HowTo: Unsquash over-compressed sounds

[DarkStar]

This was inspired by the 'Punch & Power' article in Computer Music 243. Technique 10 uses Xfer Record's LFO Tool, triggered by MIDI, to shape the amplitude envelope of an over-compressed kick drum.

I thought I would emulate it with a MeldaProduction plug-in. In the end I chose MCharacter but it should work with others. Here's the result, showing the input (pale turquoise) and output (dark) waveforms:

>>> http://i.imgur.com/sAR0CvT.png

I used an Envelope Modulator, with a Custom Shape, modulating the Gain. The Level graph shows the input waveform (turquoise), the level detection (red) and the resulting envelope. Tweaking the parameters to get the desired result was easy

>>> http://i.imgur.com/hDX7K7y.png

I hope it inspires you to experiment.

[vectorwarrior]

Yeah, I've regularly been doing a similar thing with MXXX and a Utility module using an envelope modulator. A while back I asked Vojtech if he would be interested in a simple envelope controlled volume shaper plugin like this, but he said it can be done in most melda plugins (obviously) so didn't see the need. I personally still think it would be cool to have a plugin with an optimized, custom made interface with essentially the envelope modulator screen being the the focus of the plugin for this sort of work, but I get that it's sort of niche.

[DarkStar]

Oddly enough, I was thinking of suggesting that too: MModulator

[steve2KVR]

...could MModulator be accomplished with an "easy screen" user interface...with all the fixin's under the edit hood?.../s~

[vectorwarrior]

The problem is you really need to see the threshold and envelope display that's shown in the modulator window. I did try making an easy screen preset but never used it because i always had to go back to the modulator window to 'see' what it was doing and the shape of the waveform.

[spencerlee]

Maybe you could build it in MTurboMix as a standalone. (It will be released some day)
Spencer

[vectorwarrior]

In related news, Waves have just released Smack Attack, which is essentially what we're talking about here.
http://www.waves.com/plugins/smack-atta ... ent-shaper

[MeldaProduction]

Btw. wouldn't MDrumLeveler be the ideal solution for things like that?

[DarkStar]

Probably (I'll try that out later), but I wanted to emulate the approach in the magazine.

[DarkStar]

Yep, MDrumLeveler was easier

>>> http://i.imgur.com/Bs20C09.png

In the upper graph the input level is white and the event envelope is blue-green; in the lower graph the input waveform is yellow and the output is blue-green.

[pumafred]

MDrumLeveler is great. I even found it useful recently to control an unevenly played upright bass.

[MeldaProduction]