Compressor

The most up to date help, with links to other music related topics, is on RecordingBlogs.com.

The Orinj Compressor automatically adjusts the amplitude of the incoming signal, usually to bring together quieter and louder parts of the signal (compressing) or, more rarely, to further separate quieter and louder parts of the signal (expanding). A compressor has many uses:

This particular compressor works on three different frequency bands separately. Bass frequencies (below 300 Hz) are treated separately from mid-range frequencies (between 300 Hz and 1500 Hz) and both of these frequency intervals are treated separately from high frequencies (over 1500 Hz). In many uses of the compressor, this is not necessary. For de-essing, however, it is useful to be able to separate and act only on high frequencies.

As a quick example of a compressor, consider a compressor with a threshold of -30 dB, a compression ratio above -30 dB of 2:1, and a compression / expansion ratio of 1:1 below -30 dB. If the signal has amplitude of -25 dB, it is above the threshold by 5 dB. This difference between the signal and the threshold of 5 will be compressed with the ratio 2:1 to a difference of 2.5 dB. This means that the output signal will be at -27.5 dB. If an input signal has the amplitude -35 dB, it is 5 dB below the threshold. Since the compression / expansion ratio below the threshold is 1:1, this signal will remain unchanged. Thus, this specific example compressor makes loud signals less loud while leaving quiet signals the same.

Compressors have other parameters, such as attacks and releases. These are explained below. In addition, there are two types of compressors – one that acts on the peak amplitude of the signal (i.e., the actual value of the signal at a specific point in time) and one that acts on the amplitude envelope of the signal (i.e., a measure of the power of the signal over an interval of time, independent of what the peak value of the signal at the specific time is). This compressor is of the second type.

Using the Orinj Compressor

The Orinj Compressor can be added to tracks in the multitrack session view, tracks in the loop building view, and to waves in the single wave view. In the multitrack session view and in the loop building view, first select the track to which you want to add the effect. In all of these views, click on Effect, Dynamics, and then on Orinj Compressor in the Orinj menu. You will see the following dialog.

The Orinj Compressor dialog

When this dialog becomes visible, the Orinj Compressor has been added. Adjust the compressor parameters in the dialog – these parameters are described below – and click on Close.

Orinj Compressor parameters

See Effects for an explanation of the Title, Track, Presets, and Bypass controls. The remaining Orinj Compressor controls are described below:

See Effects for additional notes on: where Orinj effects can be used, using boxes and sliders that impact the same parameter (such as the box and slider for the compressor attack), applying effects to mono and stereo waves, and using effects during playback. See Working with effects for additional information on creating, modifying, moving, removing, and processing effects.