This update brings the C660 to v4, and it now joins the C254E as one of my two most accurate compressors. I have applied all of the ‘under the hood’ improvements to quality that I learned while updating the C254E to the C660, as well as some other changes specific to this release.
here’s what’s updated:
*Previous versions always included 4 different compressors- 1 bonus that was sampled together with a 1176, and 3 that were sampled from the 660 at different levels of drive (to capture the full range of the hardware’s knee). I’ve ‘collapsed’ those 3 compressors down to 1, by combining their sampled knees. You may worry that this removes options, but believe me you’re not losing anything. The full range of the hardware’s knee is now available in one program. This is so much better, much less complicated, and much more intuitive. Just adjust the ‘knee’ control to dial in what you want, from hard to ultra soft.
*I then made two versions of that main compressor- the first (loaded by default) `is designed to only offer 4 switchable release times just like the real hardware. The other version makes that control fully variable so you can go in-between and get settings not possible with the real gear, as well as an extended downward range offering faster times. The knee control on this version also adds a 1:1 setting below the softest sampled knee, allowing you to blend between the two for an even softer, subtler result.
*Attack- more accurate, and always set at .1ms by default, which is the only sampled setting because the hardware lacks adjustable attack. So for authenticity just leave it alone. But it can be adjusted up to 20ms allowing for more flexibility if desired.
*Release is hugely improved, more accurate than ever before. In the past, the release could be a little inconsistent, giving slightly different results depending on the other settings. Now it’s consistent. One exception- at harder knees (if the same gain reduction is dialed in), you get slightly slower releases, which is how the hardware works. More importantly, the shape and timings are much more accurate. I spent a lot of time on this, with several passes at tweaking each timing, at various knee settings, and with various GR amounts, to get it as close to perfect as I could.
*Threshold control is much more accurate.
*Harmonics levels greatly improved for more accuracy at various input levels.
*Redesigned the gain reduction meter’s behavior to be smoother. There are known issues with Nebula 3 and 4 that prevent the meters from ever being completely accurate without an update to nebula itself. So there’s really nothing i can do on my end to make these meters perfect but I think it’s as good as it can be now.
*Renamed lite programs to ‘clean’, because while CPU power has improved since these were first released, and CPU was the main reason for including them back then, I think they still have a place if you want an absolutely clean (no harmonics) option. ‘Full’ programs were renamed to ‘Main’, and are just like ‘clean’ programs but they offer two orders of subtle harmonic distortion. ‘SHQ’ programs have been replaced with ‘Clean SHQ’, which are like clean programs but with a more accurate frequency response, at the cost of a huge increase to CPU, so they’re only meant for rendering, and are entirely optional because ‘clean’ and ‘main’ programs both give great results. ‘Clean SHQ’ has slightly more accurate bass.
*I added new ‘harms only’ programs, which ONLY provides the harmonics, and are meant to be paired with the ‘Clean’ or ‘Clean SHQ’ programs, to get a full model. You just add this program in another instance, after the comp. There are more orders of subtle harmonics here than with the ‘main’ program, and they’re slightly more accurate, so combining this program with the ‘Clean’ or ‘Clean SHQ’ gives the most harmonic accuracy.
*The entire programming of the compressor was redesigned from the ground up, with countless changes ‘under the hood’, improving accuracy and sound. These were mostly carried over from the improvements I discovered while updating the C254E.
*Pass-through programs were also improved for accuracy.
*Artifacts have been reduced all around. Much lower now, well beyond audible range, and negligible even with multiple passes.