveshaper (mult->mult->multi), a more generic editable transfer curve (a curve with one or two handles on it) could provide a more versatile behavior. Will have a good thinking about these things, I have a feeling they might be suitable for that multi-stage compressor I was having in mind.

For the current compressor I think I'll try using a peaking EQ with normalized gain (that is, if you boost the band 10dB overall gain is reduced 10dB) instead of high/low cut filters for the internal / external sidechain.

All these things are great fun

BTW, with "killing the transients", you meant for the sidechain / detection, right?

These are the posts that make KVR invaluable for me. Sometimes I just print those posts out, read 3 times like difficult philosophy and dance around in case I understand nearly all of it . Really great,thanks!

[MRT]

I've been using both of these this weekend with no weird problems, I'm liking them both very much.
A couple of things with the EQ:
It's can cause some pretty radical pops and clicks when switching bands off and on or switching filter modes will source is playing. And with the feed & Sat controls just pushing a Freq gain to high can cause some pretty unnatural squeals.
The high band Q adjustment is often not visible and makes minor adjustments difficult.

Thanks for your work on these.

[stefancrs]

I've been using both of these this weekend with no weird problems, I'm liking them both very much.

Thanks! These things are really nice to hear!

A couple of things with the EQ:
It's can cause some pretty radical pops and clicks when switching bands off and on or switching filter modes will source is playing.

Yeah, I know, and I know why, I just haven't figured out any elegant solution yet. Basically it's because the actual filter type fades to the other filter type, and in between, things can get clicky-poppy.

And with the feed & Sat controls just pushing a Freq gain to high can cause some pretty unnatural squeals.

This is by design and there's really no way around it. It is what happens if you use feedback together with frequency boosting.

The high band Q adjustment is often not visible and makes minor adjustments difficult.

I know, I've been thinking about an alternative way to adjust the Q setting. A key modifier or using right click instead of left click could work, but then it's not "visible" and hence not as intuitive. Suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks for your work on these.

You're most welcome, and thanks for the good feedback!

[JonnySun 2.0]

bump this

[Tp3]

Yeh... we want sidechain, stefan !!

[stefancrs]

Heh

It's very simple to add, but I'm still a bit reluctant. Would it not be better to make a 'sibling' version of the compressor for this? For instance the opto modes would not be functional in a sidechaining scenario.

[DuX]

Very good thinking Stefan, just make another version with the SC and leave this version like it is. Except for some debugging of course .

Cheers!

[bmanic]

bump bump.. was there ever a custom sidechain version of this one?

Cheers!
bManic

[stefancrs]

Hm, no, and I've been using it as if it was a finished product myself. I guess I need to wrap it up and make a proper release out of it, but an updated version of Anna is the first item on the list.

Could send you the schematic though.

[bmanic]

If you don't mind then I would be delighted to mess with the schematic. I have several evil ideas that will practically destroy what you have created.

Cheers!
bManic