Stereo and Mono Sidechain Compressors for Tracktion

Soft Clip On and Threshold

The Soft Clip switch activates a soft-clip limiter circuit. There is also a threshold slider. When the output level goes above this threshold, the soft-clip circuit kicks in. This circuit starts adding analog-style distortion, which rounds off transient peaks, and avoids the harsher sound of a straight digital clip. The lower the thresh- old, the more analog-style distortion is added. If the threshold is set too low, you hear this as a very crunchy distortion sound. It is best to keep the threshold between –3 dB and –1 dB unless you are going for a special sound effect.

The Soft Clip LED (next to the slider) activates when the signal is above the soft-clip threshold, so keep an eye on it.

The soft-clip circuit is the last thing in the signal processing chain.

Nodes can be added to the contour graph by right-clicking the mouse on the contour graph. Right-clicking on the graph where there is no node adds a node, up to a maximum of 4. Right- clicking on an existing node removes it.

The four numbered nodes always appear in order from left to right. You can't add a node be- tween, for example, nodes 1 and 2, even if they are the only nodes active.

Node Editing

So far, we have just shown the use of the threshold and end point controls to set up a simple compressor.

One of the very powerful features of the com- pressor, is it allows you to draw your own curve between the threshold and the end point, and really shape that Jello mold. Up to four nodes can be added to the curve. This depth of editing is helpful in defining detailed nuances in your curve such as hard knee, soft knee, and expan- sion.

The figure below shows 3 extra nodes – labeled 1, 2, and 3. These nodes are being used, in this case, to essentially draw a knee for the compressor curve. This gives a nice smooth transition from applying minimal compression at low input levels, to much higher compression at higher levels.

Node Selector Knob

You can also add or remove nodes by using the Node Edit Selector knob and toggling the Active Node switch. Click on the knob and move the mouse either vertical or horizontal to rotate it and select a node. Use the Active Node switch to turn a node on or off.

The position of a selected node can be adjusted by using the Input and Output level sliders. These sliders do not appear for the threshold and End Point nodes, just nodes 1 to 4.

User’s Guide

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