Fuse Audio Labs releases the VCL-373 Vintage Compressor/Limiter

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Unfortunately, it doesn't work properly, at least with my gain-staging.

How hot a level and what type of signal are you feeding it that you need more than 12db of Trim?

If I had to make a semi-educated guess, it would be that you're feeding it way too hot a signal and running into the fixed threshold which is causing the volume to drop due to large amounts of compression. If you're expecting VCL-373 to compensate the ouput gain automatically at this stage, that's not how it's designed to work.

In the case of crazy hot signals (close to 0dbfs), you'd actually want to turn the Drive knob down (not up) to get a reasonable level of compression, and you'd find that by driving it downwards, your volume will go up. If you feed it a very hot signal and drive it up even further, you may actually be making things even quieter as the plugin is already compensating the gain against the fixed threshold, but again, then you can still always Trim up to 12db. If this sounds like your scenario, I think this is more about your gain-staging and not about how the plugin operates.

[zvenx]

And bought.
Is this suppose to be an emulation of the hardware that this is an emulation of?
https://shop.audified.com/products/u73b-compressor

rsp

[Lesha]

And bought.
Is this suppose to be an emulation of the hardware that this is an emulation of?
https://shop.audified.com/products/u73b-compressor

rsp

No, U73 is an earlier compressor with a tube-based circuit.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

And bought.
Is this suppose to be an emulation of the hardware that this is an emulation of?
https://shop.audified.com/products/u73b-compressor

rsp

They're similar, but this appears to be based on the TAB U373. Here's some history on the variations:

http://www.tab-funkenwerk.com/id6.html

The TAB is mentioned at the bottom.

[zvenx]

Thanks @Lesha and @Funkybot's Evil Twin.
Btw FET, I agree with you re: 110%....I too would prefer more options larger rather than smaller.
rsp

[fuseaudiolabs]

Just bought. Another great release. Love these types of dynamics processors that are a bit more off the beaten path (would love to see an Altec 436B or Pye). Put it on a drum bus and across a mix and liked what I heard. At this price, it's a complete no-brainer.

One suggestion: this UI borders on small even at 110% over here, so I wouldn't mind seeing a wider range of GUI sizes. Especially since the difference between 100% and 110% is very tiny IMO. I think 130% and I'd be very happy with the size. Maybe even shoot for 20% increments over 10%.

Also not a big deal but the Release knob rotation looks weird here. It looks like as the indicator moves towards the right, that the rest of the knob is turning in the opposite direction. Probably just an optical illusion due to the indented knob and stepped behavior, but just looks funny to me.

Great job Ray!

Hey Funkybot's Evil Twin,

Thanks for your comments, very appreciated.

Regarding the UI size: It was in fact brought up during the beta test, but not prioritized for this release. However, bigger scales for 4K screens and the like are definitely planned and will be added in the next update.

Hopefully more good news: There's more stuff underway that can be considered off the beaten path category.

Best,
Ray

[zvenx]

What I love most.
It is dead easy to use and sound great.
Those two characteristics win for me everytime.
Can't tell you how many gear that I have bought that sound great but complicated to use and therefore never get used to the point I sometimes forget I even have them.
This will get a lot of use.
thanks
rsp

[Scarlet Pumpernickel]

Drive goes up to +24, it would be, if nothing else, logical for Trim to go -24.

The drive is already compensated for internally.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work properly, at least with my gain-staging.

Please check the manual for more details (it's mentioned in the "the controls" section under the trim paragraph). The gain compensation in the compressor mode can't work perfectly for all types of signals and/or settings, which is a natural fact. It should give you a good starting point, however, as opposed to what you would hear without any compensation at all. Given the built in gain correction law, -12dB..+12dB trim is enough to cover the correction range required to level match your signals.

Hope this helps.

I do not expect gain compensation to work well (never encountered one that does), that is why I'd like manual compensation (Trim) to be a bit more flexible (12dB more flexible to be specific). And there's no problem in limit mode; it's when I compress soft signals, I need more than -12dB to compensate.

[Scarlet Pumpernickel]

Unfortunately, it doesn't work properly, at least with my gain-staging.

How hot a level and what type of signal are you feeding it that you need more than 12db of Trim?

If I had to make a semi-educated guess, it would be that you're feeding it way too hot a signal and running into the fixed threshold which is causing the volume to drop due to large amounts of compression. If you're expecting VCL-373 to compensate the ouput gain automatically at this stage, that's not how it's designed to work.

In the case of crazy hot signals (close to 0dbfs), you'd actually want to turn the Drive knob down (not up) to get a reasonable level of compression, and you'd find that by driving it downwards, your volume will go up. If you feed it a very hot signal and drive it up even further, you may actually be making things even quieter as the plugin is already compensating the gain against the fixed threshold, but again, then you can still always Trim up to 12db. If this sounds like your scenario, I think this is more about your gain-staging and not about how the plugin operates.

It's the other way around - I'm feeding it soft signals, so if I want to compress them heavily, -12dB trim isn't enough to bring it to equal loudness.

[axb312]

Just bought. Another great release. Love these types of dynamics processors that are a bit more off the beaten path (would love to see an Altec 436B or Pye). Put it on a drum bus and across a mix and liked what I heard. At this price, it's a complete no-brainer.

One suggestion: this UI borders on small even at 110% over here, so I wouldn't mind seeing a wider range of GUI sizes. Especially since the difference between 100% and 110% is very tiny IMO. I think 130% and I'd be very happy with the size. Maybe even shoot for 20% increments over 10%.

Also not a big deal but the Release knob rotation looks weird here. It looks like as the indicator moves towards the right, that the rest of the knob is turning in the opposite direction. Probably just an optical illusion due to the indented knob and stepped behavior, but just looks funny to me.

Great job Ray!

Hey Funkybot's Evil Twin,

Thanks for your comments, very appreciated.

Regarding the UI size: It was in fact brought up during the beta test, but not prioritized for this release. However, bigger scales for 4K screens and the like are definitely planned and will be added in the next update.

Hopefully more good news: There's more stuff underway that can be considered off the beaten path category.

Best,
Ray

Ray,

Are you planning an update which will allow manual value entry (for input gain)...how about a preset manager?

[Rockatansky]

I do not expect gain compensation to work well (never encountered one that does)

How would/could it.
Compression is a non-linear process, it changes the volume dynamically over time, multiplies every sample by a different value depending on the envelope's state and timings.
A volume change on the other hand is linear and static, it multiplies every sample by the same factor.

If you would try to counter-act the volume changes of a non-linear compression process with its inverse envelope, so an envelope that changes the volume up by the same amount the compression envelope lowered it, you'd just end up with the same signal you had when you started and without any sign of compression.

If you'd try to counter-act the volume changes of a non-linear compression with yet another non-linear envelope, but a different one than was used to compress the signal, you'd just end up with either less compression or a really irrationally changing signal.

So all that remains is to counter-act the dynamic volume changes of compression with a static volume change, so multiplying the signal by a constant factor. This factor is quite often calculated by the threshold and ratio settings, but I think there are just about as many make-up variations as there are developers of dynamic processors. Since there's no one universal always-reliable always-desirable way to do it.

[Scarlet Pumpernickel]

I do not expect gain compensation to work well (never encountered one that does)

How would/could it.
Compression is a non-linear process, it changes the volume dynamically over time, multiplies every sample by a different value depending on the envelope's state and timings.
A volume change on the other hand is linear and static, it multiplies every sample by the same factor.

If you would try to counter-act the volume changes of a non-linear compression process with its inverse envelope, so an envelope that changes the volume up by the same amount the compression envelope lowered it, you'd just end up with the same signal you had when you started and without any sign of compression.

If you'd try to counter-act the volume changes of a non-linear compression with yet another non-linear envelope, but a different one than was used to compress the signal, you'd just end up with either less compression or a really irrationally changing signal.

So all that remains is to counter-act the dynamic volume changes of compression with a static volume change, so multiplying the signal by a constant factor. This factor is quite often calculated by the threshold and ratio settings, but I think there are just about as many make-up variations as there are developers of dynamic processors. Since there's no one universal always-reliable always-desirable way to do it.

Well there is a way that kinda works - insert LUFS detector and apply gain dynamically, but it's resource intensive and artistically and functionally not desirable (as You explained it yourself). Best approach for me is the one in Eiosis Air EQ - it's just showing you the delta and you can adjust accordingly.
Speaking of adjustment, in case of 373 I'm not asking to change its architecture or implement new processing features, merely for output Trim to have more range; for me as a non coder it doesn't seem as an excessively complex task.
And while we're at it (being ungrateful that is) making all the numbers clickable would be a godsend.

[fuseaudiolabs]

Well there is a way that kinda works - insert LUFS detector and apply gain dynamically, but it's resource intensive and artistically and functionally not desirable (as You explained it yourself). Best approach for me is the one in Eiosis Air EQ - it's just showing you the delta and you can adjust accordingly.
Speaking of adjustment, in case of 373 I'm not asking to change its architecture or implement new processing features, merely for output Trim to have more range; for me as a non coder it doesn't seem as an excessively complex task.
And while we're at it (being ungrateful that is) making all the numbers clickable would be a godsend.

Hi there,

What is the max. readout on your compressor GR meter? It sounds as if your signal lives largely below the compressor threshold which isn't the range the gain compensation is designed for and in which case I'd recommend resorting to limiter mode which has a simple linear gain compensation law.

There isn't the one universal way that works well in all scenarios as already pointed out by others, plus these approaches are typically calibrated under the assumption that your signal is actually being compressed.

Let me know if you'd like to go through more of the technical details via PM or here just in case you like.

Regarding the numerical input: It's not on the list to be honest, but it could be considered as a future feature update given there's enough demand among customers.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Ray

[sqigls]

I think the larger GUIs need to be re-rendered in resolution, or for each size or something.
I'm suspecting that would make the .vst or .dll file much bigger in size, but currently anything over 100% is too blurry to use for me.

[fuseaudiolabs]

Ray,

Are you planning an update which will allow manual value entry (for input gain)...how about a preset manager?

Hi axb312,

Numerical value input is not planned but may be considered for a future update given there's enough demand for such a feature.

For preset management we rely on what's provided by each respective host protocol. There may be some cases (e.g. Studio One VST3), where factory presets are not yet available. However, there are simple workarounds for those setups. Please refer to the known issues section in the FAQ under https://fuseaudiolabs.de/#faq for more details.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Ray