KVR Audio

living sounds · Post by **living sounds** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:23 am

Any Vari-Mu type compressor would be great. And it would be great to have it without the transformer 'coloration' (impossible in the hardware world), which mostly just muddy the signal IMHO. And without the caps in the signal path.

living sounds · Post by **living sounds** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:28 am

BTW, Andy, how much of the actual distortion and nonlinearities introduced by the components apart from the compression did you put into your model? I guess they would be pretty CPU-heavy.
Part of the SSL's sound is what the VCA, the opamps, the caps do even when no compression is applied. The question remains open if it's the desireable part. How about an on/off switch for these kinds of things, or even putting them in an extra 'colour' plugin?

K-Slash · Post by **K-Slash** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:54 am

living sounds wrote:BTW, Andy, how much of the actual distortion and nonlinearities introduced by the components apart from the compression did you put into your model? I guess they would be pretty CPU-heavy.
Part of the SSL's sound is what the VCA, the opamps, the caps do even when no compression is applied. The question remains open if it's the desireable part. How about an on/off switch for these kinds of things, or even putting them in an extra 'colour' plugin?

Yes, an optional "full-featured" plugin would be cool, even at the cost of some more CPU hit

.

filtide · Post by **filtide** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:24 pm

that modular compressor idea is awesome, we need innovations and new things, just like SynthSquad.

Ebbe und Flut or a Sherman would be killer if you could do for next!

living sounds · Post by **living sounds** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:45 pm

filtide wrote:
Ebbe und Flut or a Sherman would be killer if you could do for next!

Me, I'd be impressed enough just by a diode ladder filter (think TB-303) emulation that sounds as good as a real one.

andy-cytomic · Post by **andy-cytomic** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:29 pm

Thanks for all the suggestions about good compressors to model. There were a couple I didn't know before, so I'll investigate them once I'm done with The Glue. Here is the latest and pretty much final UI:

Andrew Simper

andy-cytomic · Post by **andy-cytomic** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:34 pm

living sounds wrote:BTW, Andy, how much of the actual distortion and nonlinearities introduced by the components apart from the compression did you put into your model? I guess they would be pretty CPU-heavy.
Part of the SSL's sound is what the VCA, the opamps, the caps do even when no compression is applied. The question remains open if it's the desireable part. How about an on/off switch for these kinds of things, or even putting them in an extra 'colour' plugin?

I'm not modeling non-linarities of the transformers or that2181 chips, nor the hiss introduced by them. I'm keeping this compressor as a clean, don't take too much cpu so you can use loads of them in a track, buss compressor.

Andrew Simper

andy-cytomic · Post by **andy-cytomic** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:36 pm

Funkybot's Evil Twin wrote:...If you want to fill and obvious hole in the compressor market and make money hand over fist: be the first to get an Empirical Labs EL8X Distressor with the "British Mode mod" to market. An accurate Distressor model would probably allow you to retire a young man.

This is something I want to do more than an 1176, since it's pretty much an updated 1176 anyway. I will approach Empirical Labs with this project once I've established a reputation in the market with The Glue.

Andrew Simper

andy-cytomic · Post by **andy-cytomic** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:40 pm

SWAN808 wrote:Andy I understand you did a 1176 model for BFD2 also - so I wonder if that will get modelled?

Yes. I did a cut down model (ie no auto release and a simplified circuit) on the 1176 for BFD2. It's called the Chan Comp.

SWAN808 wrote:I have a feeling Waves are working on one and Softube have just released one - but of course both overpriced IMO and not suffcient to detract me from my UAD1176 - but if a Cytomic modelled one came out that was reasonably priced I would think it would also be a winner....

But a distressor would be even better

SWAN808 wrote:Andy I didnt quite get the comments overleaf - did you mean that there is no oversampling in the Glue?

I do not use oversampling in the main audio path, I do use oversampling sometimes in the sidechain path.

Andrew Simper

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:42 pm

andy_cytomic wrote:
Funkybot's Evil Twin wrote:...If you want to fill and obvious hole in the compressor market and make money hand over fist: be the first to get an Empirical Labs EL8X Distressor with the "British Mode mod" to market. An accurate Distressor model would probably allow you to retire a young man.
This is something I want to do more than an 1176, since it's pretty much an updated 1176 anyway. I will approach Empirical Labs with this project once I've established a reputation in the market with The Glue.

Andrew Simper

The problem is that Empirical Labs have partnered with Universal Audio. I'm pretty sure that after the Fatso, they'll tackle the Distressor.

Cheers!
bManic

andy-cytomic · Post by **andy-cytomic** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:45 pm

Arksun wrote:If you do post up any new sound clips Andy, can you please make sure the volume balance between untreated and treated is perceptually equal, to make comparisons more fair, thanks!.

I might do that, but that also means you can't tell how much gain can be applied, and people want to hear that as well. In all examples I have matched the peak level. Perhaps that means two sets of examples, which is possible if I have time.

Arksun wrote:Btw, was the GUI for this compressor inspired by the SSL bus comp, its quite the similar looking setup.

Well the whole thing was inspired by it really. But there are alterations needed between a user interface version and actual hardware. As an example I've made the vu much bigger than would be on a hardware version.

Andrew Simper

andy-cytomic · Post by **andy-cytomic** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:53 pm

bmanic wrote: The problem is that Empirical Labs have partnered with Universal Audio. I'm pretty sure that after the Fatso, they'll tackle the Distressor.
Cheers!
bManic

Yes they have already announced that, but I'm still going to contact them, and a bunch of other people too. No harm in asking.

Andrew Simper

living sounds · Post by **living sounds** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:31 pm

andy_cytomic wrote: I'm not modeling non-linarities of the transformers or that2181 chips, nor the hiss introduced by them. I'm keeping this compressor as a clean, don't take too much cpu so you can use loads of them in a track, buss compressor.

Andrew Simper

I thought so. The coloration aspect in analog hardware can be great and just the thing you need in many instances, but it's not really necessary to make great sounding tracks. The important part is to have a plugin compressor that can lend a kick drum that punch, and a vocal track the heavily compressed but still breathing sound, etc.
Nonlinearities would be nice, but you could a very CPU heavy plugin for the mastering stage, in the way that people often send the master mix through a studio tape machine in order to get the overall glue and color.

living sounds · Post by **living sounds** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:33 pm

As for the GUI, I'd really like to see the actual values on the GUI, and be able to edit them by entering numbers.

SWAN808 · Post by **SWAN808** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:55 pm

andy_cytomic wrote:
bmanic wrote: The problem is that Empirical Labs have partnered with Universal Audio. I'm pretty sure that after the Fatso, they'll tackle the Distressor.
Cheers!
bManic
Yes they have already announced that, but I'm still going to contact them, and a bunch of other people too. No harm in asking.

Andrew Simper

If you are doing an unbranded 'emulation' of the Distressor do you need permission from Empirical Labs? How does this sort of thing work...? UA work/release very slowly so its not like I could see a Distressor coming out this year or even the following year....

Or is it more of a case that if UA are going to go there - you would rather take Cytomic a different direction...?

Cytomic 'The Glue' Compressor