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DSP and Plugin Development • Compressor in feedback mode

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Maybe asked before:

what about the effective ratio of feedback compression?
Is is defined as shown below?

Let's start with feed forward steady state equation, hard knee:

if we have some derived detector signal x (of the input, for example an envelope follower output, transformed into log domain) in the dBFS-domain ABOVE the threshold (in dBFS), the negative gain G [in dB], responsible for gain reduction, is given to

G = (x - thr) * (1/R-1) = -a*(x - thr)

with a = (1-1/R)

This is what somebody would see applying a tone with given level for long enough attack/release.

Now if we think of a hard-knee feedback compressor with settled gain G and ratio R applied in the feedback path, we have

y = x + G

y here is the output signal where the (negative) gain G has been applied. Compared to the feed forward case, the feedback makes a "role change" of x with y, and we get

G = (y - thr) * (1/R-1) = (x + G - thr) * (1/R-1) = -a * (x + G - thr)

or

G = -a/(1+a) * (x-thr)

So when the compressor has settled, the effective equivalent feed forward ratio R2 can be derived as follows:

G = -a/(1+a) * (x-thr) = -b * (x-thr)

but b can also be written as b = 1-1/R2 with some effective ratio R2 which an equivalent feed forward compressor would have. Then we get:

-(1-1/R2) = -a/(1+a) or
1/R2 = 1 - a/(1+a) or
1/R2 = 1/(1+a) or

R2 = 2-1/R

This looks like the feedback transforms the compressor into one which has a maximum effective feed forward ratio of R2=2 when R goes to infinity.

In general, the dynamic behavior as a differential equation is changed for the feedback case, but the steady state equation for ratio seems to be like that shown above.

Now the question is: either there is a mistake here or when vendors write about ratios they don't mean the actual effective ratio R2. Is it true? Because it looks like a feedback compressor can never exceed a ratio of R2=2 and therefore squash the signal like a feed forward could do.

EDIT: just simulated with Matlab and got the proof.

Statistics: Posted by synthpark — Thu Apr 25, 2024 12:45 pm — Replies 0 — Views 48



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