Advanced Drawer
The compressor detail behind the Comp fader, plus Drive's Bias. Click Advanced in the header to open it.
Overview
The drawer rolls down under the header. It shares space with the licence panel, so opening one closes the other. Ratio, Attack and Release set where the Comp fader starts: pulling the fader down leans them toward a faster, firmer compressor from there.
Ratio
The ratio at the top of the Comp fader.
Pulling the fader down raises it toward a limiter.
Attack
The attack at the top of the Comp fader.
Pulling the fader down quickens it.
Release
The release at the top of the Comp fader.
Pulling the fader down quickens it.
Auto Release
Lets the release adapt to the material.
Knee
How gradually compression begins around the threshold.
Auto Makeup
Raises the level as the compressor works.
This is why pulling Comp down gets louder. Switch it off for plain gain reduction.
Makeup
Manual makeup gain.
Range
The most gain reduction the compressor may apply.
Raise it for heavier compression; lower it to keep the compressor gentle however far the fader goes.
Comp Mix
Built-in parallel compression.
Blends compressed and uncompressed signal inside the compressor.
Detector
Blends the detector from fast peak sensing to smoother average (RMS) sensing.
Detector Source
Chooses what the compressor listens to.
| Source | The compressor listens to… |
|---|---|
| Dispersed | The spread-out signal. Each band is caught at a slightly different moment. |
| Focused | A re-aligned, needle-sharp version of the signal, tuned to catch fast transients that an ordinary peak detector slides past. |
| Direct | The untouched input. |
| External | The plugin's sidechain input. Route another track to it in your DAW. |
If you choose External but nothing is routed to the sidechain, the Compressor panel's title shows No Sidechain and the compressor falls back to the main signal.
SC HPF
High-pass filter on the detector.
Stops low end from driving the compression, so a bass-heavy mix isn't pumped by the sub.
Lookahead
Lets gain reduction start before the hit arrives.
It delays the audio rather than the detector, so it adds to the plugin's latency. It's the main source of latency in Live mode: set it to 0 for the lowest latency. Lookahead can't be modulated.
Bias
Belongs to Drive.
See Drive.