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I tried different settings of Vinco but still I'm not able to obtain a satisfactory punch. Is Vinco more a limiter than a compressor, or it's only my opionion?

It's a limiting amplifier (the original device which the Vinco is based on is a limiting amplifier anyway). Sorry for the silly question but did you try turning up the attack (to ~35ms or more)? If you compress with zero attack you are going to lose punch.

It has also 2 different modes. The default is "limiter" but there is also an rms mode more "compressor" like.

I posted some presets copied from other famous soft compressors, maybe you can find some good starting settings:

http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... forum=13&2

I tried with different attacks but I don't like the result. Also using the input knob to the max (that means increasing the threshold) I can only hear a volume raising but not punch, or very few punch.
Using the compressor of the mixer 24/48 I achieve far better results in terms of punch.
Other good compressor for Pulsar ?

I used Vinco the other day across a stereo drum buss - sounded great (real drummer).

Alfonso's presets are definitely a good starting point.

If you want more punch there are the Transient Designer and Attacker plugs by SPL - not compressors, but punch-inducing

On 2005-01-29 10:31, claudioD wrote:
I tried with different attacks but I don't like the result. Also using the input knob to the max (that means increasing the threshold) I can only hear a volume raising but not punch, or very few punch.
Using the compressor of the mixer 24/48 I achieve far better results in terms of punch.
Other good compressor for Pulsar ?

No, increasing the input would mean lowering the threshold.
For maximum "punch" you should set the attack to full and the release to minumum.
On a full mix I engage the RMS seting too, this way it works more like a maximizer.

I love vinco and use it on everything basically. I use the mixer compressors for side-chaining mostly.

EDIT:

Actually, I believe Vinco has a fixed threshold.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: voidar on 2005-01-30 19:28 ]</font>

So you use the vinco at the end of the chain and on everything? I bought the Vinco and so far it seems best for use with a microphone (with a hardware compressor prior). I am thinking maybe I should have bought the optimaster instead.

On 2005-01-29 16:26, braincell wrote:
So you use the vinco at the end of the chain and on everything? I bought the Vinco and so far it seems best for use with a microphone (with a hardware compressor prior). I am thinking maybe I should have bought the optimaster instead.

Well, I mostly deal with guitar, bass and drums, and some vinco can be desireable.

My usual mixing procedure would be to have a compressor on each mono track (if needed), and then I would bus these tracks into suitable groups with their own compressor.

The last stage would be mastering with additional compression, but it is a separate process.

The whole chain could be like this:

drumX -> vinco -> buss1
bass -> EQ -> vinco -> buss1
guitar1 -> EQ -> vinco -> buss2
guitar2 -> EQ -> vinco -> buss2
buss1 -> vinco -> master
buss2 -> vinco -> master
master -> finaliza/multiband -> EQ/ISON -> vinco

Vinco is my compressor of choice.

The only outboard I use are micpres, DI's - proper level-matchin hardware in general. I get all the S/N-ratio I need when recording at 24 bit.

On 2005-01-29 05:12, claudioD wrote:
I tried different settings of Vinco but still I'm not able to obtain a satisfactory punch. Is Vinco more a limiter than a compressor, or it's only my opionion?

a limiter is just an extreme form of a compressor no?
I think the term "limiting amplifier" is a bit confusing because Vinco technically doesn't have a limiting setting (ie. compression ratio of infinite:1)

but I think it works very well on drums actually. I always set the display to PPM so I can actually see what I'm doing in terms of gain reduction. Adjust the input knob until you get something like 6db reduction (for starters) then turn up the attack to something like 10ms or higher and turn down release. That should give you some punch. All depends on the source material and the desired result of course.

I meant to say I use a hardware mic preamp not a hardware compressor.

On 2005-01-29 16:26, braincell wrote:
So you use the vinco at the end of the chain and on everything? I bought the Vinco and so far it seems best for use with a microphone (with a hardware compressor prior). I am thinking maybe I should have bought the optimaster instead.

Optimaster and Vinco are of course totally different things. I like to use Vinco on the stereo mix though, but very gently on RMS setting with 2 or 3 db reduction, but of course it doesn't do all the stuff an Optimaster does, just compression.

you really should try the Transient Designer!!! You can *increase* the attack with it, as well as increase the release... does miracles to drums!

Although I really like Vinco on drums, the Transient Designer can indeed do miracles to drums. I once recorded a funk/blues band and the recorded drums sounded much too whooshie, if that means anything to you Slightly increasing the attack and decreasing the release made the drums really stand out in the mix. The drummer liked the sound very much. You can't replace a compressor with it, but for messing with attack and release times it's really top!