[forum help] Mturbocomp expand mode

[dot.solenoid]

I have an issue with the Mturbocomp expander mode: where can I find detailed expander and inverse information?

For now I'm not able to see any expanding behavior (amplifying) of my signal. When I set the (expanded mode) threshold on its lowest (or highest) setting (so work all the time) i would expect (or hoped) that more ratio would perform an upward compression. My goal is to mimic the waves m2v (low level) compressor. Also, the inverse button seems not to inverse the compressor (Amplify) & threshold behaviour (act below the threshold).

Does Mturbocomp "expansion” means downward expansion?: when a signal drops below a set threshold, the downward expander pulls it even farther down toward the noise floor. Like a conventional noise-gate, if so .. how do I enable upward expansion?

The basic concept: Low-level compression causes quieter aspects of a signal to be amplified whenever they fall below a set threshold. Opposite to a typical compressor, a low-level compressor works by amplifying the nuanced details of a track or instrument, not by attenuating the loudest parts of a signal and use makeup gain.

From the Waves MV2 Manual – a depiction of the MV2’s low-level compression.



The best way to understand a low-level compressor is to picture it being used on an individual instrument, like a snare. A typical compressor would attenuate or turn down the transient of the snare whenever it becomes louder than a specific threshold. A low-level compressor can also turn down this transient, but it will also amplify everything quieter than the transient until that transient occurs again.

So my preset in Mturbocomp needs two thresholds, detectors and processors:
Low compression: amplify the signal below a threshold point (not able to realize this)
High compression: attenuation above another threshold point (working)

Any tips here?

[SeeingInMidi]

To enable upward compression, you just need to set maximize to 100% under the general settings. Play with the thresh, ratio and range to get your desired upward compression curve. It's a bit finicky and i have requested a more streamlined upward compression switch but the request had been shut down.

[Hexspa]

The way I learned it, the standard terms are 'upward compression' - what Waves is calling 'low-level compression' - and 'downward compression' which is what normal compressors are. Both of these reduce dynamic range.

There's also downward expansion, which is basically a gate, and upward expansion which increases dynamic range but I'm not sure how this is different than upward compression.

I'm not a dynamics processing guru but, if you search for 'upward compression', you might find more info.

[Held]

So my preset in Mturbocomp needs two thresholds, detectors and processors:
Low compression: amplify the signal below a threshold point (not able to realize this)
High compression: attenuation above another threshold point (working)

Any tips here?

I tried to do this in MTurboComp too, and I couldn't figure out a way to do it.

It's pretty easy in MCompressor, though. Just select custom shape and copy the compression curve from your post. There's also a preset called "Upward compression, but the shape looks more like downwards compression with make-up gain

You can also do it in MDynamics. Either with the two processors or the custom shape. There you also get advanced stuff like look-ahead and temporary gain.

MTurboComp looks like it's the most advanced compressor, but it seems actually less capable than MDynamics upon closer inspection. (As far as pure compression is concerned. It has other stuff like saturation and EQ that MDynamics doesn't have.)

Edit: Never mind, I somehow missed this part and MTurboComp can do it too. There are so many options with MeldaPlugins.

To enable upward compression, you just need to set maximize to 100% under the general settings.

[DaneJ]

What about the Low Level Boost under the Limiting Tab on mDynamics? it seems to do something very similar and give me a similar result, The Dry/Wet would be the level control I guess.