asterism

asterism is a channel strip centered around a multiband compressor and oriented towards live performance.

Latest update:

• 2026.07.09 - Reordered dynamics section controls. Changed the "smooth" label to read "onset" instead. Changed the "offset" labels to read "detection offset" for clarity. Added controls for eq frequency, peak, and tilt, as well as high- and low-pass q to live mode.

Signal flow is from left to right. Explanations for controls are below.

Effects loop

Allows outboard or other plugins to be blended in:

• Fxloop sets the mix amount of the effects loop.
• Send sets the send level in dB. Send is output from outputs 3 and 4.
• Return sets the return level in dB. Return is input from inputs 3 and 4.
• Position sets the effects loop's position at either the input of the plugin (pre-processing), or immediately before the volume slider (post-processing, but before final volume, output and polarity controls).

Stereo

Controls for spatial positioning:

• Width allows for variable width reduction to mono.
• Pan allows for channel positioning from left to right.
• Order determines whether width or pan is processed first.

Filter

Standard high- and low-pass filters with Q controls:

• HP controls the high-pass frequency.
• LP controls the low-pass frequency.
• HP Q control the high-pass's Q factor.
• LP Q controls the low-pass's Q factor.

EQ

A standard peak filter and non-standard tilt filter centered around the same frequency and using the same Q factor:

• EQ controls the center frequency, shared by the peak and tilt filters.
• EQ peak controls the dB boost or cut for the peak filter.
• EQ tilt, when above 0 dB, creates a high-shelf boost with the set dB, along with a peak cut at 1/2 the frequency and 1/3 the dB. When below 0 dB, it creates a low-shelf boost with the set dB magnitude, along with a peak cut at 2x the frequency and 1/3 the dB magnitude.
• EQ Q controls the Q factor, shared by the peak and tilt filters.
• EQ pos determines where the eq is positioned relative to the dynamics section. By default, it's set to 50 / 50 (50 percent before dynamics and 50 percent after). With this setting, a 10 dB peak would effectively be split into a 5 dB peak before the dynamics section, and a 5 dB peak after.

Dynamics

A multiband dynamics processor with minimal per-band controls for ease of configuration.

It contains three bands, each consisting of four stages: an upwards compressor, downwards compressor and negator in series, and a negator in parallel. Negation is used here to mean a ratio of -1:1, distinct from negative downwards compression and negative upwards expansion in that it reduces dynamic range with a target that maintains, rather than reduces or increases, dynamics. In practice, the envelope affects dynamics regardless.

Some of the settings here allow for blending between values depending on the amount of compression occurring. These are indicated by the "low-comp" and "high-comp" prefixes:

• Drive controls the input level into the compressor.
• Thrsh sets the threshold that the compressor works above. Because of the interactions between stages, this should also be treated as a character control.
• Attack sets the base attack time.
• Release sets the base release time.
• Compensation adjusts transient smoothing, attack and release times for each band. 0% results in base times. 100% results in cycle-matched times with 20000 Hz as the baseline and each band adjusted with their upper crossover as reference. This has the effect of making the bands increasingly distortion-matched rather than time-matched, though the primary use for this control is to allow bass frequencies through.
• Adaptability sets how program-dependent attack and release can be. A setting of 4x means that attack and release can be 4x as fast or slow.
• Xover 1 sets the first crossover frequency. It automatically disables a band at its extremes.
• Xover 2 sets the second crossover frequency. It automatically disables a band at its extremes.
• Low-comp detection power sets the detection power for when minimal compression is happening. A setting of 1 is equivalent to peak compression. A setting of 2 is equivalent to RMS compression. Higher numbers lead to more sensitivity to peaks and more compression overall.
• High-comp detection power sets the detection power for when maximal compression is happening.
• Low-comp detection offset sets the detection offset for when minimal compression is happening. An offset of 0% creates more odd harmonics upon compression. An offset of 100% creates more even harmonics upon compression while also increasing compression.
• High-comp detection offset sets the detection offset for when maximal compression is happening.
• Response power controls the curve of the transition between low-comp and high-comp effects. This curve also affects any features that rely on the amount of compression occurring, such as vari-mu and sag.

• Transient controls how quickly the compressor smooths transients during detection.

• Thrsh low sets the threshold that the compressor works below, performing upwards compression at twice the set ratio. This allows for OTT-style compression. At its lowest setting, the upwards compressor is automatically bypassed.
• + negator sets the threshold for the series negator. This is calculated by treating the downwards compression stage as a linear compressor where the transfer function forms a right triangle with a base of size threshold and a height of size threshold / ratio. This control determines the point along the hypotenuse of this triangle where a second threshold can be located.
• || negator sets the mix amount for the parallel negator. The parallel negator shares the same threshold as the downwards compressor. This control can be used as a more dynamic version of the ratio control. It reduces dynamic range like the ratio control, but does so while directing dynamics in the negative direction.
• Ratio sets the ratio for the downwards and upwards compressors. It also affects the series negator by nature of it being in series.
• Vari-mu sets the maximum ratio multiplier. As compression increases, the multiplier to ratio scales up to the maximum. The series negator threshold calculation doesn't account for this, so it may have to be adjusted.

• Onset controls how quickly the compressor smooths gain changes after detection.

• Sag controls the amount of time over which the effects of sag occur. Sag weakens changes to dynamics as compression increases.

• Knee sets the knee width in dB of each stage of dynamics processing.

• Slew controls the percentage of attack and release times affected by slew-rate limiting.

• Makeup allows for gain compensation to the wet signal prior to mixing with the dry signal.
• Mix sets the balance between wet and dry signals. This is applied to individual bands.

Master

• EQ + dyn toggles the EQ and dynamics sections.
• Output adjusts the final output of the plugin in dB.
• Polarity toggles inversion of the signal's polarity.
• Band link controls how closely tied together the bands are during dynamics processing.
• Stereo link controls how closely tied together the channels are during dynamics processing.
• Vol is a pedal-style volume control.
• Live mode reduces the interface to a subset of commonly-modulated parameters. It also adjusts the color palette to better suit dark stages.