New gainrider looking good - which one's the best?

[HoRNet]

I think I can add something to the discussion.

Both a compressor and any of our AutoGain plugins share the same concept at the heart, but there are some small differences.
First AutoGain is a downward and upward compressor at the same time and when used with external reference you also have a floating threshold.
This is because the plugin works by analysing the level of the external side chain (or the fixed reference) and applying the gain needed to raise or lower the main input so the it matches the reference.
The time constants you see in our plugins (attack and release) are there to smooth out this action and make things more musical.
So in a sense these plugins are both similar and different to a compressor.

Saverio

[Bouroki]

I think the confusion stems from the fact that a human can never ride faders and respond to the signal as fast as a dynamics processor can, so it is not that intuitive to comprehend. If we could have human "release times" of 50ms, then we would also be introducing coloration/distortion just by doing that!

It is very possible to approximate the behavior of a human if you set the time constants slow enough, and add some lookahead & hold, rms detection (or even better - weighted rms detection to better approximate how we perceive loudness), and also ideally some intelligent detection of vocal phrases/drum hits/bass notes etc... Then it's possible to get it to work very transparently the same way a human would. This applies equally both to compressors and gain riders. There is no difference.

[Ou_Tis]

That's only "downward" compression - one kind of compression that also just happens to be the most commonly used one. But there is also upward compression which you have in many compressor plugins like Waves C1, RenComp, MV2, Kotelnikov GE off the top of my head.

These "gain riders" apply a combination of the two. I don't deny its utility/convenience, but they definitely WILL alter the sound in the exact same way a compressor would if set to be identical.

Comparing Neutron's upward compressor with Outlaw Gain Rider set to only add gain and with apparently similar attack/release settings, the sound is very different. At anything other than very slight gain increases Neutron sounds horribly distorted, even with noise gating, whereas Outlaw sounds transparent even after adding significant amounts of gain. Could just be that I'm not using Neutron correctly but I doubt it. I've been thinking of trying other upward compressors like Waves C1 or MV2 but Waves itself says, "Achieving good results on an upward compressor typically requires that you use subtle settings. Heavy settings will not usually yield pleasant sounds."

Or do you think the difference comes from the gain riders effectively always using infinite ratio but with a limit on maximum gain applied (which most compressors don't have, other than MPressor which I'd suppose I could test...)?

[plexuss]

The one I use the most is the leveler in Sound Radix Powair. It uses perceived loudness and has a sweet little UI to go with it. The compressor in Powair is also very nice and innovative.

[alibling]

Somebody tryed tb pro's dynaride?


https://www.tb-software.com/TBProAudio/dynaride.html

[ilmai]

Somebody tryed tb pro's dynaride?

https://www.tb-software.com/TBProAudio/dynaride.html

I'm using it, simple to set up and works well for me but I haven't tried the alternatives so can't give a comparison unfortunately.

[Caine123]

I mostly use Waves rider and it works well for me. Recently I´ve found a Melda one that I actually like better. https://www.meldaproduction.com/MAutoVolume I know many will start criticizing the GUI, but the truth is that the results are great.
Also I support making 80´s music in 2019. Totally.

Thx this is interesting cause i try to replace waves plugins because of wup.....

[Caine123]

The one I use the most is the leveler in Sound Radix Powair. It uses perceived loudness and has a sweet little UI to go with it. The compressor in Powair is also very nice and innovative.

Oh i didnt know it! I got powair bit always treated it as a comp. But if this can also act like wave rider i can replace it then. Thx

[SparkySpark]

The one I use the most is the leveler in Sound Radix Powair. It uses perceived loudness and has a sweet little UI to go with it. The compressor in Powair is also very nice and innovative.

Yes, lovely! A bit on the expensive side maybe, but what an UI!
https://www.soundradix.com/products/powair/

[DPhil]

Ineed Powair or the AutoGain are great. So far I experienced the waves ones to just work. And if there's a part where they don't, just alter the automation instead of fiddeling with knobs.

[plexuss]

The one I use the most is the leveler in Sound Radix Powair. It uses perceived loudness and has a sweet little UI to go with it. The compressor in Powair is also very nice and innovative.

Oh i didnt know it! I got powair bit always treated it as a comp. But if this can also act like wave rider i can replace it then. Thx

Yes... Powair has two parts: leveler and compressor. you can turn off the compressor and just use it as a leveller. you'll likely have to tailor the release time which you can find in the options box at the bottom. if its not working the way you'd like its probably because of the release - the default i think is in the 100ms's which is too fast for track leveling. I usually use 2-3s . The beauty of it is that it uses loudness and gives good control of upper and lower loudness limit to ride between.

[BlackImpact]

The one I use the most is the leveler in Sound Radix Powair. It uses perceived loudness and has a sweet little UI to go with it. The compressor in Powair is also very nice and innovative.

If you don’t mind me asking, how do you use PowAir as a leveler?

[TBlake]

If you don’t mind me asking, how do you use PowAir as a leveler?

look at plexuss's post (one post above yours) and let that sink in for a moment...

Yes... Powair has two parts: leveler and compressor. you can turn off the compressor and just use it as a leveller. you'll likely have to tailor the release time which you can find in the options box at the bottom. if its not working the way you'd like its probably because of the release - the default i think is in the 100ms's which is too fast for track leveling. I usually use 2-3s . The beauty of it is that it uses loudness and gives good control of upper and lower loudness limit to ride between.

[BlackImpact]

Can anybody provide a general visual of some basic settings for SoundRadix PowAir that are currently using it as a leveler? I've been trying to guess it but I don't think I'm doing it right.

[plexuss]

Can anybody provide a general visual of some basic settings for SoundRadix PowAir that are currently using it as a leveler? I've been trying to guess it but I don't think I'm doing it right.

The mail levelling feature is on the left. the trick is to set the integration time slider at the bottom to about 1500ms so that the level adjustment set by the controls on the right vertical input area sound natural. The compressor in the middle is more of a separate compression stage if you want to use it with the leveller. RTFM for the parameters of the leveller. I use the leveller and compressor as two separate processes and if I just need levelling I dont use the compressor, although it is handy to have there to tweek the over-all dynamics.