HOME > LABS > TDR FEEDBACK COMPRESSOR

• Fixed occasional crashes when switching the sample-rate in certain hosts
• I killed the HP sidechain filter with the previous update, sorry guys. This is now fixed.

• New 3dB/Oct energy equalization filter option for the side-chain
• Meter scale bug fixed where the selected range did not persist across sessions
• CPU load reduced by ~20%!

• Harmonics section completely re-factored and renamed “COLOR”. The effect is now compression dependent
• “BLEND” knob mapping and display changed to dB scale. The range is limited to max -20dB. You’ll now have to use the BYPASS switch to achieve lower values ;)

• Fixed bug related to GUI refresh
• Fixed bug in the HF harmonics section
• Ratio knob mapping slightly improved

• Both scale and reduction meter can now be clicked to switch the gain reduction meter range
• Three reduction meter ranges now available: -8dB, -16dB and -32dB
• Harmonics section improved

• “UI state not preserved after hiding and showing the plug-in (in reaper).” fixed!
• Threshold range increased to -50dB
• Small UI enhancements

• IMPORTANT: Internal ratio increased, the displayed ratio value is now much closer to reality. The behaviour below 2.5:1 exactly corresponds to the previous versions. However, higher ratios will now trigger much more dramatic gain reduction effect (beware, they will also introduce comparably high amounts of distortion).
• Reduction scale can be clicked to switch the visible gain reduction range from 8dB to 16dB
• Internal dithering added (not a feature, it just improves the algorithm)
• Mouse sensitivity of all knobs increased by 25%
• Bug fix: SHIFT modifier for knobs (fine-tune mode) now work as expected
• Sample-rates of 88.2kHz and above are now handled very efficiently
• Overall performance improvements

• Compressor “ON” switch replaced by a “BYPASS” switch
• New “PEAK” detection mode option
• Make-up Gain and Output Gain now remain active when “DELTA” is enabled
• Small performance improvements

• GUI and signal flow updated
• “Make-up Gain” now takes place before “Blend”
• Additional “Output Gain” knob
• HF and LF harmonics are now adjustable to taste
• HF harmonics improved. Sounds much better!
• New “Delta” preview mode
• Small GUI tweaks

Compressor bypass

Bypass the whole processor. The bypass signal is latency compensated for perfect time-alignment with the processed signal. The compressor is never deactivated for better comparison of between processed and original signal.

Delta

The delta mode allows to preview the difference between original and compressed signal.

RMS/Peak

Select the compressor’s detection method. Both have a distinct sound and behavior. The RMS detection (the default setting before v. 0.3.00) results in a smooth and musical gain reduction well suited for the 2-bus. The PEAK option enables a simple peak detector instead and create a more “direct” compression sound. The latter is a useful alternative in tracking/mixing applications.

Threshold

The “depth” of compression. The threshold affects compression based on the compressor’s output RMS level, not the input level. Additionally, the effective threshold is knee dependent (the higher the knee, the deeper the effective threshold).

Ratio

The “Amount” of compression. The effective ratio is dynamic will depend on many other factors as well, most notably “Knee” and input signal.

Knee

The knee control allows to smooth the static compression knee to taste. Soft knee effectively makes the ratio level-dependent.

Sidechain

The “HP” switch inserts a 6dB/oct high-pass filter into the side-chain. This can help the compressor to “ignore” low frequency content and thus prevent over-compression and distortion. The “EN” switch enables a 3dB/Oct energy equalization (more details about the feature soon). Note that the side-chain signal is further “conditioned” internally for transparent compression.

Attack

The attack time controls allows to set the speed of gain reduction. Note that due to the feed-back structure, the effective attack time will depend on program material, as well as Ratio and Knee settings.

The compressor offers access to a wide-range of attack/release times, very fast ones as well. To avoid unpleasant distortion at low frequency events, it is recommended to keep the sum of attack and release times above ~60ms in RMS mode and above ~100ms in PEAK mode at any time. However, a faster setting might be just right for the drums and percussions.

Release

The release time controls allows to set the speed of gain recovery after reduction. Due to the feed-back structure, the effective release time will depend on program material, as well as Ratio and Knee settings.

Adaptive Release (AR)

Enables an (additional) program dependency for the release filter. Small peaks will recover faster, steady state signals will release longer. The adaptive release is relative to the release time setting.

Make Up Gain

Use the make-up gain control to compensate the gain-reduction introduced by the compressor. Set the Make-Up value according to the maximum gain reduction indicated by the gain reduction meter. Important: The make-up amplification happens before “blend”.

Color

The color section allows to control the amount of “color” introduced by the processor. The effect is compression dependent (i.e. no compression = no generated harmonics) and very subtle. It is meant to replicate the musically useful saturation known from well crafted analogue gear.

LF

Low frequency harmonics can add a pleasant amount of subjective weight and depth.

HF

High frequency harmonics will enhance/excite the upper frequencies of most material.

Blend

This is essentially a dry/wet control. However, in the case of compression, something very useful happens to the static compression curve when blending the original signal with the compressed signal: The static compression knee will look like an “S”, that is, very high level peaks will trigger less reduction than mid-level peaks. It provides a special kind of upward compression which very useful for mastering purposes.

Output Gain

The output gain control is provided for gain staging purposes and is meant to trim the output level. Do not use this control to compensate gain reduction! Just leave it at 0dB in case you’re not sure. Output amplification happens after the blend function.

Gain Reduction Meter

The amount of gain reduction. A blue meter color indicates that the RMS mode is active, orange means that the PEAK mode is active.

Click the reduction meter to change the meter range from 8dB over 16dB to 32dB.