Overview
Compressor turns down what goes over the threshold by the ratio, with a soft knee, attack and release, makeup gain and a dry/wet mix. Both sides share one gain, so the stereo picture stays put.
Getting started
- Lower Threshold until the meter shows a few dB of reduction; set Ratio for how firmly.
- Use Makeup to bring the level back up.
Controls
| Threshold | Where compression starts, -60 to 0 dB. |
| Ratio | How firmly, 1:1 to 20:1. |
| Attack, Release | How fast it clamps down and lets go. |
| Knee | How softly it starts, 0 to 24 dB. |
| Makeup | Gain after compression. |
| Mix | Compressed against dry, for parallel compression. |
Settings
The gear in the header opens the settings panel; it covers the lower panel until the gear is clicked again.
| Sidechain filter | A high-pass on the detector only (Off, 60, 120, 250 Hz), so the bass does not pump the mix. |
What the screen shows
The transfer curve (input across, output up) with the knee and a dot for the level now; the large needle meter shows the gain reduction.
Tips
- At ratio 1:1 and Mix 100 % the output is the input, bit for bit.
- The sidechain filter at 120 Hz keeps a kick from ducking the whole mix.
Technical notes
- Feed-forward, stereo linked; gain computed in dB with a soft knee.
Common to every plugin
| The header | Every window opens with the same header. On the left a dot-matrix display shows the main reading large and the details under it; text that does not fit scrolls. Next to it a hint with a coloured dot says what the plugin is doing or what to do next. On the right: Undo and Redo arrows (up to 100 steps of everything done in the window), the Bypass button, and the gear, which opens the plugin's settings panel when it has one. |
| Bypass | With Bypass lit, the plugin lets the sound through untouched. It is the same switch as your DAW's own bypass for the plugin, so either can be used and automated. The input is held back by exactly the plugin's latency, so the timing stays right, and switching fades over 10 ms, so it never clicks. Bypass is not part of Undo. |
| Input and Output | Most plugins have a column on the right with a pair of VU meters for the input and the output, each with its own gain knob (plus or minus 24 dB). Analog shows the classic VU scale, dBFS the digital one. A click on a meter opens a large view of it. The CLIP lamp lights when a sample reaches 0 dBFS. |
| Knobs | Drag a knob up or down to turn it. Knobs that go both ways, or that have a natural middle, catch briefly at their centre. A double-click returns a knob to its default. |
| About and the demo | A click on the xsidfx logo in the footer opens About. In the demo version the plugin's name ends in (demo), its settings are not saved with your project, and About opens each time the window does. |
