All about compressors (links broken: sorry!)

[esl]

Hey,

I have a question, hopefully you guys can share some advice.....

I recorded my friend playing various "analog" sounding synth lead lines in some songs. The sounds, amplitude, and squelchy resonance differs alot, even within the same track.

I'm thinking that some compression would work to even things out. What are some basic starting-point compression settings that would be good for some synth leads? Any advice would be appricated. Attack, release, hard/soft knee, etc....

[Vibro Larynx]

Hey, bmanic,

there is something new for you to check out.

[bmanic]

Hey,

I have a question, hopefully you guys can share some advice.....

I recorded my friend playing various "analog" sounding synth lead lines in some songs. The sounds, amplitude, and squelchy resonance differs alot, even within the same track.

I'm thinking that some compression would work to even things out. What are some basic starting-point compression settings that would be good for some synth leads? Any advice would be appricated. Attack, release, hard/soft knee, etc....

Compression could definitely solve the sudden amplitude differences you get when resonant peaks hit the fundamental notes and makes them jump out.

The settings to use vary a lot depending on what compressor you are using so I can not give any general settings. For brutal taming of any amplitude differences try using the shortest attack and release possible, without getting distortion, at limiting ratios like 10:1 or more. If you want to preserve some attack or "thump" at the resonant peaks simply open up the attack a bit.

If you have long sustained sounds like pads, where the cutoff is sweeping with high resonance, then you can use fast attack with slow release settings.

My guess is that compressors with high program dependency would work best in your situtaion as the behavior of resonant synts can be pretty unpredictable. Some good free alternatives are MjCompressor, Vanilla Compressor and TBT's 2095. Commercial ones that might work well are Voxengo Marquis, FabFilter Pro-C and perhaps even Voxengo Polysquasher which might be easiest of the 3 to setup.

I would ask you to post some audio examples and give you precise instructions and presets based on these but unfortunately I'm on holidays in Switzerland and don't have easy access to a computer where I could run a VST host.

Cheers!
bManic

[zgulp]

hi,

i've listened to all the audio compressed file and the "smack!" one is really really what i want to do.
But i usually work with the psp vintage... and i can't get this.
So, i don't know if it's about the compressor or just because i'm weak.

What's nebula3?

thx for all thos posts, very instructive.

[bmanic]

You can find Nebula3 at http://www.acusticaudio.net

The entry level version costs 20 euros (Nebula2) and the big brother (Nebula3) which is basically just an upgrade to the GUI, costs 80 euros.

The examples I made are from a yet to be released custom tweaked program. The reason is that it uses incredible amounts of CPU cycles, unfortunately. It was just a demonstration of a kind of compression that no other plugin can do. However, the team is constantly improving the program and I believe this summer will see the release of some nice 3rd party preset programs that can achieve this special compression without too much CPU usage.

PSP Vintage warmer can not do what you hear in those examples. Sorry.

Cheers!
bManic

[DiLate]

Where does TC Native bundle's compressor rank? any good?

[bmanic]

I think I tried it a long time ago but I cannot comment on it as I simply don't remember the sound of it. The think it might have been a fairly aggressive sounding compressor.

Cheers!
bManic

[sinkmusic]

I remember having used only it for a studio project 6 or 7 years ago.
It had a "magic" preset (with a 6:1 ratio), which fitting everything, and a nice softsat feature... but my memory is gettign old, so you'd better check by yourself !
And it may eat no cpu at all, since computers weren't as powerfull as nowadays.

[bduffy]

Where does TC Native bundle's compressor rank? any good?

I think I tried it a long time ago but I cannot comment on it as I simply don't remember the sound of it. The think it might have been a fairly aggressive sounding compressor.

Still one my favourites, probably still my main track compressor. I could make a sample for the thread if anyone wants it. It can sound aggresive - it's got a "Soft Sat" setting - but it can do totally clean stuff, and can be quite transparent at hard levels, IMO.

[DiLate]

is vintage warmer still considered one of the best? im about to invest and im trying to catch up on the recent advancements in vst compression.. this thread has some good posts about it, but since it spans so much time im not sure if its still a heavyweight contender.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

is vintage warmer still considered one of the best? im about to invest and im trying to catch up on the recent advancements in vst compression.. this thread has some good posts about it, but since it spans so much time im not sure if its still a heavyweight contender.

There's been a bunch of threads on favorite compressors as of late. The favorites are usually:

Fabfilter Pro-C
Sonalksis SV-315 Mk II
Voxengo Marquis
Kjaerhus GCO-1
Blue Cat Dynamics
Flux Solaris (crazy expensive)

Vintage Warmer doesn't make the list often. The latency is somewhat of an issue, and it colors the sound too much IMO. Though, there should be a major version update to the PSP Mixpack coming out within weeks which will likely include a new Mixpressor.

[DiLate]

thanks man,. you saved me a lot of time ill definatly investigate and post the one i pick

[bduffy]

I would want to say that I think Vintage Warmer is a great-sounding compressor/saturator/whatever-the-hell-it-is, if you're looking for an agressive, "tape"-like, smeared-out sound. I love the thing, but generally regard it as more of a sound design tool than a day-to-day compressor. Can be just the right thing at just the right time, especially on drums, bass and guitar.

[dickiefunk]

Hi. I am using freeware compressors at the moment and am wondering if I would see much of an increase in quality if I bought Voxengo Marquis or Blue Cat Dynamics?
These are the compressors I have at the moment :-

ReaComp
Kjaerhus Classic Compressor
Jeroen Breebaart PC-2
Blockfish
Compressive
C3 Multiband
BuzComp

[bmanic]

Bduffy, samples from the TC compressor would be awesome!! Feel free to use any of the dry examples in the main thread as your source. New source sounds would be good as well!

Cheers!
bManic