elysia alpha compressor Dual-Channel Analog Mastering Compressor - Manual (Page 15)

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The gain controller is responsible for compen-
sating the reduction of overall gain which is
caused by the compression process, therefore it
is often called ‘makeup gain’ as well.
In the M/S mode of the alpha compressor you
can use the gain controllers to make changes to
the stereo spectrum of your mixes (e.g. more fo-
cused mids or wider stereo image) as well.
In some cases you might want to add some gain
when using the Niveau Filter in the extreme po-
sition of its EQ Gain controller, too.
In the signal path, the gain stage is placed after
the compressor section and the audio filter, but
before the mix controller, transformer option
and the Soft Clip Limiter.
TRANSFORMER
Each channel of the hardware alpha compres-
sor features an additional transformer that can
be switched into the signal chain after the mix
stage. These are classic output transformers, but
they are not used for balancing and galvanic
isolation, but as an additional means of sound
shaping.
We have decided to do this a little bit different
with the software version. Here you get some-
thing similar to the Warm function known from
the museq: a slew rate limiter which alters the
frequency spectrum, harmonics and transient
response.
Because of the mastering approach of the alpha
compressor, this feature is much more of a sub-
tle audio shaping feature than a glaring sound
effect, but it’s certainly nice to add a little bit of
color to a signal which might otherwise seem to
be too clean.
controls - gain
GAIN
controls
Effect of the slew rate limiter on a sine wave
V
sec