TC electronic SDN BHD Gold Channel Soft Compressor, Vintage Compressor, Input Drive, Output Gain

THE BLOCKS

Soft Compressor

This is a feed forward compressor.. It sounds very smooth and works well on acoustic and electronic instruments.

Threshold

When the input level exceeds the Threshold, the Compressor will be activated. This means that the lower the Threshold, the more compression you will get.

Ratio

The Ratio of the gain reduction. E.g.: When the Ratio is set to 4:1 it means that for every 4dB the input level rises, the output level increases by only 1 dB.

Attack

The Attack time is the response time that the Compressor uses to reach the gain reduction specified by the Ratio parameter. Example: If the input signal suddenly increases to 4dB above threshold in no time with the Ratio set to 4:1 and the Attack set to 20 ms, the Compressor will use 20 ms to reach the gain reduction of 1 dB.

Release

Release sets the fall back time of the Compressor, after the signal drops below the Threshold.

Knee Mode

The Knee Mode parameter sets the bending point of the compressor to soft knee or hard knee. When soft knee is selected, the Compressor will gradually reach the ratio, while hard knee will cause the Compressor to go directly from no compression to the set ratio.

Output

Output adjusts the output gain after compression, to compensate the loss of level caused by the compression.

SIDECHAIN

The Sidechain is the reference signal that the Compressor is listening to internally for processing. You will never hear this signal on the output.

Input

When placed on Channel 1, you can select the Sidechain Input to be either the Same (Ch.1) or Channel 2.

Example: If you select to have Sidechain input from Ch.2, you can go to the Layout page and select Ch. 1 Pre, as input to Ch.2. Now you have all the blocks on Ch. 2 for processing the Sidechain signal on Ch. 1. You can also have a completely different input on Ch. 2.

NOTE: When two blocks are linked, you cannot select Ch. 2 as input for Ch. 1 Sidechain.

Vintage Compressor

This compressor is a bit more specialized and “vintage”- like. It is a very musical compressor that sounds especially good on vocals.

It’s a feedback type compressor which means that it gets its Sidechain input from its output, and therefore it is not possible to have another separate input to the Sidechain.

Input Drive

The Compressor works with a fixed threshold at -24 dB, so the Input Drive is meant for adjusting the input level to fit this threshold.

Example: The more you boost the Input Drive, the more you will exceed the fixed threshold, and you will get more compression.

Output Gain

Output Gain adjusts the level after the compression, enabling you to compensate for level jumps through the Compressor.

Ratio

Adjusts the Ratio of the gain reduction.

Example: When the Ratio is set to 4:1 it means that for every 4 dB the input level rises, the output level increases by only

1 dB.