Compressor

A stereo peak compressor for taming dynamics. It clamps down on loud transients with an adjustable ratio and attack, then makes up the lost level — glue for a drum bus, control for a bassline, or a tighter overall mix.

How it works

The detector follows the peak of your signal, keyed off the louder of the two channels (max(|L|, |R|)). One shared gain is then applied to both L and R, so the two sides duck together and the stereo image stays intact rather than wandering. A single Amount knob does double duty: as you turn it up the threshold drops from 0 dBFS toward -26 dBFS (so more of the signal gets compressed) while makeup gain rises from 1.0x to 1.5x — louder and more squashed in one move.

Controls

  • Amount — how hard it works: simultaneously lowers the threshold and adds makeup gain. Low settings barely touch peaks; high settings flatten and thicken.
  • Ratio — how steeply the gain pulls down once a peak crosses the threshold, from a gentle 1.5:1 bus glue up to near-limiting 20:1 (default 4:1). Higher ratios squash harder for less peak that gets through.
  • Attack — how fast the gain reacts to a peak, from a near-instant 0.5 ms that clamps transients flat to a slow 50 ms that lets the initial hit punch through before the compressor grabs.
  • Release — how quickly gain recovers after a peak passes, sweeping from a snappy 50 ms to a slow, pumping 1 s.
  • Mix — blends the dry input against the compressed signal. Fully up is 100% compressed; back it off for parallel ("New York") compression that keeps the original transients.

Inputs & outputs

  • L / R in — the stereo audio to compress; the detector links both channels so they move as one.
  • Amount / Ratio / Attack / Release / Mix CV — voltage control over each knob, added on top of its panel setting; patch an LFO or envelope to automate the squash.
  • L / R out — the processed stereo pair.

Tips

  • Feed a mono source into one input to compress it on its own.
  • Long Release plus high Amount gives that audible pumping, breathing groove on drums.
  • Open Attack toward 30-50 ms on drums to let the stick and kick transients snap through before the gain clamps down — punch instead of squash.
  • Use Mix for parallel compression: crush hard, then dial the wet signal back under the dry for punch without losing snap.