I was wondering which Ekectron device has the “better” compressor. The Digitakt, Octatrack or Rytm?
I usually bring everything into the Octatrack, and I use the compressor under the FX page two on the Master track, but since the Digitakt and Rytm also have one maybe I should experiment with a different routing.
Any thoughts?
cheers
DT is the most transparent and makes it possible to have a side chain, aka compress a track in reaction to another signal.
AR is the most gritty. Can act as a fierce distorsion, I used it a lot like this (and resampled the output.
As for OT, the nice thing is that you can have different type of compression, per track and master if you want.
As always, the “best” is very relative.
Octatracks compressor is fully modulatable via LFOs, scenes, slide trigs and paramter locks. And you can stack them.
I don’t have much experience with the OT’s compressor in my brief dalliance with that machine, but I greatly prefer the Rytm’s compressor to the DT. First, its a pure analog compressor (with digital control) and as mentioned by @LyingDalai, it has a ton of character. I also find it a bit easier to dial in quickly and given how many gain stages lie within the AR, using it effectively is essentially a necessity to get the most out of that machine. Definitely worth exploring more if you haven’t yet. The DT’s compressor is fine but I didn’t find it added much character or different tonal options. I usually would turn it on, mess with the settings, A/B things and find I preferred my patterns with it turned off for greater dynamics. The DT has the advantage of having pattern volumes, so I found it less necessary to use the compressor to even out levels between patterns.
OT Compressor on the master track FTW. Really opens up the sound in a way I could not achieve on the DT or AR . DT works better on drums but gets a little bit too harsh on more complex mixes. AR comp is a beast for providing glue and grit but adds a lot of noise if your gain staging is not the best
I really like the OT compressor. It can be used in so many ways. My fav of those three.
The AR compressor is quite aggressive which combined with the master OD is a great combo, especially for a drum machine.
As a sidenote, I received an EHX Platform today and use it for the OT master out in the SSL Fusion insert and I tried it with different settings with all of the Fusion modules bypassed and it sounds awesome. Cheap AF too.
At times it really reminded me of the AR compressor but I think it’s way more versatile albeit not modulatable.
i just wish the OT compressor had metering, i don’t trust my ears
This is the problem with most compressors, they are so subtle it is hard to tune it by ear alone, the DT is nice for that.
Thank you all for your comments!,
Does anyone have a link to a video tutorial on how to best use the Octatrack compressor (or the Digitakt and AR as well)
cheers
Can be applied to any compressor
AR’s comp can sound really good, but doesn’t always work for me. When it does, though, it’s springkling just the right amount of nasty fairy dust.
OT’s comp is very versatile, variable between peak and rms (knob that goes from 0=peak to 127=rms), ridicolously massive amounts of gain.
Edit, OT’s comp can work as a limiter.
I’m a huge fan of the OT compressor. It’s a bit misunderstood though… The compression ratio ranges between 1:1 and 1:255, which is a lot of compression (pretty much limiter territory). I rarely go much past 9 o’clock on the ratio, unless I want it to be a limiter, for example when working with feedback.
The OT compressor also has a fuck ton of gain! It’s a bit wild, and I use it to generate distortion. As @Microtribe mentioned, you can chain them, which I find useful when boosting the gain of one compressor into distortion.
And it can be p-locked and assigned to scenes, which is dope.
For me the OT compressor is “the best” :))
That’s true and I find it very useful. I would probably point out that the signal keying the sidechain can’t be excluded from the mix – so if you’re going for that exaggerated pumping sidechain (like for example in Daft Punk’s Indo Silver Club or probably 50 billion more modern examples) it’s not going to leave your kick out of the mix and it too will be compressed.
are all the elektron compressors hard knee? or is the AR one different in that regard also?
This video is phenomenal. Learning to use your ears like this is the way.
The Elektron compressors are all good and I wouldn’t worry too much about which one has the most magic. They each have strengths as others have pointed out but there is no bad or best choice IMO.
The only way to actually exclude it is to use it with a DAW. If you take the sidechain source track out of the main outs, it’ll be silent but still act as the sidechain source for the compressor. Then you can bring that track into the DAW where you can hear it completely unaffected by the compressor. Kinda like what the Syntakt does with its FX block, except it can do it all on hardware and doesn’t need a DAW for this.
This is from the guy who figured out the lfo timestretch trick, here he explains his compressor settings, I use it like that and it’s awesome
digitakt is king
None of them, use a proper external compressor, OTO Boum, FMR Audio, Elysia etc
OT compressor is the most versatile, it can go from super subtle to the most batshit noise bastard to limiting with only a small amount of work. The levels of modulation that can be applied to it are almost endless, and stacking them can yield genuinely mind blowing results. Probably the most difficult to get your head around, but still not all that complicated as long as you understand how compression works.
AR compressor is great for adding character and glueing a mix together, but isn’t particularly transparent and lacks the versatility of the OT. But when you get it just right working together with the master distortion, chefs will sexually harass you. Also, it’s analogue, if that matters to you.
DT compressor is pretty transparent and really nice for drums, great for snappy transients. It’s probably the easiest of the three to use, as it’s visually well laid out and has the gain reduction meter, but it does have a tendency to hype a mix a bit, which, along with the DT’s slightly boosted high end, can unsettle a mix if you’re not careful.
I love the compressor on the AR, it’s parameters resemble those in the SSL bus compressor, but the character reminds me to DBX 165A.
It’s a very punchy and restless VCA compressor, a bit difficult to set properly but once done it slams really hard!
Also the sidechain detector filtering options and the parallel mix knob are extremely useful…
For a “drum machine” is real luxury having such analog compressor built in, and along with the ability to modulate with LFO and parameter locks… insane.