Now I know why I am so confused - such an important feature! How should I know if anything is compressing 
I’ll never memorize what each knob is doing exactly:upside_down_face:
I would use a daw based RMS meter to figure out the settings early on, as you get comfortable with adapting your ears to hear the compression curves.
You should try the MD compressor sometime. It will make you love the Rytm MK2 comp, absent metering and all.
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I do have an OT if that counts 
MD is much worse. Some but not all values are inverted. It’s maddening.
OT comp is actually my favorite Elektron compressor. Even without sidechain, it behaves properly and can always p-lock it to overcome the absence of sidechain.
Rytm comp has good mojo, however.
It does! Though when I first used it (yesterday) I thought my AR mk2 is broken because of the heavy noise 
but a few random knob twists later I was all set - it’s not bad indeed!
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So I’ve spent the last week or so doing my best to understand the compressor on the rytm. I’ve been listening to other artists music and spending more time dialing in different settings for my own music.
I feel like you can’t talk about the compression without the distortion involved in some way.
They feel like one effect to me.
Anyone else feel similarly?
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No. Not sure how you re doing it but i can easily apply them separately.
Yes, I mean more that since they both affect the volume in dynamic ways, that changing settings on one changes the way the other sounds.
Definitely.
Just speaking more to the way one interacts with the other.
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Ah yes, the distortion affects volume and so the compressor will react differently, and heavy compression will naturally change the sound of everything.
Here s a tip for dialing in compression: start with comp full wet, max threshold, max ratio, min attack, release auto 1 or 2, make up gain at a level so it sounds similar to the dry signal.
Because of max threshold, unless you re coming in way (too) hot, the compressor is not triggering. Start turning back threshold till output level is starting to sound squashed. Now start tweaking ratio, attack and decay till you get pleasing dynamics. setting threshold carefully is key, but also hard with untrained ears because of the lack of gain reduction feedback.
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Btw, compression doesn’t necessarily improve any and all material.
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Thanks mate,
I’ll try that little test out.
I haven’t used the auto settings for the release much yet.
I’m definitely still getting a feel for which settings I like the sound of. Maybe I’ll use the two separately this week!
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Nice little trick I found is that if you turn compressor vol to zero, you just hear the reverb and delay wet sound. Map to a performance control and its a really nice way to add little breaks at the end of a bar etc.
I definitely need to learn to use the compressor better. Right now I’m kinda turning knobs at random which sometimes sounds better and sometimes doesn’t! Any tips welcome. I do miss the meter from other Elektron devices for sure.
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