User Manual

Opto

The ‘Opto’ mode is actually the inverse of Electro. Opto-coupled behavior

always “puts on the brakes” as the gain reduction approaches 0dBFS, i.e.,

the release time gets slower as the “needle comes back to zero”. As in

Electro, this is true only when the gain reduction is less than 3dB.

ARC™ is a system designed to dynamically choose the optimal release

value for a wide-ranging input. ARC™ reacts much the way a human ear

expects, and can produce increased RMS level with greater clarity.

ARC

(Auto Release Control)

The Release control behavior of the MaxxBCL compressor and limiter is

based on the Waves ARC™ technology. This technology allows for calculat

ing an optimal release time for the dynamic gain attenuation in a program

dependent manner.

In many uses of compressors, the exact choice of time constants is set as a

careful choice of reaction to RMS level and peak transients. To allow more

constant compression with fewer artifacts, the release time must change

dynamically to control different parts of the signal. In ARC™, as in the hu

man ear, RMS and peak transients are analyzed and reacted to differently.

In general, the release is faster for peak transients and slower for the overall

RMS level.

For instance, with a relatively constant compression of 4dB, peaks beyond

this require faster release times. The ARC™ system does exactly this, vary

ing the release time to ﬁt the ear’s expectations while increasing RMS, and

without creating distracting artifacts. In this way, the Renaissance Compres-

sor can serve as a leveler and as a fast compressor simultaneously. This

feature also serves gentle mastering applications quite well, but generally

with slower release times. This would apply to music genres such as classi-

cal music.

Low level compression

For settings with deep Thresholds (below -40dB) and low ratios (below 1:2),

the RenComp compression curve behaves as a “low level upwards” com-

pressor. With such settings, the dynamics of high level signals are unaltered,

and only the dynamics of low level signals are altered, pulling their level

upwards. This is great to reveal low-level details of the signal, while retaining

the transients and transparency of high level signals.

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