User Manual

3. COMP VCA-65 OVERVIEW
3.1. Working with plug-ins
Comp VCA-65 comes in VST2, VST3, AU and AAX plug-in formats for use in all major digital
audio workstations (DAW) including Live, Logic, Cubase, Pro Tools and others. Unlike a
hardware compressor, you can load as many instances of Comp VCA-65 as you find useful.
Comp VCA-65 has two other big advantages over hardware:
• You can automate many of Comp VCA-65 parameters using your DAW’s
automation system.
• Your settings and current plug-in state will become recorded in your project, and
you can pick up exactly where you left off the next time you open it.
3.2. When to use the Comp VCA-65
As we said already, VCA compressors are the most modern type of hardware compressors,
and are based on a Voltage Control Amplifier. This kind of devices appear also in
synthesizers, as well as in mixing consoles, where they perform different tasks, usually
related to amplifying the signal.
The main reason to use a VCA compressor is its precision and transparency. It also gives
the user much more control than its predecessors. Another difference happening in the case
of the currently modeled compressor is that the analysis is done on the RMS signal (and not
the peak signal, as it was usually the case before). RMS measure works much to the way the
human earing works, meaning that very fast transients are not regarded as affecting the
overall volume. Because of this, the level of compression is also much more stable, which
allows a much more precise control of the audio results.
The VCA compressor path can be manipulated by several controllers, each one changing
a specific parameter. It was with the VCA compressors that the controls we are now used
to see in a compressor unit made their appearance. Usually, we have controllers for the
Threshold (the volume level above which compression starts to be applied), Ratio (the
amount of compression applied, which is expressed as a ratio In/Out), Attack and Release.
The Comp VCA-65 exhibits another unique characteristic: It features a special soft
compression curve. In fact, in the hardware it was modeled after, it was introduced a
special kind of compression curve that led to a sweeter transition between compressed
and uncompressed signal - which the manufacturer called "Over Easy Compression". This
consists in a special soft compression curve that we nowadays call "soft knee", so we can
classify it as a "soft knee" compressor. On modern compressors, we are used to define the
knee, but that wasn't the case in yesteryears.
The Main VCA Compressor controls
Arturia - User Manual Comp VCA-65 - COMP VCA-65 OVERVIEW 7