Mdynamics distorts really early

[Svama]

Hi folks,

I thought mdynamics is a clean compressor, but it distorts really early as a peak compressor. But not in a pleasing way, no other clean compressor I use distorts, although I’m hitting it really hard.
Other experiences?

[dakkra]

A handful of things to do:
- Check out the release algorithms
- Use a small amount of look-ahead to avoid that initial transient
- oversampling, 4x or 8x usually work well for me
- if using as a brickwall limiter, add a clipping stage ahead of the dynamics to kill very short transients that escaped the mixing racks dynamics. This helps the compressor do less work at compression stage
- turn link channels off
- use fast attack under dynamic detection settings
- use logarithmic mode as it's the softest processing shape attenuator
- use a large knee size, this makes the transition gentler and will distort less

[vectorwarrior]

It would be helpful to see how you've got it set up. Can you post a screenshot?

[dakkra]

MuLab_JP9l92Vtqi.png

[Tagirijus]

1. You have a Waveshaper in front of the compressor. This might lead to distortion as well.
2. Your compressor settings are very extreme ... I mean ... basically every parameter you set up is extreme, hehe. I think that it'S rather normal with these settings for a compressor to distort. I mean: 0 ms peak. What do you expect? If other compressor act differently, I'd guess that they use some "under the hood attack time alteration" or so, which you cannot control. I suppose that the Melda compressors are just 100% accurate, which might need some tweaking. E.g. if I enable True RMS, True Hold, Psycho-acoustic prefiltering and Spectral smoothing in the dynamic detection settings, the distortion almost is gone. And I tested with a rather high input, by the way.

Maybe you could provide some RAW input audio and a MDynamics preset (1. click the copy button in the toolbar on the top of the Dynamics1 module, 2. paste it here into the forum inside the code tag). This way we all could test and hear it on our ends as well and might give feedback if it is normal or not. I just guess that it is normal, hehe.

[Svama]

Hi Tagirijus,

I don´t know what´s happening under the hood of the other plugins. I´ve tried and compared some of my different Compressors in their default settings with fast attack and fast release and wondered about the distortion of mdynamics, But you´re right with some tweaks it´s not distorting anymore.
Just for fun I´ve tried it now with the compressor preset in the easy screen and it distorts like hell with fast attack and release times.
I don´t know if this is the right way to compare, cause different comps seem to react in different ways.

[Hexspa]

I think it's the RMS set to peak in conjunction with a 0ms attack and <3ms release. At that resolution and speed, it's tracking the individual cycles of waveforms as opposed to creating its own envelope. You can observe this graphically using the Follower modulator set to the same settings.

Other compressors don't generally allow you to set the RMS values but only the attack and release. Some exceptions may include one by TDR, for example. Melda, and this is a feature not a bug, gives you enough rope to hang yourself. That being said, 'compressor distortion' is an effect that engineers know and use.

[MeldaProduction]

Distortion is an effect, which occurs once the compressor speed is too fast. EVERY compressor will distort. The only difference is that MDynamics actually lets you get really fast, while many others won't. In extreme case, the compressor will become a waveshaper, so that gives you an idea.
So to avoid distortion, increase attack and/or release and/or rms and/or hold.

[Svama]

Thanks all for explanation. It’s working great. Love it.