User Manual

Vo l u um

Owner’s Manual

whereas a slow attack (Att time is large) often sounds more natural and can preserve the “pop” and

“slap” of bass guitar playing.

The compressor release (rEL) is the time in seconds that it takes for the compressor gain reduction

to recover when the signal falls below the threshold. Slower release times tend to smooth out the

signal. However, if the release is set too long, the gain will remain turned down for a while after the

loud sound has ended. This may cause any quiet sounds that occur between loud sounds to be

turned down as well. Conversely, too-fast release times will make the compression effect too obvious

to the point where you can hear a very unnatural “pumping” or “breathing” sound as the signal level

goes up and down. In general, the release should be set fast enough to recover in time to process

the next transient.

The Voluum has an intelligent automatic make-up gain which maintains the subjective loudness of

the signal. The aim of the make-up gain is to ensure that the signal loudness is the same with and

without compression. However, if you have a particularly high output or low output instrument, you

may find that the automatic gain make-up cannot do sufficient compensation for your instrument. If

this is the case, you can adjust the value of the level trim parameter (LvL) until you balance the

output with and without the compressor.

The amount of compression being applied to your signal is displayed on the compressor metering

LED

s on the control panel of the Voluum. The more

LED

s that are lit, and the brighter they are, the

more compression (gain reduction) is being applied. It is very useful to watch this meter when setting

up the compressor parameters.

Top Tip: The compressor, even at fastest attack (Att = 0) may not react quickly enough

to block all transients. However, you can still do this by using the limiter in

combination with the compressor to tame the fastest, largest, transients.

Top Tip: If you often switch between instruments with different output levels, rather than

change the LvL parameter (which is saved in presets), use the custom SEn

parameter to adjust the global sensitivity of your Voluum (see page 33).