Softube AAX DSP, User Manual, Page: 45 / 182

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8
FET Compressor
Introduction
THE FET COMPRESSOR IS BASED ON the most
famous hardware FET compressor, and very much
effort has been spent modeling the real hardware
to make sure that this one sounds exactly the same.
If you only use the big knobs and the six fixed
ratios you’ll get exactly the same analog sound and
functionality as the real deal. But that’s just the
beginning. With the help of digital technology we
have added some useful features that still have that
analogue sound – but features that would’ve been
hard or even impossible to implement with analog
electronics. That way you will be able to get the best
of two worlds. (Not even mentioning how ridicu-
lously many FET Compressors you will be able to
fit into your project without running low on CPU.)
Not convinced yet? Set the Input on MAX, Ratio
on ALL. Listen.
Design Philosophy
THERE ARE THREE MAIN IDEAS behind this
design: first of all, we wanted to make an analog
sounding digital compressor. Nothing must stand
in the way of the sound. Every single part of the
simulation contributes to making this piece unique.
The extremely fast attack, all the subtle (and some-
times not so subtle) distortion that comes from the
different parts of the compressor and the extremely
careful way the signal is handled and conditioned
through out the signal chain.
Second, we added features to make this
product even more versatile and unique. The en-
hanced ratio, parallel compression, detector filter-
ing and lookahead are such features. Third, these
features must not stand in the way of the usability.
The fewer knobs the better, and the faster the user
gets the sound they want, the better.
This boils down to a single main objective: Every
user should be able to get a good sound within
seconds, and no user should be afraid to mess up
the sound. An amateur should be able to make this
sound just as good as a pro. And yeah, it has to look
good.
In order to achieve these objectives we had to
put special effort into the modeling. The original
hardware has some quite quirky circuits, and a lot
of its sound comes from far from ideal components
and design. A lot of new ideas were developed dur-
ing the modeling, and with the help of our expert
listener and “golden ears” Dan Lumbye, we man-
aged to put together a piece of software that should
please even the most critical ears.