Janne
Logician
After reading a lot about how much better Logic 8's compressor is compared to previous versions I set out to try to mimic my to-go compresser, the Sonalksis SV315mk2.
I put the same drumloop on 2 tracks and put a gain plugin on one of them and phase inverted it so the sound totally canceled out.
I then took one of the presets on the Sonalksis (smooth) and adjusted the threshold to taste, then I inserted Logics Compressor on the other channel and started first by mimic the settings numerically.
I've not seen any info on what type of compressor the SV315 is suposed to emulate, but it was quickly apparent that it seems to be based on a optical compressor.
Now the sound started to cancel out heavily and after some adjustments to the parameter by ear I got it to almost totally cancel out. Something is going on differently in the lower registers, I could never get the low end attack of the Bass drum hits to cancel out completely. Also a small "peak" of the snare attack could be heard.
I should also mention that I had to set the Compressors Output Distortion to soft to get as close to the SV315 as possible.
Now comparing the sound of these settings on there own, they were very, very similar. I don't think I could blindfolded tell them apart although I think could notice that the SV315 "smashed" the snare sound differently, were as the snare through the Compressor sounded more "open".
At this point I realized that the new T-RackS 3 Opto Comp, is (obliviously) also based on a optical compressor, so decided to see how it would compare.
Going about it the same way as above I got it to cancel out to aprox the same leve as the first test. This one took away a little more of the bass drum attack when compared to both of the other contestants, so I got the feeling that it's somewhere "in-between" the Compressor and the SV315.
Two things that confused/irritated me during this experiment were:
1) the gain stages of the Opto Comp were strange...
To make this test work I had to either turn up its Input control by 12db, but then the meters basically got stuck at -20db and didn't move.
So to get it to perform as the other contestants, I had to set its output to +12db?
2) Metering...
The SV315 reported a gain reduction around -3db with peaks around -5db.
The Opto Comp were similar but off -3db, ie. -6db with peaks around -8db
And the stranges thing were that the Compressors meter didn't even move!
It's not that it isn't working, if I decreased the threshold I started to get the meter to react but then it of course didn't cancel out any longer...
*** A correction, I just noticed after posting, that in the Gain plugin I had it set to -3db, a leftover while trying to balance the differences between the SV315 and Compressor. Setting it to 0db put SV315 and the Opto Comp into a similar metering range, but Compressor still didn't register anything on its meter... ***
What is completely clear is that You can't trust the metering...
And Logics Compressor can sound as good as the competition.
Here are some snapshots of the metering and the settings, YMMV!
Janne
I put the same drumloop on 2 tracks and put a gain plugin on one of them and phase inverted it so the sound totally canceled out.
I then took one of the presets on the Sonalksis (smooth) and adjusted the threshold to taste, then I inserted Logics Compressor on the other channel and started first by mimic the settings numerically.
I've not seen any info on what type of compressor the SV315 is suposed to emulate, but it was quickly apparent that it seems to be based on a optical compressor.
Now the sound started to cancel out heavily and after some adjustments to the parameter by ear I got it to almost totally cancel out. Something is going on differently in the lower registers, I could never get the low end attack of the Bass drum hits to cancel out completely. Also a small "peak" of the snare attack could be heard.
I should also mention that I had to set the Compressors Output Distortion to soft to get as close to the SV315 as possible.
Now comparing the sound of these settings on there own, they were very, very similar. I don't think I could blindfolded tell them apart although I think could notice that the SV315 "smashed" the snare sound differently, were as the snare through the Compressor sounded more "open".
At this point I realized that the new T-RackS 3 Opto Comp, is (obliviously) also based on a optical compressor, so decided to see how it would compare.
Going about it the same way as above I got it to cancel out to aprox the same leve as the first test. This one took away a little more of the bass drum attack when compared to both of the other contestants, so I got the feeling that it's somewhere "in-between" the Compressor and the SV315.
Two things that confused/irritated me during this experiment were:
1) the gain stages of the Opto Comp were strange...
To make this test work I had to either turn up its Input control by 12db, but then the meters basically got stuck at -20db and didn't move.
So to get it to perform as the other contestants, I had to set its output to +12db?
2) Metering...
The SV315 reported a gain reduction around -3db with peaks around -5db.
The Opto Comp were similar but off -3db, ie. -6db with peaks around -8db
And the stranges thing were that the Compressors meter didn't even move!
It's not that it isn't working, if I decreased the threshold I started to get the meter to react but then it of course didn't cancel out any longer...
*** A correction, I just noticed after posting, that in the Gain plugin I had it set to -3db, a leftover while trying to balance the differences between the SV315 and Compressor. Setting it to 0db put SV315 and the Opto Comp into a similar metering range, but Compressor still didn't register anything on its meter... ***
What is completely clear is that You can't trust the metering...
And Logics Compressor can sound as good as the competition.
Here are some snapshots of the metering and the settings, YMMV!
Janne