Softube AAX DSP, User Manual, Page: 47 / 182

SOFTUBE USER’S GUIDE |
47
Attack and Release
Use the Attack and Release controls to change
how fast the compressor starts to compress (At-
tack) and how fast it should recover from the gain
reduction (Release). The attack time on this unit
is very fast, ranging from about 20 μs at the fastest
setting to about 800 μs (that’s micro -seconds!) on its
slowest setting. Other kinds of compressors often
have much slower attack times. In comparison to
the attack time the release times are much slower –
ranging between 50 ms and 1.1 s. Please note that
these numbers only give a general idea of the attack
and release times. In practice (and just like in the
modeled hardware), the attack and release times will
be program dependent, ie. depend on the character-
istics of the input signal.
Since a fast attack and release time leads to a fast gain
reduction, sometimes those settings will cause unwanted
“clipping effects”. To remove this unwanted side effect,
you can either slow down the release time or add some
look ahead to the detector circuit. (See “Lookahead”).
Input and Gain Reduction VU meters
The Input VU meter is used to monitor the input
signal. If a stereo signal is present, the meter will
display the maximum energy of both signals. This
may seem like a drawback, but since the gain reduc-
tion circuit (a.k.a. “detector” or ”side chain”) works
in mono, the VU will actually display the same
thing the detector sees. (Unless you start fiddling
with the small knobs, but we’re not there yet.)
The Gain Reduction meter is used to monitor
the amount of gain reduction in the compressor.
The FET Compressor has only one detector, so if
a stereo signal is present the gain reduction will be
the same for both channels. This prevents unwanted
distortion of the stereo image.
hitting the reds you will also add more distortion to
the signal. If you want lots of distortion we recom-
mend you to also set the Ratio knob on ALL.
More input gain also means more distortion (in a good
way).
Ratio
At a first glance, the Ratio knob on the FET Com-
pressor seems to work a little bit different than its
hardware counterpart. The biggest difference is that
the Ratio knob is continuous, meaning that it’s pos-
sible to select settings between different fixed ratios,
for instance between 12:1 and 20:1. Furthermore,
it’s also possible to select settings between 20:1 and
the famous “All buttons in” setting.
If you would rather use the “pre defined” settings
that are identical to
those on the original
hardware: 1:1, 4:1, 8:1,
12:1, 20:1 and ALL,
just click on the labels
to jump directly to
those settings.
“All Buttons In” Mode
The ALL mode is a peculiarity found on this type
of compressor. Originally the different ratios were
selected with push buttons, which made some mix
engineers try out what happens if you press all but-
tons at once. From a technical perspective, pushing
all buttons at the same time makes all bias levels go
berserk. From a sound perspective, this means that
you will get a very pumping compression with lots
of distortion. This mode is often called the “British
mode”. By setting the Ratio somewhere between
20:1 and ALL you’ll get a sound that’s definitely
unique for this product.