Stock Compressor

Hello everyone,

I’m trying to learn more about how the Maschine stock compressor works because I’d like to build something similar in Reaktor. I’ve noticed that many of the compressors available in the User Library don’t quite match the same controls or “feel,” and often there are glitches—especially with the attack behavior.

A couple of things I’d like to know:

Is this a realistic project for a beginner to see through?
When all parameters are set to zero, does the Maschine compressor essentially act as a soft clipper?
Does it include auto-makeup gain, and if so, how is that implemented?

I’ve been comparing it closely with other compressors and noticing subtle details, so any insight into how it’s designed or how its controls work would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mason

Find more posts tagged with

Maschine 2 SW

Maschine 3 SW

Accepted answers

All comments

D-One

Is this a realistic project for a beginner to see through?

No, I don't think a compressor is a good beginner project, especially if the goal is to make it sound/feel like a specific one. Compressors often have way more internal tricks than just lowering the gain after it goes above the specified threshold by the specified ratio, there's generally frequency responsiveness tweaks, envelope fancy stuff, etc.. Theres also a strong tendency to try to imitate analog behaviors, otherwise there would be no reason to have a million different comps plugins out there.

When all parameters are set to zero, does the Maschine compressor essentially act as a soft clipper?

No? Explain this further, if everything is at zero the compressor won't do anything — tresh at 0db and "amount (ratio)" at 0%; if say you turn up the gain like crazy on the source material and use insane amounts of tresh/amount the comp won't stop the sound from going over 0db, which is the definition of soft or hard clipper: nothing goes above 0db or a configurable value. In Maschine's compressor you gotta use the Gain parameter keep it from really clipping, the bad kind of clipping where the meter screams red.

Does it include auto-makeup gain, and if so, how is that implemented?

~~No.~~ EDIT: It does, see next post by Rilkecat.

Take all this with a grain of salt as I am not an expert, this sub-forum not the place for these questions neither, as you may have noticed by the lack of replies.

Rilkecat

Hi! It is important to know how the stock fxs actually work to take proper decisions. And the manual is super short on many of them. Take Grain delay's cloud Space/Density/Mod are absolutely obscure, same with Beat delay's Split, Jitter and many others. There are sort of metaphorical vague descriptions, but not like what actually does to the sound precisely. Take Ableton, Waves or any Korg hardware manual and you'll understand what I mean.

@D-One The compressor does have a under-the-hood makeup gain. Whenever you turn the Threshold down, it automatically pumps up the volume, instead of simply compressing the signal. This compensation can be considered auto-makeup gain and is not mentioned in the manual. 🤷‍♂️

D-One

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/242730#Comment_242730

To some degree, I can understand that the manual is dumbed down for more exotic fx but hiding this stuff on the basics like compressors, eq's, etc is too much. The comp is probably the only built-in fx in Maschine I never use due to lack of control, the manual barely mentions the modes and says the diferencce is subtle, i have no ideia what it does but it's certantly not subtle at all….

Oh, it does auto makeup with no option to turn it off (? lol), you're absolutely correct! I guess since i don't see the usual make-up toggle i assumed and was wrong, thanks for correcting.

Quick links

Unanswered questions