Virtual Buss Compressors
Contents
1. industry pros still claimed that analog compressors reigned superior in terms of sonic impact And there was a simple reason Beyond the topology and timing analog compressors will exhibit dynamic nonlinear levels of harmonic distortion phase distortion frequency alteration and noise And it is this unique blend of dynamic nonlinear anomalies that help give analog compressors their expressive and deep character Some more modern compressor plug ins do add bits of harmonic distortion to emulate the amplifiers and tube stages of analog compressors But after some study the Slate Digital development team lead by Fabrice Gabriel noticed that there were still limitations in some of these plug ins in the way that they replicated the nonlinear reactions that naturally occurred Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 6 For instance in one real analog compressor that we studied the harmonic distortion at the point of attack was a different profile than that of the instance of release Both of these profiles were different depending on the source file that was used Overall compression is an extremely complex set of nonlinear reactions and replicating them authentically is the only way to get real analog tone out of a digital model At Slate Digital we wanted to offer compressor plug ins that truly responded with the same expressive analog character of real analog compressors We started way back in the summer of 2010 with Fabrice Gabriel and S2. Oo OO I POWER 4 CO 9 0 50dB 1 10 THRESHOLD LATE DIGITAL Virtual Buss Compressors FAST SLC RELEASE RATIO TL EN THRESHOLD IW e y FAST SLOW FAST SLOW ATTACK amp POWE R RELEASE e 1 2 i Od8 GA x Fg grey on 50 Hz 7 2 100 HPF MIX EI 24d8 DdB Od8 METER SELECTOR MAKE UP GAIN GR 0d8 IN Q our METER SELECTOR 10 240B v 2408 MAKE UP GAIN AUTORELEASE lt ON m FG RED Off S0Hz 0 uo HPF MIX POWER JS ES 5 lt d Ba La X E ATTAC 4 g S WENNS ix P m AN Aw 4 HPF i A P K E RELEASE Y M N s qom SUN y JS MIX 2577 AN q fi ENS D Y e o 7 Y i 4 1 5 ATTAGK XS ES a j Y i Y oy Ce e l HFH S n X FABRICE GABRIEL PELEAS Il O O O O O IM Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 2 Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors Version 1 2 Advanced Algorithms by Fabrice Gabriel Fabrice Gabriel Algorithm Design amp Tuning Steven Slate Plugin Design amp Tuning Romain Moret Project Management Vincent Travaglini DSP Development Frangois Best Architecture amp GUI Development Niccolo Comin GUI amp Plugin Development Anthony Taglianetti QA Lead amp Beta Management Yannick Bonnefoy GUI Design amp Rendering Ashley Smith Beta Team Correspondence amp Issue Reporting Mathias Claveau Quality Assurance Slate Digital Thanks The amazing d
3. are warm and fat others are smooth and rich and some are punchy and aggressive Many audio engineers choose a compressor model based on how they desire their audio track to sound in the mix For instance a classic VCA compressor with a slow attack and medium release may be a good match for a snare drum due to its ability to add some punch A tube optical compressor with its photo cell gain reduction element results in a typically smooth and airy tone making it an ideal match for vocals and bass own dozens of analog compressors and even manufacture a compressor and dynamic processor called THE DRAGON use compression in various amounts on almost all my tracks in a mix Sometimes really want to reduce the dynamic range a lot like on vocals or bass Other times I m barely moving the gain reduction needle But overall I m using the compressors to add more vibe tone presence and punch to my mixes There are some very interesting things that happen in the circuit of an analog compressor that give each one of them their unique sound First of all there is the actual compression topology and the timing of the attack and release of the compression Simply making a digital model that includes the replication of this topology and timing can make a decent representation of the compressor s sound In the early 2000 s plug in developers began to release compressor plug ins that included modeling of classic compressor topology and timing But many
4. avor solid bass warm mids and glossy highs The complexity of the design and the richness of the sound is obtained with a very simple set of controls Here there is no ratio setting and the compression amount can be adjusted with the Threshold but also by adjusting the input level The saturation behavior will interact with the Input Gain the Gain Reduction and the Output Gain so it s a great tool to shape the sound using those three parameters in concert The timing behavior is very different from the FG Grey and FG MU as the dynamic response of harmonics and saturation is carefully designed and tweaked to obtain the richest transient response and true analog vibe If you want color warmth a very dynamic and interactive response the FG MU is for you We decided that offering three units in one plug in each with a very different response and character was the best way to offer everything that a mixing or mastering engineer would dream about However we wanted to make sure that the entire plug in was straightforward and easy to use with just the amount of control needed to use them efficiently in the mix stage Steven and worked very closely as we have in the past to combine our passion and experience to bring you the best of both worlds the authentic analog sound mixed with a limitless digital creativity Fabrice Gabriel
5. d loves the drive suggesting 6 6 as the magic number But you can try cranking it all the way for an interesting effect Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 11 FG MU l ve been lucky enough to hear some of the most classic tube based buss compressors such as the Fairchild 670 and Manley Vari Mu There is some real magic that happens when your mix goes through a brilliantly designed piece of tube gear The midrange thickens the lows get tighter and rounder and the top end opens up with a beautiful sparkle and even better those harsh upper mid overtones seems to get tamed For the FG MU we put all of these wonderful qualities into the algorithm First and foremost to hear the FG MU you don t even have to do any compression Just going through the processor without any gain reduction will inhibit a beautiful open sound due to the modeling of the tube circuit path Even when I m using the FG GREY or FG RED love using the VBC Rack just so can have the audio pass through the FG MU But on it s own the FG MU is an amazing sounding compressor If you scan through the presets you can get a great idea of what its capable of Smooth rich compression fat warm compression and even slightly aggressive compression But overall this is a processor that has tons of analog mojo and vibe for days A sure hit on your ITB mixes The Rack While all three compressors are available as separate plug ins in your DAW you can also use th
6. discrete transformer and added some of the characteristics to the signal path This does something very amazing to the clarity of the midrange and bottom end The hardware unit tends to start sucking out too much bottom as you start to compress more It can also get slightly choked in the mids These are subtle issues but the transformer stage keeps the bottom big and round and the midrange more open while still retaining the classic sound of the hardware unit You ll notice especially when you heavily compress with the FG GREY there is a bit less of a drop in the bottom and the rich mids will still be nice and present love the FG GREY in both manual and auto mode and it s amazing on drums and guitars too Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 10 FG RED GR g v 9008 J g pay l 2idB N THRESHOLD RATIO RIV MAKE UP GAIN AUTORELEASE ON A FAST SLOW FAST SLOW ES FG RED ATTACK RELEASE This compressor is based on the classic RED faced compressor that has been a favorite of mix legend Chris Lord Alge who first showed it to me when visited his studio years ago thought it was odd actually Here was this compressor that nobody else seemed to really use and it was on a setting at 1 5 1 and the attack looked very fast for a Mix Buss compressor This was puzzling because usually associated a faster attack with a loss of transient punch but if you ve heard Chris s mixes you know that they are the exact o
7. e Default Default currently loaded Bank and Preset Bank e Bank lt name gt e Rename bank e Delete bank e Export bank Import Bank e Import bank Preset e Preset name e Preset information e Rename preset e Delete preset Navigating Presets You may navigate presets within a bank using the up down arrows directly to the right of the Bank Preset selection area Snapshot Slots The Rack and all single components have two snapshot slots A and B in which each can have different preset settings Settings may be swapped between each A to B B to A by clicking the arrow button The corresponding letter will flash orange to indicate transfer 1 When Stereo Link is engaged each control still has its own automation lane The Stereo Link only links control changes that are coming from the VBC GUI The automation is managed by the host and the plugin can t override it without any undefined side effects Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 17 Saving a Preset Save Clicking Save will overwrite the current preset state Save As Clicking Save As will open a dialog box where you may opt to save the current state as a preset overwriting it same as Save or save a preset with a new bank preset name To save with a new bank preset name simply enter details in the respective fields and click ok Bank Import Export Under the Preset Options Panel you will see opt
8. e RELEASE The Release parameter controls the offset point of compression The speed at which the compressor stops compressing the signal once it has fallen below the threshold value High Pass Filter HPF The High Pass Filter HPF sets the frequency value at which to prevent prevent low frequencies triggering compression Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 14 Make Up Gain The Make Up Gain parameter allows for adjusting the output level to compensate for level reduction caused by compression Mix The Mix knob is a Dry Wet control With Mix at 096 you are hearing the uncompressed signal At 100 you are hearing the compressed signal only Intermediary positions will allow you to blend the level of compression Meter Selector This allows you to switch between three meter displays Input Level Output Level and Gain Reduction Power ON A POWER POWER This bypasses signal processing This is a hard bypass that utilizes your hosts insert bypass In the VBC Rack Plugin Ctrl Clicking the Power switch will solo the effect of the selected compressor The selected compressor will be bordered in yellow to indicate the soloed state Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 15 Unique Parameters Auto Release The Auto Release parameter on the FG RED and FG Grey is program dependent and sets the release time automatically Drive The Drive parameter is the modeled ou
9. em in our Virtual Buss Compressors Rack plug in in which they can be chained reordered via drag and drop of the u rack handles and soloed independently Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 12 The Non Linear Difference During the development of the VBC spoke to many top pros in the audio industry about mixbuss plug in compressors There seemed to be an overwhelming consensus that even though many of them were advertised as analog modeled they still didn t have the classic sound of analog compressors So Fabrice and got to work First we needed to examine the hardware compressors and the current crop of analog modeled plug in compressors to see what was going on And what we found was surprising The classic analog compressors that we studied added some very complex nonlinear artifacts in their signal paths Their sound was not simply based on their specific compression topology like timing and compression curves Some of the analog compressors had modulations dynamic harmonic distortions dynamic phase distortion saturation crosstalk and more And just like in our Virtual Console Collection plug in these artifacts added a sonic imprint to the compression Was this the magic sound that made the plug in compressors sound different than the analog compressors There was only one way to find out We had to precisely model it All of it Several months later we had algorithms that combined the exact compressor topologies curves t
10. esigners who made these legendary compressors Deborah Lintz Howie Weinberg Ross Hogarth and our fifth Beatle Jay Baumgardner User Manual by Steven Slate Fabrice Gabriel Anthony Taglianetti amp Ashley Smith Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 3 Introduction 5 System Requirements 7 PC Requirements 7 Mac Requirements 7 Installation 7 Redeeming Your iLok License 7 Installing Virtual Buss Compressors 8 Virtual Buss Compressors 9 The Compressors 9 The Rack 11 Compressor Parameters 13 Threshold 13 Ratio 13 Attack 13 Release 13 High Pass Filter HPF 13 Make Up Gain 14 Mix 14 Meter Selector 14 Power 14 Unique Parameters 15 Auto Release 15 Drive 15 Stereo Mid Side 15 Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 4 Stereo Link 16 Preset Bar 16 Preset Options Panel 16 Navigating Presets 16 Snapshot Slots 16 Saving a Preset 17 Key Commands 17 Components 17 Hack 17 3rd Party iLok License Transfer Fee 17 Contacting Support 18 User System and Hardware Information Log 18 Conclusion 19 FG Grey 19 FG Red 19 FG MU 20 Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 5 Introduction By Steven Slate The compressor has become one of the most crucial processors in modern recording While the compressor in theory is a simple utility to modify and control dynamic range it has proven to become much more than just that Compressors are also used for the tone that their specific circuits impart on audio tracks Some compressors
11. he algorithm design had several challenges we wanted to be faithful to the original hardware that inspired us however we also wanted to add something unique to these already great sounding units After studying many hardware compressors we realized that we could not cover all the flavors and styles of compression with only one unit FG Grey At first we thought of this unit as a very faithful recreation of the well known British mix buss compressor We realized that despite the simple electronics its behavior is quite complex especially in the auto release mode One of the main concerns about this unit is its tendency to reduce punch in bass frequencies especially when the gain reduction is pumping So I thought of a circuit design to compensate for this behavior that would allow mixing engineers to have the same pumping behavior without having to balance the bass differently for each setting This resulted in an elegant algorithm design in which we we spent a lot of time tweaking with Steven Then we wanted not only to keep the analog behavior of the original but also to design the transient response so it would remain more articulate and alive in any situation even with really heavy compression Finally we thought that including our precise model of the classic British transformer design would be a great addition FG Red The FG Red has been a very exciting compressor to work on maybe the most exciting for me because of its charac
12. imings as well as the circuit s nonlinear dynamic artifacts We were able to bypass JUST the artifacts and the answer was very clear Much of the magic tone that has been missing from many plug in compressors is these nonlinear additives When you hear the three VBC compressors you ll notice a depth life and analog vibe that you ve likely not heard before in a plug in compressor hope that you enjoy it on your mixes Using the Presets The presets will give you a great starting point as to what the compressors are capable of But the most important thing is to modify the threshold and gain reduction for your particular mix Overall ultimately suggest adjusting until you have about 2 4 db of gain reduction however on some settings of the FG GREY I ve set it for a lot of gain reduction and it can still sound great even on a full mix Steven Slate Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 13 Compressor Parameters Threshold The Threshold parameter scaled in dB sets the point at which compression will start to occur after an audio signals amplitude exceeds this set level Ratio The Ratio parameter sets the amount of gain reduction For example if the ratio is set 2 1 this means for input level 2dB over the threshold 1dB will be output Attack The Attack parameter controls the onset point of gain reduction The speed at which compression occurs after the signal has exceeded the threshold value Releas
13. ions for importing and exporting banks Clicking the export option will bring up a dialog window for you to name and save the bank Banks are saved with the extension ebf Key Commands Components Double click Option Click Mac Alt Click Windows resets parameter to default e Command Drag Mac Ctrl Drag Windows on knobs for fine editing Pro Tools AAX Mac and Windows only Ctrl Alt Command Click Mac Ctri Alt Click Windows shows the enable automation dialog Rack e Double click Option Click Mac Alt Click Windows resets parameter to default e Command Drag Mac Ctrl Drag Windows on knobs for fine editing e Ctrl Click on a components Power button will solo the effect of the selected compressor The selected compressor will be bordered in yellow to indicate the soloed state 3rd Party iLok License Transfer Fee When reselling any Slate software product there will be a 10 License Transfer Fee in order for us to process the new customer into our user database It is the responsibility of the seller to inform the buyer of this fee at the time of sale Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 18 Contacting Support All technical support inquiries must be logged through our help desk for attention Please login to your help desk account at Slate Digital Support Click Ask A Question and choose the respective category relevant to your product query And be sure to include the information l
14. late Technical Director Anthony Taglianetti doing hundreds of measurements on some of the most sought after vintage compressors in the industry And now in 2013 we offer our first compressor bundle called the Virtual Buss Compressors The three compressors intended for stereo buss use will amaze your ears with their unique tone versatility musicality and authenticity As an audio engineer myself am ecstatic that can now have plug in compressors that exhibit the real tone and vibe that l ve become accustom to for years with my analog compressors hope you enjoy this wonderful processor on your mixes as much as enjoy it on my own Steven Slate Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 7 System Requirements PC Requirements e Windows 7 or later 32 and 64 bit e Dual Core Intel or AMD Processor Quad Core Recommended 4GB RAM e Plugin Formats VST2 VST3 AAX RTAS 32 bit only e iLok 2 Mac Requirements e Mac OS X 10 7 or later 32 and 64 bit e Dual Core Intel Processor Quad Core Recommended 4GB RAM e Plugin Formats AudioUnit VST2 VST3 AAX RTAS 32 bit only e iLok 2 Installation Redeeming Your iLok License Before downloading the iLok license for Virtual Buss Compressors you ll need to install the new iLok License Manager You can find more information about the iLok License Manager here You can download the latest installers here e iLok License Manager for Mac e Mac OS X10 5 and above Intel Onl
15. mic processors that are ideal for program material Every nuance of real analog compressors has been modeled including the exact nonlinear characteristics of their transformers tubes VCAs amplifiers phase distortions harmonic distortions and timing The Compressors All of the compressors in the VBC bundle have a variable hi pass filter AND a mix knob that can be used to control the ratio percentage of the compressed signal to the dry signal Each compressor can be used in series and the series rearranged by dragging and dropping see information on The Rack Compressing a mix with each one doing a very little amount can sound amazing And using the compressors in series within the Rack also makes it very easy to A B C the compressors on source material Finally VBC will come with stock presets made by some of the industry s top mixers FG Grey Fg orey METEI 1484 The FG GREY starts off with a very precise model of the classic British 4000 series console compressor I ve used the hardware model for many years but until studying the unit in the modeling process never fully appreciated just how magnificent the piece is It has a way of being able to tighten glue and gel the components of the mix in ways that can go from fairly transparent in auto release mode to very aggressive in manual mode We did a small mod to the circuit in our virtual model which I think you ll really enjoy We took the classic British
16. og within the ticket comments or as an attachment User System and Hardware Information Log e Open the About panel e Right click on the version number to open a menu Copy plug in info to clipboard click it e Open a text editor an e mail or a support ticket and paste Example of information displayed Plugin amp Host Information Version version number 64 bit Build build number date time Format VST AudioUnit RTAS AAX gt Host lt DAW name gt OS Information Name lt operating system name and version gt 64 bit yes Hardware Information CPU Unknown Num cores per cpu 4 Num cores total 16 Speed 2400 MHz Max Cache 12582912 bytes CPU Flags mmx SSe sse2 sse3 ssse3 sse4 1 sse4 2 etc RAM MB 8192 Page size 4096 Language Information User Lang lt FR ENG GER etc gt Region lt FR ENG GER etc gt Display Lang lt FR ENG GER etc gt Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 19 Conclusion By Fabrice Gabriel With the Virtual Buss Compressors we wanted to create something unique powerful and easy to use But more importantly we wanted to be creative and to bring something new to mix buss compression T
17. pposite of that So being the classic gearslut bought one I got the unit with both input and output transformers The first thing did was put it on my mix in the settings that Chris showed me 1 5 1 attack around 10 11 o clock auto release compressing just 2 3db tops And WOW One of the clearest punchiest sounding rock mixes I d ever heard come out of my own speakers This unit was amazing When Fabrice and analyzed the RED we found out that it was indeed a very unique beast The attack and autorelease work very uniquely and musically But the real magic we found was in the output section We found that just pushing the makeup gain a few db did some insane things to the sound A little push and things got so much more punchy fat and aggressive After more examination we realized that this was due to a series of nonlinear reactions caused by the output transformer Howie Weinberg the famous mastering engineer who has a studio on our campus let us in on a little secret He uses his RED not for compression but just to use the output gain to get that amazing effect So decided to do something that the original unit cannot put that output transformer effect on a knob called DRIVE When you push this DRIVE knob you get this beautiful punch and articulation of the transients and you can control just how much you want regardless of whether or not you use the makeup gain Famous rock mixer Justin Neibank beta tested the FG RED an
18. teristic personality The algorithm design could be seen as the simplest and the most complex at the same time because at the end it has the least complex structure of the three compressors but it was the hardest to tweak The release behavior and the saturation behavior are very specific to this unit Many mixing and mastering engineers have been using the original to obtain a very specific coloration of the sound which has been referred to as bigger wider tighter and punchier The saturation algorithm has been designed to reproduce this characteristic as the timing has been carefully designed and tweaked to obtain that beautiful alive transient behavior With this compressor it s pretty amazing to hear what it does on auto release even with a little amount of gain reduction once again due to its unique timing behavior The fast punchy and breathing transient response is pretty surprising if you ve never heard the actual hardware Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 20 compressor and can understand why it is used by one of rock s biggest mixers Once you tried it you can never go back FG MU The FG MU is the most colorful and complex compressor of the Virtual Buss Compressors collection The the saturation and timing behavior as well as the gain reduction structure have been custom designed and inspired from several vintage compressors This allowed unprecedented creativity all thought in the respect of a vintage fl
19. tput transformer stage of the Focusrite RED as a separate control meaning you can have no compression and still impart the subtle characteristic low level frequency dependent distortion of the box post make up gain It affects the signal if the knob is more than O regardless of compression it is the transformer nonlinearity from the RED OUTPUT But rather than make it dependent on output it s been made separate on the actual FG RED On the original unit in order to get the effect you HAD to increase makeup gain but with the FG RED you don t Stereo Mid Side The FG MU employs two processing methods for compression Stereo amp Mid Side Stereo processing occurs conventionally to the sum of the left and right channels Compression may be adjusted independently on both channels top left bottom right or together using the Stereo Link mode Mid Side Also know as m s sum and difference or on the original Fairchild 670 unit Lat Vert Mid the top section of FG MU in this mode a mono sum of both left and right channels L plus R Side the bottom section the difference L minus R Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 16 Stereo Link t The FG MU employs a stereo link feature which links all controls so for example to set the same amount of gain reduction for both left right channels Preset Bar Preset Options Panel Selecting the preset options panel will show a list of options for th
20. y e iLok License Manager for Windows e Windows 32 bitXP Vista 7 8 e Windows 64 bit XP Vista 7 8 In order to download your iLok license to your iLok 2 dongle please visit the link that was given to you in your email receipt and enter the required info including the issued passcode This will unlock your iLok Activation Code 1 Launch the iLok License Manager and sign in to your iLok account 2 Click this button in the upper right corner of the window Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 8 3 Enter your Activation Code and click Next 4 Select your iLok 2 Dongle from the Activation Location dialog and click Activate 5 You ll receive a confirmation message when the license is moved to your iLok 2 Dongle Installing Virtual Buss Compressors Mac Double Click on the INSTALLER icon and follow the onscreen prompts You may choose to customize your installation by clicking the customize button to install those selected AAX VST2 VST3 RTAS or AudioUnit plug in formats listed Windows Double Click on the INSTALLER icon and follow the onscreen prompts You may choose to customize your installation by selecting those AAX VST2 VST3 or RTAS plug in formats listed Choose the desired plug in directory paths those default are usually noted best and proceed Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors 9 Virtual Buss Compressors Virtual Buss Compressors comprises three unique sounding 100 analog modeled dyna
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