Does anybody have any tips for using the FET? I'm not a novice when it comes to compressors, but I always seem to have a hard time getting the FET to sound right to me, which is irritating since I know it is such a great compressor. I think the input knob is throwing me off for some reason, I'm not sure why. I've used Reason's masterclass compressor for years and never had an issue dialing in a setting, and that had an input knob.
Does anybody have any tips for using this thing? I'm interested in any rules of thumb you use when dialing in a setting, or if you have any general settings for certain instruments, or vocals. Also, I've heard it mentioned on here that somebody uses the FET in conjunction with Cakewalk's RE-2A, I'd be curious if anybody else does this, and how they go about getting the two to work together.
Tips for using Softube's FET compressor?
Maybe you just don't like the sound of the FET?
Not all compressors are for everyone, instead of forcing it, look at some tutorials of the FET and recreate their settings and see if that works for you. Otherwise don't use it.
it's suppose to be a tool help u in your creative process. If it doesn't help you or even hinder you don't use it
Not all compressors are for everyone, instead of forcing it, look at some tutorials of the FET and recreate their settings and see if that works for you. Otherwise don't use it.
it's suppose to be a tool help u in your creative process. If it doesn't help you or even hinder you don't use it
I like the FET (and ChanComp by FXpansion) for certain things but not for others. The FET is not my most used compressor by any means and I think that's due to its nature. It's just not my sort of sound for certain things.
As for use, I find that keeping the Gain Reduction to my preferred kind of levels guides me on what the value of the other knobs are set at. I also tend to use it to either exaggerate transients (slow attack, quick release) or to kill transients (quick attack, moderate release). It's also a nice compressor for riding basses (evening them out) IMO.
Frustrations: I do find it hard to dial things in just right... it's sensitive; I find the dry/wet knob to be very non-linear to my ears. I think Selig has brought this up in general for compressors and the benefits of doing your own paralleling IIRC?
As for use, I find that keeping the Gain Reduction to my preferred kind of levels guides me on what the value of the other knobs are set at. I also tend to use it to either exaggerate transients (slow attack, quick release) or to kill transients (quick attack, moderate release). It's also a nice compressor for riding basses (evening them out) IMO.
Frustrations: I do find it hard to dial things in just right... it's sensitive; I find the dry/wet knob to be very non-linear to my ears. I think Selig has brought this up in general for compressors and the benefits of doing your own paralleling IIRC?
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doctecazoid
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From the Sound On Sound article on Mix Compression (May 2008 - https://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may08/ ... ession.htm)
"FET compressors use a particular type of transistor to control the amount of gain reduction, similarly to the way a triode tube works, and are not as widely used for mix bus applications as optical or VCA models, thanks to a distinctive bright and focused sound quality, which can become less pleasing with the amount of gain reduction that is applied. The attack times achievable are generally much faster in FET models than any of the other three analogue compressor types. For this reason FET models are generally used and thought of as limiters. There are, however, classic and modern units available that can produce great results when used on the mix bus..."
That paragraph alone should be pretty eye-opening, if you thought the Softube FET compressor works anything like a standard compressor.
The best source of information regarding the Softube FET compressor RE can be found in their plugins PDF manual, on page 47:
http://download.softube.com/manuals/Sof ... Manual.pdf
Here are some excerpts from the manual that illustrate some of the differences between a standard compressor and the Softube FET compressor:
"The original hardware has some quite quirky circuits, and a lot of its sound comes from far from ideal components and design."
"The Input knob on this compressor works both as a gain control and a threshold control. If you increase the Input volume you will also increase the gain reduction, which makes it work sort of like a combination of a gain knob and a reversed threshold knob. You can drive the INPUT VU far into the reds without any unwanted digital clipping. Just make sure that the OUTPUT PEAK meter doesn’t indicate any clipping. (If it does, just lower the Output volume a bit.)"
"Ratio: The ALL mode ('All Buttons In') is a peculiarity found on this type of compressor. Originally the different ratios were selected with push buttons, which made some mix engineers try out what happens if you press all buttons at once. From a technical perspective, pushing
all buttons at the same time makes all bias levels go berserk. From a sound perspective, this means that you will get a very pumping compression with lots of distortion. This mode is often called the “British mode”. By setting the Ratio somewhere between 20:1 and ALL you’ll get a sound that’s definitely unique for this product."
"If the Ratio knob is set at ALL, the Gain Reduction meter won’t show the same results as the original hardware. Instead it will display the actual gain reduction (which the original unit doesn’t). You will also notice that the Gain Reduction sometimes display positive values when the Ratio is set at ALL, which is correct. The ALL mode does indeed have negative gain reduction (=positive gain) for some settings."
"The attack time on this unit is very fast, ranging from about 20 μs at the fastest setting to about 800 μs (that’s micro-seconds!) on its slowest setting. Other kinds of compressors often have much slower attack times. In comparison to the attack time the release times are much slower – ranging between 50 ms and 1.1 s. Please note that these numbers only give a general idea of the attack and release times. In practice (and just like in the modeled hardware), the attack and release times will be program dependent, ie. depend on the characteristics of the input signal."
Once you wrap your head around the device and get comfortable with the controls, you will likely find that for some types of program material the FET works wonders on the signal, whereas for other types of program material you are better off using a more conventional compressor.
"FET compressors use a particular type of transistor to control the amount of gain reduction, similarly to the way a triode tube works, and are not as widely used for mix bus applications as optical or VCA models, thanks to a distinctive bright and focused sound quality, which can become less pleasing with the amount of gain reduction that is applied. The attack times achievable are generally much faster in FET models than any of the other three analogue compressor types. For this reason FET models are generally used and thought of as limiters. There are, however, classic and modern units available that can produce great results when used on the mix bus..."
That paragraph alone should be pretty eye-opening, if you thought the Softube FET compressor works anything like a standard compressor.
The best source of information regarding the Softube FET compressor RE can be found in their plugins PDF manual, on page 47:
http://download.softube.com/manuals/Sof ... Manual.pdf
Here are some excerpts from the manual that illustrate some of the differences between a standard compressor and the Softube FET compressor:
"The original hardware has some quite quirky circuits, and a lot of its sound comes from far from ideal components and design."
"The Input knob on this compressor works both as a gain control and a threshold control. If you increase the Input volume you will also increase the gain reduction, which makes it work sort of like a combination of a gain knob and a reversed threshold knob. You can drive the INPUT VU far into the reds without any unwanted digital clipping. Just make sure that the OUTPUT PEAK meter doesn’t indicate any clipping. (If it does, just lower the Output volume a bit.)"
"Ratio: The ALL mode ('All Buttons In') is a peculiarity found on this type of compressor. Originally the different ratios were selected with push buttons, which made some mix engineers try out what happens if you press all buttons at once. From a technical perspective, pushing
all buttons at the same time makes all bias levels go berserk. From a sound perspective, this means that you will get a very pumping compression with lots of distortion. This mode is often called the “British mode”. By setting the Ratio somewhere between 20:1 and ALL you’ll get a sound that’s definitely unique for this product."
"If the Ratio knob is set at ALL, the Gain Reduction meter won’t show the same results as the original hardware. Instead it will display the actual gain reduction (which the original unit doesn’t). You will also notice that the Gain Reduction sometimes display positive values when the Ratio is set at ALL, which is correct. The ALL mode does indeed have negative gain reduction (=positive gain) for some settings."
"The attack time on this unit is very fast, ranging from about 20 μs at the fastest setting to about 800 μs (that’s micro-seconds!) on its slowest setting. Other kinds of compressors often have much slower attack times. In comparison to the attack time the release times are much slower – ranging between 50 ms and 1.1 s. Please note that these numbers only give a general idea of the attack and release times. In practice (and just like in the modeled hardware), the attack and release times will be program dependent, ie. depend on the characteristics of the input signal."
Once you wrap your head around the device and get comfortable with the controls, you will likely find that for some types of program material the FET works wonders on the signal, whereas for other types of program material you are better off using a more conventional compressor.
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doctecazoid
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Addendum
Since the FET has such a fast attack time, it would be better to use it as a limiter than as a compressor. Thus if you are using both the RE-2A and the FET in a chain, the more conventional practice would be to place the RE-2A *before* the FET (in order to compress the signal before limiting it). But feel free to experiment! Your choice of devices and settings is dependent on the source program material, and the effect you wish to achieve with the devices.Neosaki wrote: .... I've heard it mentioned on here that somebody uses the FET in conjunction with Cakewalk's RE-2A, I'd be curious if anybody else does this, and how they go about getting the two to work together.
Yep, the FET is a very fast compressor and thus almost always puts a lot of "color" (read distortion) on the material. Its great to put "thud" on your drum tracks or to keep a vocal really flat in the mix but its not so great on sums unless you use it in parallel mode or with the "mix" setting the Softube has just to add some "character" to your track.
Re: Using the FET and LA-2A together, I actually like it the other way around, using the FET before the LA-2A to catch the peaks so that the LA doesn't start to pump and just smoothes out the signal after that.
Re: Using the FET and LA-2A together, I actually like it the other way around, using the FET before the LA-2A to catch the peaks so that the LA doesn't start to pump and just smoothes out the signal after that.
The "classic" setting for vocals (and more) on an 1176 is called the "Dr Pepper" setting (an old commercial used to say to drink Dr Pepper at 10, 2, and 4 o'clock). It translates well to the FET: set the attack to 10:00, the Release to 2:00, and the ratio to 4.
Selig Audio, LLC
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doctecazoid
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Yeah that's a good idea there. Judicious use of the FET in this scenario gives more control over how the RE-2A affects the signal.normen wrote:Re: Using the FET and LA-2A together, I actually like it the other way around, using the FET before the LA-2A to catch the peaks so that the LA doesn't start to pump and just smoothes out the signal after that.
I love it. (And for those reading this thread who may not know, the 1176 Selig refers to here is the Urei 1176 Peak Limiter, another legendary FET hardware device ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1176_Peak_Limiter.)selig wrote:The "classic" setting for vocals (and more) on an 1176 is called the "Dr Pepper" setting (an old commercial used to say to drink Dr Pepper at 10, 2, and 4 o'clock). It translates well to the FET: set the attack to 10:00, the Release to 2:00, and the ratio to 4.
Just throwing in my 2c (which is worth a wooden nickel) I find the FET VERY difficult to dial in as a regular comp. Very fiddly, very unforgiving.
Too much input, too much output, these more than anything else give me a headache at times. I'm not saying I don't like it or that I'm not an idiot, but I'm not too stupid when it comes to comps and this one is complex to be sure.
BTW, that ratio/att/rel is good, but again the input and output have to be "just right" to get the desired effect.
@cakewalk: Love the sound, but being a slow comp it's not very good at catching peaks (even in limiting) where as the McDsp 670 is much better suited for that. But they sound nothing alike.
Do I sound confusing?
Too much input, too much output, these more than anything else give me a headache at times. I'm not saying I don't like it or that I'm not an idiot, but I'm not too stupid when it comes to comps and this one is complex to be sure.
BTW, that ratio/att/rel is good, but again the input and output have to be "just right" to get the desired effect.
@cakewalk: Love the sound, but being a slow comp it's not very good at catching peaks (even in limiting) where as the McDsp 670 is much better suited for that. But they sound nothing alike.
Do I sound confusing?
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dopplereffect
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i agree with everyone here that the fet isnt for every situation. however, it is one of my absolute favorites on drum bus. hands down the best feature on this bad boy is the wet/dry control. i slap it on a drum bus, adjust the input to a decent level, crank the ratio, and shorten the release and attack and then dial back wet/dry, it does wonders to the transients and gives it a GIANT SOUND.
i used it on the drums for this track right here:
it has a very specific sound, and works well for my sax in some applications, but like i said, i find myself using it for its amazing distortion properties more than as a leveling device.
also, those detector knobs are your friend, if youre compressing a sample for instance, and only want to compress the high end, then adjust the low cut, and vice versa.
i used it on the drums for this track right here:
it has a very specific sound, and works well for my sax in some applications, but like i said, i find myself using it for its amazing distortion properties more than as a leveling device.
also, those detector knobs are your friend, if youre compressing a sample for instance, and only want to compress the high end, then adjust the low cut, and vice versa.
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kuhliloach
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I second the wet / dry mentioned above as being the key to this compressor--it appears as PARALLEL INJECT on the actual unit. This gives the FET built-in parallel compression. That said you could set up a very harsh setting and just mix a little bit of it into your signal.
Other strategies would include leaving it fully wet and dialing in lighter compression settings, or setting it up on a more traditional 2nd parallel track or effect return.
Other strategies would include leaving it fully wet and dialing in lighter compression settings, or setting it up on a more traditional 2nd parallel track or effect return.
A little tip from the Gearslutz-forum:
NY Compression with the FET:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-c ... nload.html
NY Compression with the FET:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-c ... nload.html
Just thinking, i'm going to try a compressor before the FET to tame the peaks in the signal first then use the fet for mojo..
That's how I often use it. RE-2A or FRG ---> FET works welldana wrote:Just thinking, i'm going to try a compressor before the FET to tame the peaks in the signal first then use the fet for mojo..
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