MPC X, MPC Live, MPC One & MPC Key 61 Forum: Support and discussion for the MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Live II, MPC One & MPC Key 61; Akai's current generation of standalone MPCs.
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By pspsounds Mon Sep 26, 2022 11:00 am
I use the Mother Ducker to control mainly kick and bass. Would be cool if there was multi-band compression for mastering in standalone. Anybody got ideas for a workaround?
By Straker Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:37 pm
pspsounds wrote:I use the Mother Ducker to control mainly kick and bass. Would be cool if there was multi-band compression for mastering in standalone. Anybody got ideas for a workaround?

Yes. You can use three subgroups (or outputs) and put in any of them a frequency isolator ( bass, mid, high on each of the 3) and a compressor after it.
I never tried but it should work.
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By Telefunky Mon Sep 26, 2022 4:21 pm
It definitely will NOT work as a multiband mastering compressor :wink:
Such devices are designed to keep all bands in sync and to avoid side effects at the crossover frequencies.

While a multiband compressor will (in most cases) be able to squeeze a few dB more loudness out of any mix, it will also alter the (track) tonal balance of the pre master.
(or rather it will remove that balance because it performs across track boundary)
Imho that trade off isn‘t a good one... but of course your workflow (or taste) may be different. :popcorn:
I never use these things (I have several) and get along with something like FabFilter Pro L2.
By Straker Mon Sep 26, 2022 4:31 pm
Telefunky wrote:It definitely will NOT work as a multiband mastering compressor :wink:
Such devices are designed to keep all bands in sync and to avoid side effects at the crossover frequencies.

While a multiband compressor will (in most cases) be able to squeeze a few dB more loudness out of any mix, it will also alter the (track) tonal balance of the pre master.
(or rather it will remove that balance because it performs across track boundary)
Imho that trade off isn‘t a good one... but of course your workflow (or taste) may be different. :popcorn:
I never use these things (I have several) and get along with something like FabFilter Pro L2.

Yes it's not a real multiband compression of course but the best you can get using Air and Akai fx on standalone.
It could be useful in parallel, the original staying untouched and the compressed isolated frequencies used to give more strength to the untouched one.
And multiband compressor is much safer then a maximizer, I would not reccomend to replace a multiband with a maximizer. The maximizer squashes your sound, the multiband is a more gentle natural compression.
Maybe better to use first a multiband and then a maximizer. Not one instead of the other.
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By Telefunky Mon Sep 26, 2022 7:17 pm
FabFilter Pro-L2 isn‘t a maximizer, but a „levelizer“.
It (only) smoothes out peaks (beyond a chosen threshold) with extremely low THD figures even when pushed really hard.
The mix is kept as before, but the perceived impact increases... according to the degree dialed in. It‘s much simpler than a compressor. Works great on track level, too, with moderate settings. :wink:

btw I wrote Pro-L2 because it‘s the most known plugin for that kind of processing. Afaik the 1st one was SAW Studio‘s Levelizer (that‘s what I use), then Anwida L1V and Pro-L1 (significant distortion), Pro-L2 is flawless now, but it took them a couple of years.
Today there are probably more, usually attributed as „smart limiters“.

ps: Pro-L2 does run on ARM native (iPad version), so it may make it into the MPC eco system one day.
By Straker Mon Sep 26, 2022 7:24 pm
Telefunky wrote:FabFilter Pro-L2 isn‘t a maximizer, but a „levelizer“.
It (only) smoothes out peaks (beyond a chosen threshold) with extremely low THD figures even when pushed really hard.
The mix is kept as before, but the perceived impact increases... according to the degree dialed in. It‘s much simpler than a compressor. Works great on track level, too, with moderate settings. :wink:

btw I wrote Pro-L2 because it‘s the most known plugin for that kind of processing. Afaik the 1st one was SAW Studio‘s Levelizer (that‘s what I use), then Anwida L1V and Pro-L1 (significant distortion), Pro-L2 is flawless now, but it took them a couple of years.
Today there are probably more, usually attributed as „smart limiters“.

I know Fabfilter pro L2, I used it.
Smart or not, it doesn't work as compressors, it's a lookahead leveller, it squashes your sound anyway, even if more subtle then others.
I also used a multiband Eventide limiter which is just beautiful and works even better but is very cpu hungry.
The point anyway is that they are not a replace of a standard multiband compressor, they work in a different way.
It would be better to use a Multiband comp to tame peaks smoothly and also give a nice movement to the sound and then apply a limiter/leveller/maximizer to finalize the levels.
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By pspsounds Mon Sep 26, 2022 7:29 pm
If Akai had a standalone multiband compressor it may take up a lot of processing power. I’m sure it’s possible, just keeping the unit stable could be the challenge.
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By Telefunky Mon Sep 26, 2022 9:02 pm
Straker wrote:... The point anyway is that they are not a replace of a standard multiband compressor, they work in a different way.
It would be better to use a Multiband comp to tame peaks smoothly and also give a nice movement to the sound and then apply a limiter/leveller/maximizer to finalize the levels.

We seem to have different approaches to mixes and probably different sonic preferences, too... no problem :smoker: