Yeah I’ve come to understand this as a kind of master out of the Rytm. What setting is it at?
Nothing too crazy really. The default setting is 64 right? So let’s say 74-80… Just to give a little more volume.
Hi Oskar,
Thank you for the reply. Yeah, I’m aware of some of the threads you mentioned. It’s a good read for the noise related issue, but I’m still trying to figure out why the compressor behavior is so odd… It makes everything sound quieter with no compression going 
me generally i crank that comp level up! also love the noise from the make up gain from the comp. but is that really ok?
still all this gainstaging stages make my brain stage-dive like a hallucinating not-so-rockstar
i would love to get some general guides for it, as how to stay clean , so i know when distortion starts to come into play, so i can then drive the sounds mindfully.
generally i find that pre-normalised samples start get driven around 70 sample level
but the synths can go up to 127, with no dist
then there is the overdrive and amp level
and then master dist
lastly the comp thresh, makeup and master level
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Following
just to say that also i’m not an experienced user of the AR yet. had it for less than half a year and only the past couple of months i really dived into it.
so my gainstaging method is first crank the comp level. keep the MUP at minimum, then i make my sounds and patterns, then i go and setup the distorton page, from 10 to 50 maybe depends, and then the comp. maye i go for NYcomp, or punch comp. depending on where i put the mix level i got and give from 20-50 MUP.
in general i keep my synth levels under 110 sample levels les than 70, and then use the amp page to mix and do velocities, sometimes i use velocity mod to mix too, but more that often i tend to turn it off and use it to modulate other params.
this works for now. but if anyone more experienced has a better method. would be glad to give it a try and see if it works for me. i just go by ear, never really got into daw analyzing frequencies and stuff.
Unity gain is around 22/23, it is in negative when below. Seems an odd value, 27 would make more sense….
First thing I do when I may a new kit is put it at 23.
would be nice if it was a bi-directional dial from -27 to 0 and 0 to 120 or something!
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I found that post really helpful, too. However, I struggle with the Attack stage:
Now start tweaking the Attack control and listen to the attack of the transients on the kicks, snares, bassline, arpeggios or whatever. You should be able to find a nice spot where it really lets the transients thwap through whilst clamping down on everything else. Use your ears. Where does it sound best? Less snap and more smash = shorter Attack, more snap and less smash = longer attack. I can usually find a sweet spot very quickly. I usually err on the side of a little too short rather than a little too long. Don’t touch the Attack again, leave it, you are done there
With the ratio high and threshold low, I struggle to hear any transients at all for half the Attack dial, and then at the setting where I hear transients, the attack is so long, I’m hearing most of the sustain and release phases too.
Turning up make-up helps a little, but it shouldn’t.
Anyone else find this?
I really hope for a rewrite of the compressor. It’s unusable. /rant
The compressor is fully analog, so a rewrite would mean a new physical board (e.g. MK3).
The grey boxes in the diagram in the manual are analog:
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the controls are 100% digital. The numbers and limits are the problem … I don’t know. The UI is unusable. Better? It needs to become intuitive. I don’t want to look up specific numbers every time I wanna use it.
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I had a similar confusion when I got my Rytm. I posted about it here.
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Ah! Sorry, misunderstood you. 
Yes, better units, a gain indicator and other UI enhancements would be nice.!
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Another reason why I feel like there’s an update coming. The DT compressor deals with it a bit better already.
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for which param are you talking about? the comp volume? the incoming signal = outgoing when vol is at 23? how did you test that?
so if i have it always cranked what does it mean then?
I think the previous post referred to the make-up gain (MUP) parameter.
Yes, make up gain or MUP
@Ibiza keep in mind that you can also use the individual outs (which are actually paired) at the same time as using the stereo L/R out. So if you’re using a mixer you can fiddle around with those individual out levels (in the external mixer) to further build up a voice if the compressor isn’t in the Goldilocks zone.
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Hi Elektronauts,
Thank you all for the replies🙏🏻 Sooooo, as far as I can tell this compressor is a bit of headache, uh? Well here is my takeaway:
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For some reason Elektron removed the gain reduction meter from AR Mark II’s screen. The real question is WHY. Did they provided a good technical reason for this very odd decision? Will they ever “stick it back in” or is completely out of the question? I feel at the very least they could add proper metering(with actual DBs values) into OB.
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Make up unity gain is around 9 o’clock. Duh, why didn’t I think of that sooner😂
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Threshold control is basically useless if the signal is “going in too hot”. Compression is happening (by a significant amount) even with the threshold set fully clockwise. That explains why I could hear a shocking -10dB volume drop with the threshold at minimum… This one is a first. I’d really like to know the reason behind this (again odd) design choice and how to gain stage the mixbus properly so it doesn’t trigger the overly sensitive threshold.
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Finally, I dig the aggressive character of the compressor but I have to agree with some of the earlier comments. It absolutely smashes the transients with the mix set at 100%(yeah even with the slowest attack settings). I find a parallel 40~60% mix to be the limit if you want to preserve the punch of the drums.
Please let me know your thoughts on my findings. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure out this beast together🤘🏻
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