What you use your compressors for
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PatheinRaindropMoe
New member
heh, go with the saying, if you aint sure whether you need it, most probably you dont.
take a deep breath, a step back and analyse, whether dynamics of playing style will affect the role of your playing in a band setting. Are you able to control the playing dynamics via picking hand or just wanna have a pedal that does it for you.
the sustain part of compressor which some might know, is actually quite a misnomer which prolly arise from boss having the "sustainer" word in their compressor.
At high setting, it doesnt literally give long sustain, but extreme case of compression which squashed the signal level, killing off the dynamics peak.
for some, the compressor is being used mildly for the compression and its tonal shaping ability on the overall chain of signal.
oh yeah, compression is used in music other than guitar. Its pretty common for recording, mastering purpose as well, but the funny thing is that only when use for guitar purpose, we tend to think of sustaining. Hehe, i blame it on boss.
take a deep breath, a step back and analyse, whether dynamics of playing style will affect the role of your playing in a band setting. Are you able to control the playing dynamics via picking hand or just wanna have a pedal that does it for you.
the sustain part of compressor which some might know, is actually quite a misnomer which prolly arise from boss having the "sustainer" word in their compressor.
At high setting, it doesnt literally give long sustain, but extreme case of compression which squashed the signal level, killing off the dynamics peak.
for some, the compressor is being used mildly for the compression and its tonal shaping ability on the overall chain of signal.
oh yeah, compression is used in music other than guitar. Its pretty common for recording, mastering purpose as well, but the funny thing is that only when use for guitar purpose, we tend to think of sustaining. Hehe, i blame it on boss.
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PatheinRaindropMoe
New member
hehe, imho, the sustain part is negligible without the combination of volume of playing, fretting technique and properly setup guitar.
carboxymoron
New member
It's a give and take. Squash the signal more, you lose dynamic range (difference between softest and loudest sound) but artificially increase the decay time ("sustain").
I'm also relatively new to compressors and I made some lengthy posts about my quest for a strict compressor/limiter not long ago, if you're feeling bored enough to read it http://www.soft.com.sg/forum/gear-guitar/189239-controlling-max-volume-output.html Now I run a Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone (parallel optical comp) at the start and a Korg LIM-1 (limiter) at the end of my chain.
One of the good informative links I found was this http://www.ethanwiner.com/compressors.html
The Pigtronix comp gets me practically infinite sustain when cranked (with a good set of noiseless pickups and clean power to my pedals) which is a nice trick but not always useful sound. At a more moderate setting it adds an aggressive, punchy attack for percussive sounds or even piano-like sounds. So I use comps for achieving unusual sounds. But I find that most people treat comps as just a magic boost that hopefully makes them play better without knowing anything about what the compressor is doing.
I'm also relatively new to compressors and I made some lengthy posts about my quest for a strict compressor/limiter not long ago, if you're feeling bored enough to read it http://www.soft.com.sg/forum/gear-guitar/189239-controlling-max-volume-output.html Now I run a Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone (parallel optical comp) at the start and a Korg LIM-1 (limiter) at the end of my chain.
One of the good informative links I found was this http://www.ethanwiner.com/compressors.html
The Pigtronix comp gets me practically infinite sustain when cranked (with a good set of noiseless pickups and clean power to my pedals) which is a nice trick but not always useful sound. At a more moderate setting it adds an aggressive, punchy attack for percussive sounds or even piano-like sounds. So I use comps for achieving unusual sounds. But I find that most people treat comps as just a magic boost that hopefully makes them play better without knowing anything about what the compressor is doing.
Godspeed64
Active member
Use it to even out my dynamics at times. Sometimes I play too much with attack which can be a bad thing. So the compressor helps a lot in evening out my volume. Helps for my delay lines as well.
Radius_Vector
New member
Most of which has been said already in this thread is useful.
Some people use it to even out signal levels, but most guitarists I know use it for the sonic properties aka sustain, bite on the notes etc. A classic example of compression used in this fashion would be heard in Andy Timmons' tone, where the body of the tone is still uncompressed but the pick attack jumps out beautifully because of the tasteful use of compression.
As far as recommendations go, you cant go wrong starting off with a boss compressor. Upgrade/downgrade later based on what you feel is needed.
Some people use it to even out signal levels, but most guitarists I know use it for the sonic properties aka sustain, bite on the notes etc. A classic example of compression used in this fashion would be heard in Andy Timmons' tone, where the body of the tone is still uncompressed but the pick attack jumps out beautifully because of the tasteful use of compression.
As far as recommendations go, you cant go wrong starting off with a boss compressor. Upgrade/downgrade later based on what you feel is needed.
xfigox
Member
Its like the most vital thing in my X3 setup, set the right threshold and it gives that really nice bite and edge. Normally used hand in hand with a gate too, gives that nice punch ala Periphery.
As for cleans I normally use it to control the volume range so that it won't make everyone deaf when you suddenly pick hard.
As for cleans I normally use it to control the volume range so that it won't make everyone deaf when you suddenly pick hard.
carboxymoron
New member
For me, after using a parallel comp like the Pigtronix, I will never go back to a normal one. Whether it's Boss/MXR or some Keeley or Diamond stuff. The ability to blend the clean and compressed signal solves a lot of problems with dialing in the right attack and still allowing your playing dynamics to show. Barber Tone Press is also parallel so you could try that.
Radius_Vector
New member
^ That does sound like a good approach.
Can possibly do it more crazily, run a parallel EQ into the compressor on 100% mix, so that only a certain ' frequency segment' of your tone is compressed
Interesting results indeed!
Can possibly do it more crazily, run a parallel EQ into the compressor on 100% mix, so that only a certain ' frequency segment' of your tone is compressed
Interesting results indeed!
PatheinRaindropMoe
New member
parallel processing is prolly one of the least talk subject round here. Craig anderton wrote article about it back in the 70s in the context of geetar effect.
Round 4/5 years back, i was kinda inspired by the toneczar vfm, went on a parallel search. Goosonique bro has a parallel blender built into boss volume pedal, i had so much fun with it that i ended up with 2 of those.
And wanting to get more outta those, i ended up building a triple loop blender which can blend 3 loops of effect via expression pedal. It was fun for a while.
Parallel processing in bass prolly more common than for geetaring purpose though. Getting a processed fuzzed out bass blend with the low end of thing give a much better result than the usual series processing.
Hehe, in the computer age, parallel processing so much more easier for geetaring.
Round 4/5 years back, i was kinda inspired by the toneczar vfm, went on a parallel search. Goosonique bro has a parallel blender built into boss volume pedal, i had so much fun with it that i ended up with 2 of those.
And wanting to get more outta those, i ended up building a triple loop blender which can blend 3 loops of effect via expression pedal. It was fun for a while.
Parallel processing in bass prolly more common than for geetaring purpose though. Getting a processed fuzzed out bass blend with the low end of thing give a much better result than the usual series processing.
Hehe, in the computer age, parallel processing so much more easier for geetaring.
carboxymoron
New member
If I'm not wrong Blackwood had one, but pricey. I've seen only 2 go on the classifieds in a long time for 180 to 200, one of which I bought last year 
Why not try the Barber (at TYMC if it's in stock) first and see if you find it useful? Other than these 2 the other parallel comp I know is the TC Nova Dynamics but that's also not very common.
Why not try the Barber (at TYMC if it's in stock) first and see if you find it useful? Other than these 2 the other parallel comp I know is the TC Nova Dynamics but that's also not very common.
Godspeed64
Active member
Not many parallel comps but the Tone Press is the first and one of the finest. Hey Carboxy doesn't the Pigtronix sound too gritty at times?
Plus it pops on the first note right? Or is that anamoly reserved for the Ge version of the Philosopher?
Plus it pops on the first note right? Or is that anamoly reserved for the Ge version of the Philosopher?
carboxymoron
New member
The reverse colour (black stripes on gold) version seems to be just an old limited run of the normal one. The sparkly all-gold Germanium version has different clipping diodes. I haven't had the chance to try the Ge version though.
Not sure what you mean by too gritty. The knob is there for you to control haha. I use it clean most of the time. The grit itself is not a very nice distortion, but can stack very well into other distortions for adding that little bit more hair.
Pop meaning the attack? With the sustain and blend set high you will have a very unnatural envelope due to how crazily effective the optical compression is. It sounds different from the "punch" achieved by other compressors. But it already shines at moderate settings. For example I really like the Radiohead example on the PGS demo with both knobs at 12 o'clock http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ITMsjx4mO4#t=178s
Not sure what you mean by too gritty. The knob is there for you to control haha. I use it clean most of the time. The grit itself is not a very nice distortion, but can stack very well into other distortions for adding that little bit more hair.
Pop meaning the attack? With the sustain and blend set high you will have a very unnatural envelope due to how crazily effective the optical compression is. It sounds different from the "punch" achieved by other compressors. But it already shines at moderate settings. For example I really like the Radiohead example on the PGS demo with both knobs at 12 o'clock http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ITMsjx4mO4#t=178s
Radius_Vector
New member
damn straight. parallel process your geetar with some crazy FX while keeping your original guitar sound. REAL transparency
But coming back, Martone has some of the coolest parallel processed guitar sounds I have heard in my life. Along with the parallel FX, he runs a stereo amp setup with one amp shiny clean and the other on distortion and man it sounds beautiful!
MadWerewolfBoy
New member
It's true that compressor adds sustain if set above a certain level because of the way it works.
The way i view a compressor is dial-in-and-leave-it-on kinda effect block. It affects more of playing dynamics than tone if a transparent unit is used. I find it's application on acoustic guitar and electric cleans more pronounced, it will even out the volume of single string picking and 6-string struming which is quite useful in balancing live sounds.
The application with distortion is not as obvious in terms of volume if the compressor is used before the amp. what the compressor does in this case is to make the distortion level the same whether strumming hard or picking single notes softly. It becomes easier to execute pinch harmonics and also makes finger tapping easier, though string noise might be a problem if the level of compression is set too high. Dynamics definitely becomes narrower which may be desired or not, depending on individual preference.
If picking strength is an integral part of one's playing, then slight to no compression might be suitable.
More compression would be good for consistent tone and volume, quite useful in live applications.
The way i view a compressor is dial-in-and-leave-it-on kinda effect block. It affects more of playing dynamics than tone if a transparent unit is used. I find it's application on acoustic guitar and electric cleans more pronounced, it will even out the volume of single string picking and 6-string struming which is quite useful in balancing live sounds.
The application with distortion is not as obvious in terms of volume if the compressor is used before the amp. what the compressor does in this case is to make the distortion level the same whether strumming hard or picking single notes softly. It becomes easier to execute pinch harmonics and also makes finger tapping easier, though string noise might be a problem if the level of compression is set too high. Dynamics definitely becomes narrower which may be desired or not, depending on individual preference.
If picking strength is an integral part of one's playing, then slight to no compression might be suitable.
More compression would be good for consistent tone and volume, quite useful in live applications.
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