Roland compressor/limiter settings

rodhmos · 26th November 2006

A guitar player asked me to help him make some user patches in his Roland VF-1 effects unit. He doesn't have good monitoring at home and he knows how I like to program effects...

Everything ok, we made some cool sounds, but here is something strange I noted. Roland does not use miliseconds for the compressor/limiter of the unit. They prefer a "0-100" numeric scale.

Yes, I just set up the compressor using my ears.

But it would be nice to know what those numbers mean.
Does anyone know what Roland means with the following data (from the manual)?

Threshold 0-100
Attack 0-100
Release 0-100
Tone -50-+50

rodhmos · 26th November 2006

max cooper · 26th November 2006

Any time there's a numbered scale that doesn't have units, I assume it means that Zero is "none" and 100 is "maximum".

I'd assume the tone control is a treble cut/boost.

-50 probably means "maximum high freq cut" and +50 probably means "maximum high freq boost".

This is a common numbering scheme.

But really, you can't make compression presets if you don't know what's going in.

Why don't you just tell him how compressors work?

As much as people talk about monitors, you can make a pretty good recording with just about any playback system. An inexpensive home stereo can work fine. Even headphones, although there are problems, if that's all you've got, fine. Better to use headphones than to depend on compressor presets.

rodhmos · 27th November 2006

Hey max, thank you very much for replying. I have read some of your posts in the past and you are a really nice guy, always helpful.

Anyone want to share some information?
Thanks!

rodhmos · 30th November 2006

A local tech who used to do service for Roland and Korg told me today that both companies use the same numeric values for compressor and limiter settings in their standalone digital multi track recorders.

Anyone know something about this?

26th November 2006	#1
rodhmos Gear maniac Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 188 Thread Starter	Roland compressor/limiter settings A guitar player asked me to help him make some user patches in his Roland VF-1 effects unit. He doesn't have good monitoring at home and he knows how I like to program effects... Everything ok, we made some cool sounds, but here is something strange I noted. Roland does not use miliseconds for the compressor/limiter of the unit. They prefer a "0-100" numeric scale. Yes, I just set up the compressor using my ears. But it would be nice to know what those numbers mean. Does anyone know what Roland means with the following data (from the manual)? Threshold 0-100 Attack 0-100 Release 0-100 Tone -50-+50

26th November 2006	#2
rodhmos Gear maniac Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 188 Thread Starter	Attached Thumbnails

26th November 2006	#3
max cooper Lives for gear Joined: Aug 2004 Location: tx Posts: 8,802	Any time there's a numbered scale that doesn't have units, I assume it means that Zero is "none" and 100 is "maximum". I'd assume the tone control is a treble cut/boost. -50 probably means "maximum high freq cut" and +50 probably means "maximum high freq boost". This is a common numbering scheme. But really, you can't make compression presets if you don't know what's going in. Why don't you just tell him how compressors work? As much as people talk about monitors, you can make a pretty good recording with just about any playback system. An inexpensive home stereo can work fine. Even headphones, although there are problems, if that's all you've got, fine. Better to use headphones than to depend on compressor presets. Attached Thumbnails

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27th November 2006	#4
rodhmos Gear maniac Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 188 Thread Starter	Hey max, thank you very much for replying. I have read some of your posts in the past and you are a really nice guy, always helpful. Anyone want to share some information? Thanks!

30th November 2006	#5
rodhmos Gear maniac Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 188 Thread Starter	A local tech who used to do service for Roland and Korg told me today that both companies use the same numeric values for compressor and limiter settings in their standalone digital multi track recorders. Anyone know something about this?