DMGAudio Compassion (Launched)

[ObsoleteAcc99]

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[ObsoleteAcc99]

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[DaveGamble]

YOu are all gonna be hating on me. I am finding this one too tough to get to grips with. Ok let me give you an example. I am doing some transient designing. It's capable of TOO extreme settings, that are just too easy to stumble across and it would take me a lot of time to adjust to compassions relative knob position to everything else i have worked with my entire life.

Thought of that. TS Max setting will tame how far the Transient Shaper will jump in.

The compression itself, again can get so extreme it's downright nasty and it's too easy to get to that level. This on needs alot of attention to detail to get the best out of and is for dynamics junkies IMO where i just need something simple like Pro-C or Logic or Waves CLA. That's how i roll. Please don;t take it as an insult, i just find it too easy to go from "subtle" to ultra extreme with this.

Run with the Mods for a bit. Try gentler options.
A good workflow is:
1) Instantiate plugin
2) Grab a "Character" Mod that suits what you're doing
3) Grab a "Style" Mod that suits what you're doing
4) Tweak maybe one or two controls gently.
5) Move on to next channel, mission accomplished.

Of course, it's crucial that you can go tweak-mad with this, and that's how it's possible for it to give you a ton of different characters in one hit. Leave "advanced" closed and you'll be able to get stuff done just fine

Cheers,

Dave.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

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[DaveGamble]

Would anyone be hugely upset if I disappeared off for a bit to find some food?
And perhaps smoke a cigar...?

Dave.

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[bmanic]

YOu are all gonna be hating on me. I am finding this one too tough to get to grips with. Ok let me give you an example. I am doing some transient designing. It's capable of TOO extreme settings, that are just too easy to stumble across and it would take me a lot of time to adjust to compassions relative knob position to everything else i have worked with my entire life.

The compression itself, again can get so extreme it's downright nasty and it's too easy to get to that level. This on needs alot of attention to detail to get the best out of and is for dynamics junkies IMO where i just need something simple like Pro-C or Logic or Waves CLA. That's how i roll. Please don;t take it as an insult, i just find it too easy to go from "subtle" to ultra extreme with this.

Just use the presets and the simple interface. No need to open up the advanced view.

This is how I plan to use the compressor when I'm actually working with clients as there is no time to mess around. I'll probably be uploading some bread and butter presets for various common tasks once I get to use it seriously in commercial projects and build up a good library of working settings.

Cheers!
bManic

EDIT: I've just updated my mastering bank from the previous post. 2 new presets added.

[bmanic]

even with advanced closed i can destroy the sound into a garbled mess quite easily lol.

It's because Dave lets the user set virtually impossible release times and ridiculous ratio values. As long as you keep the release over 30ms and the overall gain reduction amounts to less than 12dB you should be fine.

I agree that at first it is very easy to destroy stuff with it. It's actually kind of opposite to FabFilter Pro-C or the Voxengo Polysquasher, both of which are almost impossible to use for destruction.

Give it some time. It's an awesome compressor! I promise!

Cheers!
bManic

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[bmanic]

Not to give away any big secrets, but I'll point out, as I have before, the strange pro audio truth that harmonic distortions (saturations etc) seem to always be on either the input or the output of a processor. So EQuality and COMPassion don't do that, safe in the knowledge that with saturation before and/or saturation after, you're absolutely not losing ANYTHING

That might have been a clue.

Dave.

Hmm.. no this is not true with the more complex models of some plugins. It's not only about harmonic distortion but rather a whole bunch of things that happen all at once inside the plugin. This is what I mean with complex models. I know we've had this discussion before but I just need to remind you again. There are several plugins that have much more going on than just plain added waveshaping/harmonic distortion added on either the input or output.

For instance IK Multimedia Fairchild models all kinds of weird behavior. Left and right channels have constantly changing, slightly "wobbly" transfer functions (what I mean is that they are not static, they modulate in tiny amounts, all the time). Then there is subtle noise floor, weird attack and release behavior (not just a simple short/long release), strange transient behavior, even at zero gain reduction (this becomes especially obvious when you either drive the plugin hard, without compressing, or reduce input to something ridiculous like -50dBFS and then boost on the output).

Bootsie has some pretty interesting plugins when it comes to strange non-linear behavior of things. Check out his Tessla Pro plugin and tell me again that he simply adds a little harmonic distortion on the input or output.

Then there is UAD 33609. Lets not go there but suffice to say that the model is pretty damn complex and involves more than simple added harmonic distortion..

I don't think Compassion needs any of this kind of modeling. I like it exactly as it is. Heck, it's all the better for not having any silly wannabe analog stuff in it.. I still think we are some way off when it comes to all this tube gear modeling stuff so I'd rather have my plugins digital, precise and clean instead of a lot of added half-working nonsense.

Having said that, it is not fair to imply that all plugins are simple added harmonic distortion and that the complex models don't make a difference to the sound. They do. Period.

Cheers!
bManic

[zvenx]

where are you guys seeing the oversampling parameter?
rsp

this one?

thanks, eventually found it after reading the manual then saw this.
thanks
rsp

[callumdrum]

Mr Gamble I would like to know how you entered my inner most thoughts and divined this Dynamics plugin. Seriously, I was going to write to a developer asking for most of the features you have incorporated into Compassion. I have been tweaking all afternoon. Great plugin, fantastic fun.

Great work, Thank you.

[Dr.Gunjah]

Will add this for an update shortly

yay, thanks

The upper and lower bars on the meter are the GR history.
Green is attack, Red is release.

ok, but it's only "abstract" as you can't correlate it to numbers.
Though I have to admit that it is some kind of indication if there's actually compression going on or if it's just reducing the volume.
Should be ok with the slower graph

After some hours of testing I'm really impressed by the sound and tweakability. So far it seems to be the swiss army compressor I was searching for so long now.
It does transparent and it does punch... massive punch... I was struggling long time to buy or not to buy the CL1B for it's punch character, but man Compassion punches the shit out of the CL1B... And it's only half the price and flexible like hell
The only disadvantage is that it will eat up a lot of my time now because it's such fun to play with all those parameters

Cheers,
Doc

[keel]

How much is the cpu-usage? Is it heavy?

[Dr.Gunjah]

How much is the cpu-usage? Is it heavy?

~3% cpu on a core2duo 2,4ghz (Without oversampling)
I would consider it as "medium" ... not really heavy on cpu but also not ultra lightweight.

Cheers,
Doc