DC8C is one of the most flexible compressors. When creating many different compression styles, its result can be described as: transparent, smooth, open, clear.
The main challenge in developing the DC8C was to get a very clean compressor action without unwanted and often almost inevitable artifacts / distortions. Thus, you can achieve almost imperceptible compression for the most demanding mastering sessions, when you want to avoid excessive coloring.
detector network and gain reduction smoothing for extra smooth operation
choose between two different attack and two release curves
four different operational modes: NORMAL, CLEAN (100% clean compression with no intermodulation, no distortion, no aliasing), SMASH (ultrafast compression characteristics, almost clipper territory), LIMIT (use DC8C as a zero latency limiter)
optional soft-clipper at the output
up to 8x oversampling
side-chain filter with high pass & low pass filter plus tilt control, which let’s you shift the frequency response of the detector
the saturation stage can be put freely into the signal chain: pre compression, post compression and side-chain only
three different compression curves selectable
customize the program dependency of the compressor separately for Attack and Release
GR-smoothing control to determine how sensitive the compressor reacts to changes in the computed gain reduction, great to emulate opto-style compression
hold control, great for heavy pumping compression effects
pre- attack control to delay the start of the attack to leave transients completely alone or radically shape the attack
VU and peak metering
calibration control not only to set the reference level for the VU-meter and the saturation
unique Feedback-Mix-Control, which lets you determine, how much of the compressor’s output is fed back into the detector. This way it is possible to morph between Feedback and Feedforward Compression topologies
true zero attack (0.0 ms)
negative ratios possible
parallel compression, peak-compression, RMS-compression
external side-chain
side-chain listen
Easy Mode which features 4 distinct compression styles
AGC (automatic gain compensation)
GUI resizing
comprehensive preset-browser with lots of presets to keep you started
and more …