KVR Audio

DaveGamble · Post by **DaveGamble** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:06 pm

Heya,

So, with Oversampling on, it is, as you guessed earlier, more accurate. This is leading to a more wiggly gain reduction signal (even though the overall average GR might be less, this one is more spikey, since it's at 88k instead of 44k), and that's increasing the aliasing overall. This is a bit of a special case, and an interesting one, too.
When I (internally) disable running the sidechain oversampled, you ALWAYS see a drop in aliasing from switching oversampling on. I did ponder making more options for the oversampling mode, but in the end, decided to keep that simple, since it's only under extreme/unusual settings that you'll see a result this interesting!

It has made me ponder the performance of the resampling engine. Of course, it can be improved at the expense of higher CPU cost, but I'm wondering if I can tweak more out of it without extra cost... Hrmmmm...

Cheers,

Dave.

bezusheist · Post by **bezusheist** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:31 pm

ok...thanks for checking that out...i'm glad it's not a bug...
sounds like you have a challenge now...get to it already...

CoolColJ · Post by **CoolColJ** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:22 am

Trying it now, and it seems pretty cool, kind alike the Alesis Andromeda of Plugin compressors!

You have plugins that can emulate a specific sound or hardware, but Compassion seems to be able to dabble in every area and make sounds you can't get anywhere. Just add Nebula after it with a transformer or preamp path colour for the hardware tone

I managed to emulate my Focusrite Compounder, an opto type compressor with a very aggressive squashing sound and snappy attack pop. Previously the closest I got was with Stillwell's Rocket, but it sounded more wooly and a bit cold. With Compassion, I started with the Opto character mod first, but it wasn't quite right, then using the British type 1 mod as a starting point, and a few more tweaks, I got pretty close in character, which so far is better than anything else - especially with the slight hidden low end sidechain the Compunder has.

Bare in mind the Focusrite Compunder clip went through AD, Xtramix, and back into DA. The stereo imaging bleed is not quite the same, but I imgaine you can emulate some of that with the options Compassion have with more time, and trial and error

Original
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/bli ... iginal.mp3

Focusrite Compunder
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/bli ... punder.mp3

Compassion
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/bli ... assion.mp3

StillWell Rocket
http://www.members.optushome.com.au/bli ... Rocket.mp3

Krzysztof Oktalski · Post by **Krzysztof Oktalski** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:52 am

Great results mate, a little more tweaking and you'll have it perfect. We keep dreaming about making a preset exchange for customers; hopefully it'll happen in the next 6 months. Your method of adding distortion pre/post Compassion is something I do a lot myself, great technique that you can use to replicate pretty much anything in dynamics. I've never heard a dynamics processor that you can't get exceedingly similar to in Compassion; sometimes it needs distortion to get it sounding right.

As a hint, that De-esser preset is magic, it really is. With just a few tweaks you can use it to deal with pretty much any sibilance issues in the most transparent way possible - completely different from traditional de-essing methods, and far more clean.

Compassion has so many uses, it's hard to fathom them all - I've even used it as a waveshaper and got it to output complete drum patterns from white noise and sine waves!

gzabriel · Post by **gzabriel** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:52 pm

Krzysztof Oktalski wrote:...and got it to output complete drum patterns from white noise and sine waves!

I would love to see videos detailing some of these more esoteric uses. I'm a big fan of Compassion. It doesn't feel like a swiss army knife as much as it does a toy box, which makes compression creative and fun.

snigelx · Post by **snigelx** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:18 pm

Hi mates. Can someone expand a bit on how to use the transient design function of this thoughtfully constructed compressor? Thank you very much in advance! Cheers

Eleventh · Post by **Eleventh** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 3:36 pm

So, any news about this great plugin? I've been trying it out for a couple of days now and I really like it so far. Especially the split-band compression and expansion are great tools to have!

There really seems to be a lot of depth in the plugin and I've already spent several hours tweaking sounds with the help of the manual. Still, there are some things that could be explained a bit more carefully. For example the Release Type parameter should more clearly state that it scales between releasing to signal or to zero, so that I wouldn't have to refer to the manual every time I happen to forget it (which still happens quite often with so many different parameters). The "VCA Smoothing" remains very mysterious too.

I would also like to have more information about the transient shaper circuit. The attack control seems pretty straight-forward with the length determining the duration of the affected attack, but I'm not really getting the hang of the Env Follower and Sustain Env, and particularly the interaction between the two.

Also I saw somebody asking about the auto-release times and their relation to actual optical compression, where the length of the release is not only dependant on the intensity but also the duration the light has been lit. Does Compassion model that "after-glow" effect too? I'm curious about the Main-EQ filtering (72hz HPF) in the "Classic Opto" preset too.

Oh and another thing: I find the preset loader hard to use, because it always defaults to the Desktop directory and navigating to Compassion's folder is very time consuming. And when I load a preset list, for example bmaniac's mastering presets, it overrides the default ones, so I can't really use it like that. The mod system works well with clearly labeled subdirectories though. There should be the same kind of subcategory system in the preset list where you could just add presets at will. Or perhaps just combine the two to reduce complexity.

Btw, how's the preset sharing thing coming along? One would think that with a quality plugin like this there would be more buzz and presets floating around, but I can't find much of anything. It seems very underrated, but maybe most of the people just don't like detailed tweaking that much.

I'll definitely be buying this one in the near future along with EQuick (awesome functional GUI, unlike EQuality).

Oh, and merry christmas to you all!

manducator · Post by **manducator** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 3:54 pm

Eleventh wrote:Btw, how's the preset sharing thing coming along? One would think that with a quality plugin like this there would be more buzz and presets floating around, but I can't find much of anything. It seems very underrated, but maybe most of the people just don't like detailed tweaking that much.

That's the disappointing part of the plugin. I bought it but some of the tweaks are too much for me, I don't know the characteristics of hardware comps.

So I ended up not using it... I expected lots of hardware emulations but they never came.

The fact that I don't use it says more about me than about the quality of the product. DMGaudio is great stuff. I use their eq's daily!

snigelx · Post by **snigelx** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 4:09 pm

Eleventh wrote:...but I'm not really getting the hang of the Env Follower and Sustain Env, and particularly the interaction between the two.

Exactly my confusion as well. Is the initial transient somehow shaped with the follower? I understand this is how some shapers work but please explain your thinking behind designing these Transient Shaping controls Dave. Seasons Cheers and Beers...and smoked sausages

Eleventh · Post by **Eleventh** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 9:48 pm

I saw people earlier in this thread getting a little confused with the preset/mod browser and it happened to me too when I first started demoing the plugin. I came up with an idea to alleviate this problem, what do you guys think:

The idea is to avoid confusion by combining the preset and mod browsers into one. The user could then quickly see the affected parameters, and either click on the preset name which loads all the parameters, or tick/untick parameter groups/single parameters separately and click Load. (Oh, and undo should unload the whole mod, not one parameter at a time).

Also the description field would be handy to inform users about the characteristics of the mod, typical uses, typical attack/release times etc, basically to speed up the learning process.

EDIT: Now when I'm looking at the sketch, I think the dropdown menus listing the affected parameters should always list everything, albeit those that aren't affected should remain unchecked. This way you could quickly recognize what's going to be changed from a familiar pattern.

LiteOn · Post by **LiteOn** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 10:32 pm

Has someone ever heard abot Dave within the last weeks? I'm asking because I've sent some mails but haven't got a reply yet. I guess he's on X-Mas vacation right now - far away from kvr ...

Cheers,
LiteOn

33tetragammon · Post by **33tetragammon** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 10:44 pm

LiteOn wrote:Has someone ever heard abot Dave within the last weeks? I'm asking because I've sent some mails but haven't got a reply yet. I guess he's on X-Mas vacation right now - far away from kvr ...

Cheers,
LiteOn

Last time i had contact with him he was busy creating some exciting new DSP stuff. See this thread (starting at page 2):

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... c&start=15

Plus he mentioned his new eq was coming along nicely when i asked about it. I also asked him about preset sharing and tutorials regarding Compassion. It sounds amazing, but it's still too much for me to understand what the hell it all does. The manual is ok, but practical examples could really skyrocket people like me to use it more often. I'm scared of Compassion actually, it's like when i first bought N.I's Absynth 4....Compassion is like the Absynth of dynamics to me.
Luckily i have gotten to know Absynth really well....Now on to Compassion.....

DAVE.....HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave?!?!?!?!?

Eleventh · Post by **Eleventh** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 3:00 pm

So has anyone been in contact with Dave recently? My demo licenses are running out and I haven't recieved a student account for DMGAudio yet

DaveGamble · Post by **DaveGamble** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:25 pm

Hey,

I am alive.
Just popping my head up from dev stuff. New EQ is... huge... and it's taken longer than predicted because, well, there are loads of ideas for awesome features, and they're ALL GOING IN. (We have a neat new structure for organising things, it isn't turning into a mess. In fact, quite the reverse. It's slick). All the DSP is done now, loads of modelled gear and nice things, parallel mode, free-adjust phase response, etc. Tip of the iceberg. You'll see fairly soon. I'm hacking away at the UI right now.

Lemme reply to posts...

Dave.

DaveGamble · Post by **DaveGamble** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:38 pm

snigelx wrote:Hi mates. Can someone expand a bit on how to use the transient design function of this thoughtfully constructed compressor? Thank you very much in advance! Cheers

Hey,

The transient shaper operates in parallel with the main compressor; it reads whatever you've configured/EQed as sidechain, and responds to that.

It's a standard transient operator inasmuch as there are three envelope followers with configurable times, and the difference between what the envelope follower sees produces the "attack" and "sustain" sections. This is the same kind of thinking as the SPL Transient Designer, but with a different implementation.

The controls you have are:
On/Off
Env Follower - sets the overall smoothing of the "reference" envelope follower. This is a time-constant, like most dynamics time controls, so it's a half-life rather than an actual time period.
Attack Env - sets the speed of the attack follower; compare this to the Env follower speed. To get "more" Attack section (i.e. a larger part of the attack), you can increase this, or decrease the Env Follower.
Sustain Env - sets the speed of the sustain follower; again compare with the Env follower speed. To get "more" Sustain section, increase this or decrease the Env follower.

Max - This processor can generate an AWFUL amount of gain increase very fast. Max provides a cap to gain Increase.

Attack - How much boost to apply to the Attack portion, which I think is actually a ratio of dB/dB to increase/decrease.
Sustain - same for Sustain portion.

As a rule, the Env Follower/Attack Env/Sustain Env values should work pretty well, and you'd just play with Attack and Sustain... but if you DID want to get into tweaking, you could. As a rule, Env Follower ought to be the shortest time period, but if you want to experiment, you can. Bear in mind that it's protected though, so if it's doing nothing, that means that you've picked some weird values that it can't quite process...

If you really want it to generate "more", increase Max. I would not recommend setting it all the way up. But the choice is yours

Hope this helps!

Dave.

DMGAudio Compassion (Launched)