Those embaressing questions

[BlackGnosis]

Honest questions that you want answers to but haven't bothered to ask until now.

You know I've gone all this way and time without understanding how a Compressor works, I just use a preset in fruity and hope it carries the signal through the rest.... but seeing how impactful it is with drums, I'd like to get one into my studio. Any reccomendations?

Also I have no idea how a patch bay works or what its used for.....

Why are buchla synths considered top notch when most of them you find now-a-days aren't working to begin with?

That covers everything. my apologies if this is in the wrong thread.

[GeneralBigbag]

Compressor: Start with software, since you'll need to spend a lot of cash (>$500 or so) to get hardware that is really superior to the best plugs - plus, if you don't know how they work, it would probably be a waste to spend $1k+ on one.

Try the blockfish, which is very simple, free, and actually very good
http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.p ... &subItem=5
Or The Rocket, which has unlimited free demo, and is a fantastic price for what it sounds like
http://www.stillwellaudio.com/?page_id=68

As for learning how they work, check the soundonsound article for an overview:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_ar ... ssors.html

Patchbays: It's got sockets in the back and connected sockets in the front. You can patch everything you own into the back, to get all the cables out of the way. For example: if you want to patch a synth into mixer channel 7, you just patch from the front sockets connected to the back sockets the synth output is plugged into to the front sockects connected to the back sockets that the mixer channel 7 input is plugged into.

Buchla: You just have to hear one. I've got a fair bit of experience with a 200 series (don't own but use weekly), and it has an incredible sound.

[guitarsandsynths]

Compressor: Start with software, since you'll need to spend a lot of cash (>$500 or so) to get hardware that is really superior to the best plugs - plus, if you don't know how they work, it would probably be a waste to spend $1k+ on one.

Try the blockfish, which is very simple, free, and actually very good
http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.p ... &subItem=5
Or The Rocket, which has unlimited free demo, and is a fantastic price for what it sounds like
http://www.stillwellaudio.com/?page_id=68

As for learning how they work, check the soundonsound article for an overview:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_ar ... ssors.html

Patchbays: It's got sockets in the back and connected sockets in the front. You can patch everything you own into the back, to get all the cables out of the way. For example: if you want to patch a synth into mixer channel 7, you just patch from the front sockets connected to the back sockets the synth output is plugged into to the front sockects connected to the back sockets that the mixer channel 7 input is plugged into.

Buchla: You just have to hear one. I've got a fair bit of experience with a 200 series (don't own but use weekly), and it has an incredible sound.

Does your school have a buchla 200? Wow! Lucky you!!!

[GeneralBigbag]

Does your school have a buchla 200? Wow! Lucky you!!!

Yeah - it's a disincentive to graduate tho....

[Yoozer]

You know I've gone all this way and time without understanding how a Compressor works, I just use a preset in fruity and hope it carries the signal through the rest.... but seeing how impactful it is with drums, I'd like to get one into my studio. Any reccomendations?

Yes. The compressor has knobs. Attack, release, gain, ratio.

Surely you must've tried doing anything with these. If you're not hearing differences, either change the settings or change the material you're compressing, or just leave 'm out. The oft-tossed around small nuggets of "studio wisdom" are mostly nuggets of poo if you have no idea about the context, so when someone states that you should enable an EQ or compressor on each channel - try it first and see if it does anything useful before doing it.

Also I have no idea how a patch bay works or what its used for.....

It's used to make sure that your gear's inputs don't wear out and that you don't have bend over backwards or crawl under furniture to replug cables. If you have more than 2 rack effects and 3 synthesizers and you want to use them on each without resorting to sends, a patchbay is your friend.

I've struggled with this and found the info in Sound On Sound obtuse, so here's a bunch of diagrams which may benefit you more than a dozen paragraphs.


This is one-sixth of a 19” patchbay.



Out of the factory, patchbays are connected like this. Red is the incoming signal, blue is the outgoing signal, so it goes into the top of the back, out of the bottom.



This means that if you want to connect your synthesizer to your favorite reverb, you simply plug in the synthesizer’s line outputs in the spots marked with 1BT and 2BT (for Back, Top), and you connect the reverb’s line inputs with 1BB and 2 BB (for Back, Bottom).

You can repeat this procedure for a different synthesizer and a different effect which you commonly have connected.




This is neat, but it gets better. 1BT has a twin - 1FT (Front, Top). If you plug a cable in there, the connection suddenly looks like this; the signal doesn’t come out of the bottom of the back anymore, but out of the top in the front.




Let’s use my gearlist as an example:
The outputs of my Juno-60 are connected to 1BT and 2BT.
The outputs of my DX7 are connected to 3BT and 4BT.
The inputs of my delay stompbox are connected to 1BB and 2BB.
The inputs of my rack reverb are connected to 3BB and 4BB.

To put the delay on the DX7, all I have to do is plug in 2 patchcables - one going from 3FT to 1FB and the other going from 4FT to 2FB.




As the third picture showed you - synthesizer outputs go in the top. But, effect units also have outputs. Effect inputs go in the bottom; but mixers also have inputs.

So, if we connect a mixer, its inputs will also be connected to the back, bottom - because that's where the sound goes out.
If we connect the outputs of the effects gear, they'll be connected to the back, top - because that's where the sound comes in.

The above diagram shows what happens with 2 mono effects. Written out in shorthand:

Synth line out to 1BT.
Patch cable from 1TF to 3FB
Cable from 3BB to distortion input
Cable from distortion output to 3BT
Patch cable from 3TF to 5FB
Cable from 5BB to delay input
Cable from delay output to 5BT
Patch cable from 5FT to 7FB
Cable from 7BB to mixer input

Lots of cables - but if you want to change the order of the effects, all you have to change around are the two patchcables in the front. If you want a different synthesizer through the same configuration, you only have to unplug and plug a single patch cable.

If you're in a situation where a patchbay comes in handy (and they do already with limited set-ups), simply start with 1 synth and 2 effects. Follow the instructions, and it becomes obvious.

For stereo effects you simply need two times the room; so think where you put your effects in the patchbay so that the patch cables (which are short) don't have to be stretched to their limits.

[tallowwaters]

Oh, you mean those questions that can easily be answered by reading, say, I don't know, a manual or something?

[synthesizerist]

"So where's your other nut?"

[synthesizerist]

But seriously, I have a couple of these patchbays that came with this 2 page insert (I wouldn't even call it a manual):

http://www.blackswampaudio.com/PDF/388.pdf

and it told me all I ever needed to know. I don't even know how I lived without patchbays. And if you can figure out presets you should be able to crack that mystery wide open.

[nathanscribe]

As for compression:

Start with something simple. My first comp was an Alesis CLX with about six thousand knobs and lots of lights. It's shite, partly because I now think it looks like the front of a cheap Taiwanese car, partly because it's incomprehensible. I bought a Boss CS-3 and an EHX White Finger. They're lower on features, but do what I want, inline with monosynths/pedals, to limit crazed delay feedback or whatever. When I have the money, I'll replace the Alesis with a proper analogue comp with fewer fancy doodahs and that does a no-nonsense job easily and well, and do some actual recording with the thing.

[Clavier]

Why are buchla synths considered top notch when most of them you find now-a-days aren't working to begin with?

The reliability of an instrument has nothing to do with the sound quality. In fact, some might argue that they're inversely proportional.

[guitarsandsynths]

Why are buchla synths considered top notch when most of them you find now-a-days aren't working to begin with?

The reliability of an instrument has nothing to do with the sound quality. In fact, some might argue that they're inversely proportional.

Same goes for musicians!!!

[BlackGnosis]

Thank you everyone for your answers. Now I have a very good understanding of Patchbays and compressors. I will definately invest in one or three as its something I can see putting solid use to [in both boosting and reducing] Would it be smart to soft knee a mic into a vocoder to keep those puffy bits out from vocals or should I still use my mic sideways?

[Stab Frenzy]

Use a pop filter, or a mic with a good built-in windshield. Compression can be good into a vocoder as well, but isn't good for evening out plosives.

What happens is the plosive gets through the compressor before the compressor attack is over so is loud, but then the next bit is quieter because the compressor is doing its thing. There's kind of a time lag with compressors between when the signal goes over the threshold and when the compressor starts attenuating the signal, which is what the attack time controls. Too short an attack and the compression sound weird and unnatural, to long and you get the opposite effect to the one you want, with loud bits getting through at the start of words and quiet bits later getting attenuated, and then sucking up as the release kicks in.

Understanding how compressors work to shape the dynamics of sounds is a really powerful thing. Once you figure it out you can use them to totally change how things sound.

[BlackGnosis]

Use a pop filter, or a mic with a good built-in windshield. Compression can be good into a vocoder as well, but isn't good for evening out plosives.

What happens is the plosive gets through the compressor before the compressor attack is over so is loud, but then the next bit is quieter because the compressor is doing its thing. There's kind of a time lag with compressors between when the signal goes over the threshold and when the compressor starts attenuating the signal, which is what the attack time controls. Too short an attack and the compression sound weird and unnatural, to long and you get the opposite effect to the one you want, with loud bits getting through at the start of words and quiet bits later getting attenuated, and then sucking up as the release kicks in.

Understanding how compressors work to shape the dynamics of sounds is a really powerful thing. Once you figure it out you can use them to totally change how things sound.

Coat hanger and pantiehose pop filter in my setup but I needed something to even out how I vocode as my B's and P's had a bit of an "accent" to them [lack of a better word] but its noticable for me to have to scrap and rerecord several times when I do my recordings. I think I should do oodls of experimentation before going overboard with a compressor.

[xpander]

Why are buchla synths considered top notch when most of them you find now-a-days aren't working to begin with?

who told you most of them aren't working?

Buchla's instruments are considered top notch because of their place in history, the unique and innovative design and of course the normal heaps of bullshit associated with the sound of any instrument expensive/rare enough that most people will never get to even see one incarnate.