I currently have a DAWless setup with quite a lot of synths haha (escalated quickly)
Ocatrack (as midi sequencer/sampler mainly), AR, A4, and also Roland JU-06a, Dreadbox Tyhpon, and a Vermona Perfourmer coming up. I have everything going trough a mixer, and master into the analog heat (MK2).
I am wondering if the setup might benefit even further from adding a compressor, like for instance the OTO Boum. Or do you think this is probably not of much benefit since I already have the heat as warming unit, and can use the compressor on the AR for the drums?
Compressors arenât âwarming units.â They reduce the dynamic range of sounds. So, if you feel the dynamic range of your master bus or individual tracks is sometimes too great, then maybe you do need a compressor.
Between AR and OT, you have some compressors already, and theyâre very powerful because they are p-lockable!
Iâve owned and used a lot of hardware compressors. Distressor, Compounder, Drawmer, 1178, P10 optical, etc.
These days I just use OT compressor (p-locked when necessary) into Heat with some env follower on the drive amount. It just works and sounds like a record. Simple combo solution that is very powerful and flexible considering it is a hardware solution.
Try feeding your mixer into OT or AR, so you can compress everything there, and output that to the Heat. Finish 5 tracks in this configuration, study the results, adjust. Buying more gear is rarely a solution to a problem that involves a lot of gear
wow. this sounds very interesting (and complicated haha)! which compressor is better, the one from OT or AR? I was not aware you could use the audio ins on the AR to send that audio through the analog compressor of the AR! and also very interested on how you use the heat for this (with the envelope follower as you mention). Do you have a tutorial/video on this somewehere? would be awesome!
And PS: nice wise words about the âbuying new gear is rarely the solutionâ haha! LOL! so true!
Iâve seen you and others mention Plocking the compressor. Maybe I should just try, but with compressors itâs often a learn what to hear before you hear it situation. So: What would be the most Plocked parameters for you? Ratio/Threshold?
Sure but I think you misunderstood OP here. He meant would getting the OTO Boum (which has a compressor as well as being a warming unit) be overkill when he already has Heat for warming purposes. Getting Boum just for the compressor would be a little over the top and expensive, imo. Unless OP chooses to switch from Heat to Boum to have both compression and warming in one unit.
It depends what you need. They are both different compressors. No Sidechain on the OT, but you can get the same effect by p-locking and using those trigs as the âkeyâ.
With all theses synth with differents sounds, yes you should get a compressor. Even just with the PERfourMER you should add a compressor because you know, analog synth can go crazy dynamics (donât look at this resonance knob ^^)
So yeah, no need of the best unaffordable compressor, even the OT compressor is enough, or a plugin in post record.
Do a search for compression on this site. There are a few very good threads that address using the internal compressors on various Elektron devices. The OT compressor is absolutely top shelf for a built in.
Aside from that, reducing dynamic range can also be achieved via other means. Saturators reduce dynamic range via clipping, in a sonicly pleasing way.
The real question is, what sound are you after?
(Personally I dont bother with compresors much any more. I use saturation. However The octatrack compressor is very good, I use that. The compressor in my TR8-S is good also.)
I currently use both. All my synth sounds run through the OT either as thru machines or flex samples (most commonly from the modular since no patch memory there). Then, OT track 8 has compressor & filter and is my synth bus going to a small mixer, and AR + itâs compressor is my drum bus going to the mixer.
I also have thoughts of adding Heat + RNLA on master insert, or perhaps Warm Audio Bus Comp, but canât afford those right now.
Do you use compressor and plocks on individual tracks or on master/submix? Can you give us an example on your plocking strategy? I mean would you plock mostly threshold/gain etc and what is your goal by doing so? Thank you
