Compressing Octatrack/Digitakt combo

[kbowering]

I’m looking to gain some insight on the OT and DT’s compressors.

Lately I’ve been running my DN and DT into my OT (plus a minilogue into the ex input of the DN). I’m brand new to the OT, and pretty quickly learned that gain staging/levelling takes some finessing.

I typically use the DT’s comp to add gain in sort of an overdriven way (I make noisy industrial/ebm/dark ambient kind of stuff). High threshold, low ratio, make-up getting up there.

I’ve been using glue type compression on track 8 which is set as the master on OT. On the thru machine with the DT’s inputs, I’ve messed around with a third compressor with some success.

I’m curious to know how other people set up compression in a chain like this with digi boxes. Is the thru track comp superfluous? Am I sacrificing a much more vital track fx?

Would love to hear what works for people combining this trio (or similar setup) as far as thru and master fx in general are concerned.

[vasidudu]

Not sure if that falls exactly in the topic but I am using various compressors.
DN goes into AB on OT
DT goes into CD on OT
OT goes into MOTU UltraLite Mk3
MOTU UltraLite Mk3 goes into FMR RNC
I use DT compressor as a Limiter + MOTU UltraLite Mk3 compressor as well as FMR RNC as a mix glue.
I have not yet used OT compressor and rely on the MOTU for that purpose.
It took some time finding the right settings but in the end, the FMR RNC remains the only compressor I am tweaking to glue my mixes.

[Skurdd]

I am routing the DT into OT.
On the DT I use the compressor to control peaks, the OT is then sent to Ableton where I’m compressing using PRO-C.

[Fin25]

I love the OT’s compressor. Sometimes I’ll use two compressors just on a kick drum and I’ve always got a compressor on the master, but that’s mostly for limiting.

I like teaming up the compressor with the DJ EQ on pretty extreme settings, gets real nice and crunchy.

I’ve got an old Drawmer DL221 that I sometimes use as well, it’s not as extreme as the OT compressor, but it’s really good for putting on specific things just to help them squeeze in a mix, because I’m not known for leaving a lot of headroom (or much room at all) in my mixes.

[Skurdd]

If you’ve got some compressor tips (for the master) I’d love to hear them. I feel like I’m still struggling there.

[Fin25]

So for most of my individual tracks, I’m doing a mixture of slow attack with low ratio/highish threshold for transients and maybe a second one more or less to smash the shit out of whatever’s left after the first one is done.

For the master though I go the opposite way, super fast attack and high ratio, but still a pretty high threshold, to catch them peaks without squashing too much of the mix, unless I want to squash the mix, then I just roll out the release and drop the threshold a bit.

The gain I just piss about with til I’m happy with the mix.

I’ll be honest though, I’m no expert, I just piss about til I find settings I like mostly.

[your_lamp]

A couple threads on OT compression that might be useful to read through:

OT Compressor - Meaning Behind The Values

Took me one entire hour of experimentation, but I think I figured out the Threshold and Ratio settings, more specifically what the numeric values actually mean. Basically I fed all sorts of materials into the compressor at different levels, and tweeked many parameter combinations, and analyzed the signal levels with Insight 2. I think I might have found out something really interesting: each THRS value equals to basically half a dB in gain, all the way from 127 down to the noise floor. A THRS o…

Glue Compressor settings for Octatrack

quick note to mention i found some very nice “mix combining” ability of the Octatrack’s compressor, for an individual track - where entire instrumentation audio loop (drums, bass, synths) … alternatively to apply to the Master Mix Effect on Track 8 if that option is being used. Att: 24 Rel: 86 Thrs: 50 Ratio: 45 Gain: 8 Mix: 112 works a treat! makes everything sound tighter, funkier and more pro. I have the Master Volume set to an extra 29 of Gain, not sure if that is helping or effect…

Personally I tend to use the OT’s compressor more as a sound design tool (noisier/more extreme effects) and the Digitakt’s more as an end-of-chain glue compressor.

This might be a psychological trick because the Digitakt has better on-screen graphics so I feel like I have more control with it and can use it in a more nuanced way.

[subdatum]

As usual I think it depends on what you’re trying to achieve with intensity level/mix design. Sounds like you’re getting the results you want no?

For utilitarian stuff I’ve been doing 4:1 with just a touch of threshold and mix on the DT --> into a thru on the OT. The OT master track gets the same comp setup. In the DAW I’ll catch peaks and hit it with a final brickwall/maximizer. Like others have said, sending an already effected signal into extreme compressor settings yields some cool stuff, pumping/breathing, distortion, etc.

Is it stated anywhere whether the OT vs DT compressor are the same DSP?
Obligatory comment that I have no idea what I’m doing and my process is a mishmash of hearing other folks tips/process .

[Microtribe]

Its not enough to know how to slap a compressor on things. You need to know why they need to be slapped.