And i should say that while i love hardware and the tactile interface, i use mainly software compressors and limiters. When im in the analog domain, im usually using the compression or limiting for extreme effects. The short answer is that you have to decide for yourself based on the advantages and disadvantages that affect you. Difference between hardware compression and software. What this means is that compression is done in hardware, which is about ten times faster than software. Hardware compression the open source backup wiki amanda.
Pcbased dvr systems have become the choice for surveillance system integrators and users due to their higher scalability, flexibility and ease of customization. Should you use a software audio compressor like chriss dynamic compressor, or a hardware compressor connected to your mixer. The funny thing is that its not usually an amplifier, but an attenuator, meaning that it turns the signal down when its fed a certain control voltage. Unfortunately, i do not have the hardware versions handy to make the necessary comparisons. The best vocal compressor for voice, bass, drums, and any other audio signal is the topmost studioquality one you can afford. Universal audios teletronix la2a hardware compressor. Should you use a software audio compressor, or a hardware compressor. Taking a look at how compressing in hardware during the recording stage can have a significant impact on your overall sound. We are also targeting other compression domains such as low compression high throughput, high compression low throughput to push this pareto curve of compression ratio.
The avid bf2a is available as part of avids classic compressor bundle. Hardware compression in storage networks and network attached storage tony summers, comtech aha april 2007. Information about hardware and software compression. The horsepower of the macpro enabled applications that did not take advantage of hardware compression to do well. Compression, expansion, noise gate, threshold, ratiowhat does it all mean. One of the guides i read a few weeks ago talked about microphones setups. It talked about how most prefer to record a dry signal which obviously makes things easier to reedit. And by emulations, we really mean painstakingly accurate modelling of the behaviour of those classic units a huge step up from some of the. Actually hardware compression is achieved by special devices. Software compressor if this is your first visit, be sure to check out the faq by clicking the link above. Hardware compression is much faster compared to software compression. But it recommended using a hardware compressor after the mic and before the computer. As with most things these days there are hardware and software compressors.
For ease of demonstration, i will be using screenshots from a simple software compressor, in this case it is the one that comes built into ableton live. Software with 1pass cbr compression for video streaming, the web and other uses is the focus of this cow forum. The proposed hardware compressor achieved 6% better and 30x more throughput than software based gzip compression with level 9 best optimization on a single zeon core. Compression, expansion, noise gate, threshold, ratiowhat does it all mean should you use a software audio compressor like chris8217s dynamic compressor, or a hardware compressor connected to your mixer also get an audacity quick tip for seeing, at a. Pro mastering compression hardware vs software comparison feat. Most modern compressors analyze the input signal to control gain reduction.
Ive got a pair of dbx 163s that make decent di boxes and are pretty versatile compressors. Hardware vs software may 2, 20 may 3, 20 hannesmottl as mixbuscompression stays a highly discussed topic, i decided to do a quick shootout between the most common vca compressors i own and do frequently use for this specific type of application. Different variations of the vca bus compressor, software and hardware alike, have slightly different internal levels and settings at the same knob positions. Vintage kings guide to vca compressors vintage king blog. This is the go to plugin when compressing bass or vocals. The best vocal compressors for studioquality audio. From a plug in stand point i have enough compression options to keep me happy for years to come.
In a softwaredriven studio, you might have to dump your old plugs and. In simple terms, thats how the gain reduction takes place in a vca compressor. Most of my studio time, i worked with software plugins, so i can determine the difference between a cheap software and an expensive software. Hardware compression in storage and network attached. Even more importantly, with just a couple of exceptions, most of the compressors on our list have been modelled and emulated by software developers over recent years. Top 20 best compressors of all time attack magazine. For over 25 years, ahas applicationspecific compression algorithm products have been improving performance in data storage, networking, copiers, printers, scanners and other. In the 2000s, compressors became available as software plugins that run in digital audio workstation software. The processor is dedicated to sumbus compression and is the result of an intensive study about the musical behavior of the feedback compressor topology. I dont understand what the difference would be, aside from being able to correct any mistakes youve made using a digital compressor which you wouldnt be able to do with a hardware compressor without cutting the audio again. It uses asymmetrical compression, meaning it takes a long time to compress so that playback can be viewed in realtime.
Also get an audacity quick tip for seeing, at a glance, where your audio clips and distorts. Analog compression vs digital compression, your thoughts. You cannot achieve a recording or a mix that matches what you hear on professional releases without a compressor. Tracking with hardware compressor vs software compressor. Compression, ideally, is an invisible sort of effect that can bring your audio material up to spec with professional recordings. Memory overcommit with hardware compression on ibm power. Compressor, which accesses both hardware and gpu compression, handily beat the. Whats the difference between hardware compression and software. Audio compression explained how it works and when to use. At the same time, tube and transistorbased hardware analog components from mic preamps to compressors to complete channel strips. To speed this compression process, modern cpus support hardware acceleration for both h. Among all hardware compressors, there are a couple that stand out as studio legends. Outboard compression vs plugin compression youtube. Hardware compression requires specialized hardware, while software compression does not.
Hardware compression is achieved with an algorithm, built into the firmware of the tapedrive, which removes redundancy from the byte stream, resulting in fewer bits actually needing to be written to the tape medium. However, choosing a hardware compression system or software compression system can make a big difference. Plug in compressors vs hardware compressors recording. While auditioning different classic compressor emulations in isolation is a valuable exercise in itself, what a lot of small. Comparing the two scenarios, when using hardware compression through the dm compression module, there is reduction on io activities and disk busy rate. In recorded and live music, compression parameters may be. The ui design may look a bit dated in comparison to more modern releases of la2a style plugins by other developers but dont let that put you off, the bf2a, like the bf76, is a great sounding tools, faithful to the original.
Hardware compressors if this is your first visit, be sure to check out the faq by clicking the link above. Id hit that 160 thwack with a pretty narrow margin of wiggle room around the sweet spot i have the nisoftube 160 plug, but w the hardware im finding i can get away w more compression while better retaining the dynamic range. Now lets take a listen to the digital version and were going to open up this plugin right here. Robert from its just us has a alesis 3630 compressor dynamics processor and adobe audition 2. Okay, so how much does hardware vs software compression really matter. Even though i have some okay outboard comp2a, behringer mdx2600, tegeler creme, i find that even though initially the comparable plugins might not sound that hifi, when one blends them careful into the mix, i find no fault with the plugin sound. The common line of thinking, when it comes to the difference between hardware vs. Data compression reducing data size for storage, transmission, and cpu overhead are the key benefits of ahas line of lossless data compression ics and addin cards. Most audio professionals do use compressors in every piece and sometimes on nearly every track in every piece. I currently have a number of compressor plug ins uad1, waves, wave arts and focusrite d2d3 which in many cases attempt to imitate a hardware counterpart. When the price points are the same, hardware compressors barely win on the sound quality front and are more transparent compared to software compressors, but software compressors are a bit more malleable. One of the key growth areas in music software over the last decade has been the market for emulations of classic hardware. Some studio upgrades and an opinion on plugins vs hardware duration. When using no compression, the disk busy rate was at 87% with 400 mbs average io bandwidth, however with compression, the disk busy rate was at 52% and average io usage dropped to 99 mbs.
Its instant sonic euphoria, even if you leave all the controls at zero. Software compression adds more load to the host, while hardware compression does not. Okay, so how much does hardware vs software compression. Software has been a lot better over the years however a real hardware compressor perform 100% and give you that extra analog magi and sparkle that digital can not achive 100%.
Hardware compression is more expensive compared to software compression. Our advanced pdf compressor considerably reduces file sizes of pdf files. Most compressors in most daws will look similar to this and will have most of the same knobs and settings. Likewise, almost all compressor plugins take direct inspiration from the sound and features of hardware from the 60s and 70s. Uadsolo, waves plugins, drawmer dynamics if you can tell me the major difference between the two. It conveniently has all the elements to expose the different aspects of each compressor lots of dynamic low frequency information, busy stereo midrange and a lead vocal in front and centre. Hardware compression, in tape drives, is done inside the tape drive by a chip that is designed to do lossless data compression and nothing else. The grabbiness of my 160 vs 160 plugins although those tend to emulate 160vus is a lot less overthetop. The worlds going to cave in on itself and well be stuck in about eight billion degrees of molten iron, and then were not going to be able to record anything except for the sound of our dying yelps. There are some differences between the hardware and software.
916 615 939 806 1596 322 431 153 498 1170 1677 450 854 654 1330 1472 337 78 801 197 272 877 668 1256 427 472 728 961 73 168 1149 1301 565 977 823 459