NIOA VS-880 TIP 295-0004:

Dual Compressor Patch

Let me explain the Dual Compressor/Limiter, patch A96 as I understand it. This, I believe is the single most important thing I learned at this clinic (Roland seminar-Laura Tyson-Dallas ) because it will allow me a hell of a lot more control over the volume of the output. For those who have recently claimed weak output from the VS880 to CD-R, here's your answer. Well some of it anyway.

As you probably know, the Dual Comp/Lmtr has two channels. CLA & CLB. (CLA stands for Compressor/Limiter A and so forth). Each channel (A & B) within this patch in turn has it's own level, threshold, attack, release, & ratio settings. For the life of me, I could not figure out where the input for these two channels were supposed to come from. I knew when I used this patch as an insert on a track, CLA did what it was supposed to do but CLB did nothing.

Example One:

The entire mix - the master outs. Use the Dual Compressor/Limter patch here to work your final mix. Press the master button, punch down to effect one, and dial in A96. Put your display in the postfade mode. Play your mix. Do you see the right side of your display? Are the LR meters a jumpin'. I thought so. The aforementioned CLA of the comp/lmtr patch is controlling or compressing (is that a real term?) that left side and CLB is doing the same for the right side of your mix.

As an experiment, I jacked my master fader all the way up and those LR meters were banging the livin' sh*t out of that 0db no-man's land. I started, as always with Ian's settings (originally for the A66 patch) and applied them to the each side. When I was finished tweaking, I had a final mix that was peaking EVENLY at any db I wanted them to. Total control.

What is great about the Dual Comp/Lmtr patch is in real life my mixes are hotter on one side of the mix as opposed to the other. So applying different degrees of comp to each side allows for the maximum volume in each. In other words, if you were to use the A66 patch, a single channel comp patch, you would have to adjust the settings so that BOTH sides, LR, were falling below 0db. That would mean the less "hot" of the two sides would end up more compressed (quieter) than necessary, thus making for a "weak" sound.

Example two:

Use the Dual Comp/Lmter to compress two channels, maybe those two stereo channels you are bouncing down to for burning CD-Rs. OR, use the patch on two channels, when you're combining vocals, drums, whatever.

Did you ever wonder what the InsertL, InsertR were for? Well here you go. As you know, when you bounce down, you set the pans for the tracks you are bouncing, set the input of the channel(s) you are bouncing to on Mix L or Mix R. So far, so good? Let's say you are bouncing down to track 7 and 8. Set effect 1 for the Dual Compressor/Lmtr. After setting the input, "parameter" over to Effect 1 on track 7 and dial up InsertL. Now punch the track 8 button. Usually, when you've dialed in Insert on a track, the display for effect 1 is going to show -------- on any other track. Right? Not so, in this case. Dial up InsertR in track 8 and uou've got the Dual Compressor/Lmtr controlling both channels. Go to your effect button and adjust the compressor to taste as you watch the meters, this time using the prefade display mode, I believe.

Incidentally, the InsertS parameter was also brought up by a very astute observer. That routes the signal through CLA and then, back through CLB for some REAL compression.

Coincidently, this is how the all the two channel effects work, I believe.

Rick Knepper rfkiii@swbell.net Mon, 22 Dec 1997

Galen wrote: I am reading the VS-880 mail list, and I saw your post about having attended Friday's Dallas seminar. You said at one point, "...She (Laura Tyson) took us through the input mix mode and the track mix mode and now I understand them both and their relation to each other. It is so simple..." If you understand it so well, is it possible to sum it up in a paragraph? The way I understand it is this, and maybe you could tell me where I'm wrong. Input->Track mode is best for laying down dry tracks, although it is possible to record with effects in this mode. The input goes into the recorder more or less directly. Input->Mix mode allows you to input to the recorder through the mixer/effects buss first, or last. I use this when I want to manipulate a track or bounce tracks with effects. The only time I use this when laying down a new track is if I want to record with compression or something. Track->Mix mode is not for input at all. I use it to add effects, panning, etc. Galen 1998/01
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