A good bit thanks to the envelope follower and enhancement / clean boost circuits. As gluey as it gets. Got my MK1 for $500
1 Like
I’ve had a few hardware compressors at the end of the chain, but lately it’s the FMR RNC, and I think that’s my favorite so far. So, another vote for the RNC! It was really cheap too, I actually bought it used off a fellow Elektronaut
1 Like
+1 one for this. I spent a lot of time researching this and ended up selling my OT and switching back to Ableton (for live looping and mastering)
I now use a tweaked version of the instant master chain from this template. Everything I make with the elektron boxes sounds so much better so can’t live (or play live) without it.
5 Likes
Rather good advice here.
A small laptop like an old 11” MBAir, with a low latency audio interface (MOTU M2, M4), and Ableton Glue Comp can get you in and out at under 6ms, including lookahead. Lots of great low latency free/cheap saturation plugins out there too from Analog Obsession and Brainworx.
Compressors are usually set and forget anyway, so as a solution it’s more than logical.
3 Likes
With an iPad/iPhone and an Analog Heat, you could host a compressor on the iDevice (or any number of EQs, multi-band compressors etc.) and use the soundcard built-in to the Heat to get Compression => Heat.
I was just about to muck around with this today using my iPad Pro. I used my iPhone 11 Pro in the past to test this and it worked really well. If you want to use the Fabfilter stuff though you need an iPad. No iPhone versions.
Only caveat is using lookahead will introduce some latency so be mindful of that.
Edit: @micabeza recommended this software to test RTL in iOS. I just hadn’t setup the test conditions for it.
2 Likes
Good points.
I haven’t used the Heat as a class compliant device on iOS. Any idea how the total round trip latency is for that?
iOS plug-in wise, I quite like “Woodpressor”
1 Like
I believe there’s a way to measure this with an app but I can’t remember the name of it. Someone asked me to test my PX5’s RTL with it but I paid for the app and never setup the test conditions >.>
I’m my brief testing, it wasn’t perceptible enough to mess around with my performance. The only time I had issues was using the Pro-L. It introduced enough latency to throw me off a bit. My cuts/mutes were always a bit off but my monitoring structure could’ve been setup better to accommodate.
1 Like
Give Magic Death Eye a twirl. I use it both in Ableton and on iOS.
Another trick that I had tried is with Fabfilter’s Volcano 3. Using it for high/low cut roll-offs across the mix and set to a non-linear model does some really nice stuff. Picked it up from a Dan Worrall video on Volcano 3.
1 Like
Following this logic, even a Digitakt or an Octatrack are obsolete compared to what a computer can do.
But it doesn’t work like this: those who choose to use gear have deep existential reasons, otherwise we would all use computers, end of discussion.
In any case, in my audio chain there is an FMR RNC and (for the price) I find it really good.
1 Like
Can you route the DT into the OT to then route back into the DT and then use DT as interface? Of course not sending the DT tracks via OB, but just the inputs?
I do have a macbook with ableton, i am just finding it easier to go Ableton and DT - or - DT and OT. When using all 3 the OT ends up as a loop player with poorer FX
Don’t cheap out on a hardware bus comp - if you do, you’re better off with software like DMG Audio TrackComp 2.
I use a Dramastic Audio Obsidian on Every fucking thing when recording and it is the GOAT. If you want lofi bus comp I second the OTO BOUM.
and stable at 32 samples?
right on!
That was only using the test tool. I’ve just now loaded up AUM and you cannot set the buffer to anything lower than 64 samples. Audiobus is the same. I’ll re-run the test at 64 sample buffer size.
Edit: 9.7ms at 64 sample buffer. I’m going to load in an compressor in AUM at those settings and run it. Sub 10ms should be just fine for live.
Edit 2:
2018 iPad Pro 11" with AUM hosting one instance of Magic Death Eye compressor. 48KHz/64 sample buffer: %8 DSP.
2018 iPad Pro 11" with AUM hosting one instance of Magic Death Eye compressor and Fabfilter Volcano 3. 48KHz/64 sample buffer: %10 DSP.
1 Like
has anyone compared the FMR RNC to the OTO BOUM?
I’ve always loved the Boum at the end of my hardware chain, but i barely use the saturation (very very low, on the boost setting “1” if i do, with maybe 50% wet/parallel mix) and i dont like the 1 knob compression ratio/threashold very much. i dont love setting attack and decay separately in menu either, its not very intuitive for me with something as subtle as a compressor where i need to focus on how the parameters are effecting the sound in realtime. and i use a couple compressor plugins in ableton
lately, i’ve been bypassing it a lot because i get more “clear” mixes when i dont boost everything pre-stereo daw recording, and just do the compression and saturation more subtly and deliberately in the daw. still just one stereo signal, not multitracking, but i find the boum better as a “finisher” for adding heat and a nice overall character rather than a malleable glue for dynamics and “groove” the way an ssl bus comp or mjuc (or even decapitator) works in ableton. i wish the boum saturation had the sweet spot range of the culture vulture/decapitator, because thats out of my price range currently
i have a platform, which is actually more noticeable in some ways than the boum, but definitely not as much of a general “sweetener” like Boum is. i still love it, but i wish i had something a little more clear for hardware compression, and the fmr rnc always sounded nice to me in theory
maybe even the alesis would give me the control i need? so hard to tell what’s good until you actually try them out for yourself i guess, but this is especially true with older cheaper gear. you have to figure out whether its underrated & overlooked or rightfully passed over
2 Likes
Thank you for these measurements!
1 Like
Boum works for me, but I like dirtier sounding house. I am not into super clean sounds and tend to resample and repitch my synths and drum machines quite often.
So it really depends on what aesthetic you are into. The OTO vibe is more retro/lo-fi/bitcrushed stuff. That is what their boxes really excel at.
1 Like
i like it for that too, but most of the time i dont really want to decimate my mix. i was looking for a cheaper thermionic + analog stereo comp when i bought it and its definitely great, but one thing i didnt mention was that it really raises the noise floor if you’re not careful, which is why i keep the saturation pretty far down and the wet around half.
there are plenty of tools for resolving that issue, but at the cost of a lot of the character and glue the boum provides, i feel like. so im constantly sort of battling with it
im also constantly tweaking the gain staging in my hardware setup, so i have experimented with everything pre-boum, but i dont think its 100% avoidable. at least, in my case
They key to controlling the Boum is the high pass setting. I put mine at the 150hz so the kick doesnt slam it too hard. From there I mix in the distortion and mix to around 8-10 o clcok depending the sound I want. I use the tube dist a lot for this.
6 Likes