Manual

16
2.3.7 Timing Functions
The relationship between gain compression and temporal behaviour is absolutely crucial to
successful dynamic control, whether the user is aiming for the unobtrusive control of levels
or a completely stylised sound effect. Much of the artistic character in the massive range of
renowned compressors is determined by subtleties in the timing behaviour of these units
under complex musical signal conditions.
In order to encompass as much of this valuable artistic legacy as possible, the Oxford
compressor plug-in incorporates a very wide range of timing control, using both linear dB
and exponential dB time dependency curves. In this way the plug-in can be used to create the
widest range of artistic effect without imposing an overwhelming and unavoidable character
of its own. The plug-in should therefore be considered as a powerful and flexible tool rather
than a specific ‘style’ of compressor. The following paragraphs describe the operation of the
compressor’s timing controls and its time dependency behaviour.
To generate the timing illustration graphs, the following stimulus was used as the reference.
This is a tone burst signal that consists of 0.2 sec of full level signal preceded and followed
by 0.8 sec of signal at –20dBr.