Ableton Forum

I love this thing - seriously considering buying it BECAUSE: it is also a gate/expander, transient designer and can emulate different types of compressor. I've been demoing it for a bit and it's changing how I think about dynamics. One plugin to rule them all FTW.

EQuality kicks ass too - I chose it over the Pro-Q.

I love DMG Audio

I love audio in general.

necho wrote:I love this thing - seriously considering buying it BECAUSE: it is also a gate/expander, transient designer and can emulate different types of compressor. I've been demoing it for a bit and it's changing how I think about dynamics. One plugin to rule them all FTW.

EQuality kicks ass too - I chose it over the Pro-Q.

Right on. Checked it out. That is impressive feature list to be sure. Might have to demo.

The earlier point about how plugins aren't quite the same "mix glue" as analog - it's like a lot of things, they're just different. Both good, just different strengths. We don't want to go down that road of debate again. Using a friend's Shadow Hill's Dual Vandergraph & Mono Optograph completely changed my understanding of compression, I'd be happy for a plugin to do likewise. One informs the other for me.

Dave Gamble is to mixing as Urs Heckmann is to sound design?

Compassion isn't like any other compressor really - the level of flexibility is such that you can really abuse it, making it distort etc. Which means that for some people (like me), it takes a bit of getting used to.

But my god is it worth it. I just know I'm going to be reaching for my credit card as soon as the demo period is over.

necho wrote:Dave Gamble is to mixing as Urs Heckmann is to sound design?

Compassion isn't like any other compressor really - the level of flexibility is such that you can really abuse it, making it distort etc. Which means that for some people (like me), it takes a bit of getting used to.

But my god is it worth it. I just know I'm going to be reaching for my credit card as soon as the demo period is over.

Nice, thanks for the heads up. I really wouldn't be considering it without such a strong recommendation. Let us know what you think as you dive into it more. Just picked up Fabfilter Pro G gate/expander (very nice) so I won't demo it just yet but it's on my to do list. Fabfilter Pro series is my basic workhorse stuff, and they have such a nice discount when you already have their other stuff. But I will definitely check DMG out since you feel so strongly about it.

good to hear

make sure you check out the MODS (in the preset menu). Like presets, but not quite (they don't change the main parameters, only the advanced/character ones).

Can'T figure out how to select external inputs for the sidechain with this compressor. Can you select external inputs the same way you can with Live's bundled compressor?

djspaz wrote:Can'T figure out how to select external inputs for the sidechain with this compressor. Can you select external inputs the same way you can with Live's bundled compressor?

I'm assuming you've had this answered already, as it took me a minute to figure out too, since Ableton's stock compressor is pretty much the only one i've ever used.

For example, suppose you want your sub to duck out when your kick hits.
1. Create Kick track, route audio however you normally would (to Master or Drum Bus or wherever)
2. Create Sub track, insert Compassion on this track, turn Sidechain ON
3. Create Return track, set output to Sub>3/4 Compassion
4. Turn Send on Kick track all the way up on the appropriate knob to the return channel you just created.
5. You should now see a 2nd waveform visible in Compassion on the sub channel.

You could also Duplicate your kick track and just send that audio to Subs>3/4 Compassion as well. Unfortunately Compassion can't just select "hey input this channel's audio yo" like the stock Ableton Compressor, but considering how hard Compassion destroys the stock compressor (especially for sidechaining imho) it's a small inconvenience.

Hope that helped

strode420 wrote:

djspaz wrote:Can'T figure out how to select external inputs for the sidechain with this compressor. Can you select external inputs the same way you can with Live's bundled compressor?

I'm assuming you've had this answered already, as it took me a minute to figure out too, since Ableton's stock compressor is pretty much the only one i've ever used.

For example, suppose you want your sub to duck out when your kick hits.
1. Create Kick track, route audio however you normally would (to Master or Drum Bus or wherever)
2. Create Sub track, insert Compassion on this track, turn Sidechain ON
3. Create Return track, set output to Sub>3/4 Compassion
4. Turn Send on Kick track all the way up on the appropriate knob to the return channel you just created.
5. You should now see a 2nd waveform visible in Compassion on the sub channel.

You could also Duplicate your kick track and just send that audio to Subs>3/4 Compassion as well. Unfortunately Compassion can't just select "hey input this channel's audio yo" like the stock Ableton Compressor, but considering how hard Compassion destroys the stock compressor (especially for sidechaining imho) it's a small inconvenience.

Hope that helped

If it didn't help him, it certainly helped me. Thx