User manual
A clean compressor with the transfer curve and gain reduction on one screen.
Less Comp is a clean single-band compressor. The transfer curve and the gain reduction meter share one screen, so the settings you dial are visible as a shape while you listen. Sidechain input and lookahead are built in.
Run the installer for your platform. On macOS the AU and VST3 versions install for all users; on Windows the VST3 installs under Common Files. Factory presets install into your user preset folder and are never overwritten: presets you save land in the same folder and stay yours.
| macOS presets | ~/Library/Application Support/MixLess/Presets/Less Comp |
| Windows presets | %APPDATA%\MixLess\Presets\Less Comp |
The screenshot is the shipping interface, rendered by the shipping code. Press I in the plugin to toggle the same control descriptions as cursor tooltips.
Two moments from the same display: at rest, and with material running through it. Print cannot move, so these are frames of the animation rather than a drawing of it.
| THRESHOLD | Threshold: level where compression starts |
| RATIO | Ratio: how hard levels above the threshold are reduced |
| ATTACK | Attack: how fast the compressor grabs. Slow lets transients through |
| RELEASE | Release: how fast gain recovers. Too fast pumps, too slow chokes |
| KNEE | Knee: 0 dB is a hard corner; wider bends in gradually |
| MAKEUP | Makeup: output gain to compensate the reduction |
| MIX | Mix: blend dry and compressed for parallel compression |
| SC HPF | Sidechain high-pass frequency, keeps bass from pumping the mix |
| LOOKAHEAD | Lookahead: reacts before the transient. Adds that much latency |
| AUTO MAKEUP | AUTO: makeup gain follows threshold and ratio automatically |
| SC HPF | Enable the sidechain high-pass filter |
| SC EXTERNAL | EXT SC: key the compressor from the sidechain input instead of the signal |
| CURVE | Transfer curve: input level in, output level out; the dot is the current signal |
| AUTO G | AUTO G: loudness-matched output (K-weighted), honest A/B against bypass |
| DELTA | DELTA: hear only what the compressor changes (output minus dry) |
| BYPASS | Click-free bypass |
Start from the Vocal Leveler preset. Lower the threshold until the GR meter shows 3 to 6 dB on the loud phrases; the transfer curve shows exactly where the knee sits.
Set Ratio high and Attack fast, then pull Mix to about 50%. The dry path is delay aligned, so blending is free of comb filtering.
Route the kick to the sidechain input in your DAW and enable EXT SC. The detector listens to the kick while the audio path carries the bass.
| Formats | AU, VST3 |
| Latency | 0 samples, 240 at 5 ms lookahead |
| Sidechain | internal or external bus |
| Factory presets | 8 |
Questions and problems: support@mixlessaudio.com. Legal notices, the privacy notice and third-party licences: mixlessaudio.com.