Compander A

Description

Compander A is the first device in a pair of two compander devices. Compander A compresses or expands the sound, and Compander B inverts that effect to restore the original signal. In between the two you can put a non-linear effect(s) like a distortion. The Companders allow you to shape how that effect behaves by shaping the input dynamics, which recreating the original dynamics on the other end. For example, you can heavily distort a drum bus and then restore the transients afterward.

IMPORTANT SETUP INFO:

To pair the two devices, click the "Pair" button on Compander A, then click the knob on Compander B. Many pairs of Compander devices can coexist in a Live set. It is also important that you compensate for the latency of all FX placed between the two devices. Select the FX between Compander A and B to find how much latency they are introducing. Type this amount (in samples) into the Latency Compensation box on Compander B.

A word on how this works:

I haven't seen any other devices like this in Max for Live. I think that's because passing audio rate information between devices is not straightforwardly possible. I worked around this by sending that information through Live's modulation system. This is not perfectly precise, and sometimes it introduces artifacts. For the cleanest results, use RMS mode and/or longer attack and release times, and be sure to compensate for latency correctly. You can absolutely push these settings harder, but you might run into some nasty crunching! Either way, I think the imprecision is worth it to have a totally flexible and open-ended compander which you can put on either side of any FX you want!