Cytomic 'The Glue' Compressor

[Ah_Dziz]

Anyway, keep up the good work.

[andy-cytomic]

...
One other thing to consider maybe. I wonder if it is possible to create a "virtual summing box" that would register as an audio input/output in the OS? I've seen things like "virtual audio cable" that lets you stream audio from one app to the other. I imagine it is a PITA to support between different DAWs, but hey, just a thought.
Some DAWs allow multichannel busses so theoretically multichannel VST should work too, but AFAIK the channel count is rather limited to bother.

This is a great idea, but I'm not sure it will actually make any audible difference. I have a feeling that most of the action happens at the input to each buffer, and there isn't too much interaction at the actual summing bit, but it's easy enough to test. Once I have time to look at summing I'll let you know

[andy-cytomic]

I don’t want to quote such a big post but using ltspice and the simulator here:http://www.falstad.com/circuit/ gave me the idea. Both have been incredibly fun and also incredibly useful for my small forays into hardware building.

Thanks for pointing out the java based circuit simulator They've done a great job with it, and it would actually be possible to make a plugin out of what they've done since it's all open source. The problem of course is it is super slow. I timed a basic circuit with 4 diodes running at 96kHz at it took around 10 seconds to run 6.5 seconds of a low frequency sine wave, so unfortunately even the most basic of circuits can't even run in realtime at audio frequencies. The Java simulator takes around 150% cpu for a basic mono low frequency sine wave input.

You can compare this to running a more complicated circuit with 4 diodes (the core drive circuit of The Scream) it takes around 2.5% cpu in stereo, so that comes in around x120 faster!

But there are plenty of great little circuits in there that you can pick from the menu, individual transistor buffers and amplifiers, differential ones, ring modulators etc. That is exactly the type of little fun circuit I was thinking of having in a product where you could change the values of everything So once I've got a beta of such a thing out I would definitely appreciate some input on extra fun little circuits to include!

[Ah_Dziz]

Well if you do ever get into that, I’d love to test and such. Just let me know.

[andy-cytomic]

Well if you do ever get into that, I’d love to test and such. Just let me know.

As always with stuff I do, as soon as there is something in a form that is actually usable I'll release it as a public beta I'll make sure it's easy to add extra circuits, and I'll try to add a couple of potentiometers to each circuit as well to make them a bit more fun.

[meloco_go]

As many probably have already heard, there is a company called Distopik (don't know why the name, they seem quite utopian to me) which apparently develops interfaces which provide digital control over analog equipment. And this company runs a service called Mixanalog where one can upload tracks to their server and run through a HW gear while controlling and streaming results online; when a user is happy with the results, he/she may bounce the tracks to high-quality wavs.
One of the pieces of gear currently online is HW compressor based on SSL quad with Gold-Can VCAs.
Of course, I jumped at the possibility and spent quite a lot of time testing it, bouncing some of my tracks, and comparing it to the other plugins including The Glue.
The behavior of this HW comp and The Glue is very, very similar. There is a slight difference, however, and if I had to describe what it is I'd say the HW is more "emotional." I am a techy guy myself, and I have such vague terms as much as anyone, but I can't better describe it any other way. While trying to analyze and dissect this quality, I feel like it has something to do with how the compressors act on transients. I got somewhat similar results (not sonically but in this direction) by delaying the sidechain into the Glue. But this effect becomes apparent very soon. Trying to use some coloration before or after the plugin does not provide this quality, so I don't think this is due to the output amp.
Anyway, The Glue is very good and holds against the hardware very favorably. There is a slight edge to the HW still, though.
I am looking forward to The Glue 2.0, and if it catches up with the HW, I'd be a very happy man. And it would be very interesting to know what exactly provides this sensation which the HW has.

[Turello]

Please add 1.5:1 and 3:1 ratios!

[MogwaiBoy]

^^^^^ Great suggestion, especially 1.5:1 for gentle shaping.

[acousticglue]

Does it have widener? Saturation modes?

[JoeCat]

When this thread was started Bush Jr. was still president

[meloco_go]

Please add 1.5:1 and 3:1 ratios!

Andy said he plans to provide options for modding of the schematics, such as already available in The Scream, so unconventional ratios should absolutely be possible.

[andy-cytomic]

When this thread was started Bush Jr. was still president

Classic!

Today marks 10 years since the first beta of The Glue was released! A huge thanks to everyone that has supported Cytomic. I'm looking forward to getting the HD version of The Glue out this year and to the next 10 years of plugin making.

[andy-cytomic]

Please add 1.5:1 and 3:1 ratios!

Andy said he plans to provide options for modding of the schematics, such as already available in The Scream, so unconventional ratios should absolutely be possible.

Yes, I plan to support editing of the components in the ratio shaper section, so you'll be able to dial in any ratio you want, and even double sloped ratios with a kink half way along, which is what the ratio 2 currently does. You'll also be able to edit the resistors in the envelope follower to dial in any attack / release times you want, and even customise the twin times of the auto release circuit as well.

[Cooker]

Please add 1.5:1 and 3:1 ratios!

Andy said he plans to provide options for modding of the schematics, such as already available in The Scream, so unconventional ratios should absolutely be possible.

Yes, I plan to support editing of the components in the ratio shaper section, so you'll be able to dial in any ratio you want, and even double sloped ratios with a kink half way along, which is what the ratio 2 currently does. You'll also be able to edit the resistors in the envelope follower to dial in any attack / release times you want, and even customise the twin times of the auto release circuit as well.

Unlinked R-L is the only thing I have yet to notice needed for mastering.

[masterhiggins]

Please add 1.5:1 and 3:1 ratios!

Andy said he plans to provide options for modding of the schematics, such as already available in The Scream, so unconventional ratios should absolutely be possible.

Yes, I plan to support editing of the components in the ratio shaper section, so you'll be able to dial in any ratio you want, and even double sloped ratios with a kink half way along, which is what the ratio 2 currently does. You'll also be able to edit the resistors in the envelope follower to dial in any attack / release times you want, and even customise the twin times of the auto release circuit as well.

That’s a great idea! One thing that turned me off from all-in-one solutions like Compassion was that it was easy to destroy a great compressor setting because there were too many unintuitive options. Even DC8C can have this issue. But having a few non-standard, yet well-thought-out tweak-able components under the hood is brilliant.