DDMF NYCompressor: manual

Version 2.2.0

Thank you for using DDMFs NYCompressor! The following should help you to get the most
out of this audio effect. This document is aimed at the beginner in digital audio, but even if
you are more experienced you might find some useful information in this manual.

Setup:

Run the installer you got along with this manual. On Windows, please specify the 32 and/or
64 bit VST plugin directory where you'd like the plugin installed. On Mac, all plugin
directories are at a fixed, system-wide location, so just choose the plugin types you'd like to
have installed and the rest will be taken care of. After installation, the plugin should appear in
your digital audio workstation of choice.

Usage:

The goal of compressing audio signals is to even out the loudness level. By taming the peaks
in the signal, the overall level can be increased, thus leading to more punch or impact.

The concept works as depicted in the graphic above: above a certain compression threshold,
the output level is decreased compared to the input level. The amount of level reduction is
determined by the ratio of the compressor. The higher the ratio, the flatter the output curve
above the compression threshold. In NYCompressor you also find an option for a flat knee,
which means that the response curve can be softened around the threshold, leading to a
smoother response.

This is only half of the story: a compressor typically has attack and release controls in
addition to threshold and ratio. By setting the attack time you can control how fast the
compressor reacts when detecting an input level above the compression threshold.
Conversely, the release time determines how fast the gain reduction is released when the input
signal has fallen below the threshold again. The attack and release times have to be adjusted
to the signal that is to be compressed in order to get the best results. For short, percussive
signals, shorter times usually lead to better results, while vocals, guitars etc. usually benefit
from somewhat longer attack and release times. Ultimately, the release time can also be used
for artistic purposes to create a pumping effect. To this end, the release time should be of
the order of several 100 milliseconds (the exact value depending on the beats per minute of
the track you are working on).

On the interface of the NYCompressor you can easily recognize the knobs for threshold, ratio,
attack and release. There are two more basic controls, namely Gain and Wet. With the
gain knob you can increase the output level by up to 40 dB. Lets say you have set your
threshold to -20 dB and use a ratio of 2. This means that you gain 10 dB of headroom, which
you can use by increasing your output gain by 10 dB. The Wet knob lets you mix the
original, uncompressed signal with the compressed signal. At a value of 100, only the
compressed signal is in the output channels. At a value of 0, you only hear the uncompressed
signal, and a wet level of 50 is a even mix of uncompressed and compressed signal. This
technique is often used for drums and is often referred to as New York compression, hence
the name of the NYCompressor.
 Now on to the right half of the display: first, lets look at the buttons. The bypass button
simply bypasses the whole effect. The Use SC button lets you use a sidechain signal.
Heres how this works: the NYCompressor can be used as a simple mono or stereo effect, in
which cases the incoming audio enters the effect via one or two channels. However, theres
the possibility to use four input channels! If you use a modular host, you will probably see
the four input channels right away; in other hosts you will have to load the plugin into a track
that supports four or more channels (like a quadrogroup in Steinbergs Cubase, for instance).
Please refer to the manual of your host for a description of how to achieve that.

Once all four inputs of the NYCompressor are available, you can route the signal that you
want to be compressed to the first two channels and the so-called sidechain signal to the last
two channels. A typical application is to use the bassdrum as sidechain signal. Then, if Use
SC is activated, the output level of the signal to be compressed is calculated using not its
own level (as would be the case in the normal mode of operation) but the level of the
sidechain signal. This makes the kick really prominent, because whenever it is being hit the
level of everything else in the mix is lowered for a short time (depending on the attack and
release settings).

Then, there is the button to choose the filter types. If you have no filter selected, the signal
that is being used to calculate the output level is unfiltered. However, there might be
situations where you only want to use a certain part of the frequency range to contribute to the
compression algorithm. With the NYCompressor you can use a lowpass, a bandpass or a
highpass filter to do so. To be able to listen to the filtered signal that is now being used for
compressions, simply press the Control listen button. This allows you to judge whether your
filter settings are the way you want them.

The button Show GR will lead to the right VU meter showing the gain reduction instead of
the output power. This way you can see how much dB are being taken away by
NYCompressor. Finally, the Soft Knee button switches between hard and soft knee
behavior, i.e. it changes the way the response curve looks around the threshold value. With the
soft knee option on, you will usually hear a slightly smoother response of the compressor.
Again, it depends on the material at hand which curve to use best.

This brings us to the last two knobs: Freq and Q. These knobs controls the shape of the
filter. Freq controls the central frequency and Q the bandwidth. Just press control listen
with one of the filter types chosen to hear what the impact of these knobs is.

Two channel operation:

Clicking on the 2 chan. Button will add a separate instance of NYCompressor to the GUI.
Your stereo signal can then be treated independently in Left-Right (i.e. each of the two
compressor takes care of one of the channels) or Mid-Side mode (which means that the left
compressor on the GUI will handle the Mid signal, which is the sum of L and R, and the
right will affect the Side signal, which is the difference of L and R. This is often handy
when you only want to compress the mono contribution of your audio, like drums, bass and
lead vocals, while leaving those spherical stereo pads untouched). You can switch between L-
R and Mid-Side mode by clicking on the button below the 1-chan/2-chan button, which is
only visible in dual channel mode.

Demo restrictions: If you use the demo version of the NYCompressor, little noise bursts will
be added every now and then. Apart from that there are no other restrictions so you can fully
explore the possibilities of this effect.

Questions/feedback: support@ddmf.eu