Smooth 609A Bus

Compressor

General Info
This set is 'based off of' an original
release model of a compressor that,
since its introduction in the early 80s,
has famously found a lot of use as a
bus comp. It's known for its
characteristic, smooth sound and
ability to 'glue' the elements of a mix
together. It has gained many die-hard
fans who use it every time they mix,
and it has been used on many classic
recordings. It can also be used in
many situations besides bus
compression alone. Some like to use
it to beef up electric/acoustic guitars,
pianos, vocals and other sources, and
it even gets used while tracking by
some. It has been called a desert
island piece. You don't need many dBs
of compression to get a benefit out of
it, with common use involving just a
bit of gain reduction. Some even use
it without compression just for its
tone. On the other hand, it still
sounds great when you push it for
lots of gain reduction. These programs
were sampled in stereo with high-end
cables and the Lynx Aurora 8.

In this set you get:

The main compressor program
with 1k, 5k, and 10k options. These
main programs are set up to provide
compression behavior as close to the
unit as possible, although some
controls (attack and release) offer
extended ranges that provide
additional behaviors beyond what the
hardware could do. The programs
feature fully variable ratio from 1:1 to
6:1. The hardware isn't quite as
flexible there, since it has indented
controls (not fully variable) and
doesn't, for example, allow ratios
between 1:1 and 1.5:1 for
super-subtle compression like these
programs do. There is also an
adjustable high-pass filter on the
internal detection side-chain, and a
dry control that lets you mix some
dry signal back in, both not included
on the hardware. You don't have to
touch any of that extra stuff or go
into those extended control ranges if
you want to stay more authentic to
the hardware, but they are there for
themore adventurous types who
want more control.
A duplicate batch of comp
programs using various other
detection modes which behave
differently from the hardware. These
are like a 'what if' type of thing where
you can hear what the unit would
sound like with different circuitry. Each
of these is also provided in 1and 10k
versions. more sets of duplicate
4
programs with even more extreme
'Frankenstein' alterations to the
original behavior. One set uses
'feedforward' detection, instead of the
fully feedback based detection of the
main set (which is what the unit uses).
The other 3 use different ratios of
feedback to feedforward detection,
including 25%/75%, 50/50, and
75/25. These all are provided in 1 and
10k versions as well as with all of the
 detector types offered by the
main set and the previously described
duplicate set.
Additional duplicates of the
feed-forward versions which can be
nd
used with a 2 stereo input in an
external side-chain setup.
Altogether, all of those alternate
versions offer a HUGE range of
different sounding effects, but there is
always the main set to fall back on,
for the more authentic sound. The
different batches are well organized
so they won't confuse you whether
you explore them or choose to ignore
the bonus optional versions and only
want to use the main set. Altogether
there are 24 'alternate' preset
configurations additional to the main
set, and each comes in 1and 10k
versions.
All variations are offered in special
'SHQ' versions which use a ton of
CPU but offer a more 'super high
quality' sound. They use so much cpu
that you won't be able to mix with
them, and they are intended for
rendering only. There are some
aspects to how they work that are
measurably more accurate, but it's
really a matter of gaining a few more
% points of accuracy at the cost of a
large amount of additional CPU, so
consider these as bonuses that are
there for you to use if you feel it's
worth it to you.
This one's a bit more technical- all
of the harmonic samples in these
programs were 'rendered'a new
with
technique I've come up with. It's a
lesser known fact that programs with
higher kernel counts (around 10) can
lose a bit of accuracy with all of the
harmonic samples, not just the higher
orders. For example, 'rendering' a
program at 10k will produce slightly
less accurate samples with even the
lower harmonics (h1-h3) than what
you get if you render at 3k. I've done
tests and actually seen cases where
h5 samples had no visible impulse
above the noise floor for the 10k
render, but those same impulses
were clearly visible and defined with
a 5k render. I've figured out a way to
keep the best possible accuracy for all
kernels even with a 10k version. It's
means that
pretty tedious to do, but it
the harmonic samples are more
accurately defined even going down to
quieter levels.

Installation
Just copy the .n2p files to your
Nebula 'Programs' folder, and the
.n2v files to the 'Vectors' folder.
Organization
The programs will all be found
in the 'COM' category in Nebula, then
in the 'SM' and/or 'SM*'
sub-categories. 'SM' = 96kHz set,
'SM*' = 44kHz. are 5 additional
There
sets of duplicate compressor
programs. In 'ALT' you will find
different versions that use different
detection modes, compared to the
main set (which uses 'peak' style
detection). The available types are
RMS, AVG, EVF, and VU. Ibelieve the
VU one is supposed to detect level
similar to how a VU meter does. All of
these will be slower than peak. In 'FF'
you will find alternates where the level
detector uses a feedforward routing
for it's detector, instead of the main
set which uses fully feedback based
detection. In 'FB1' there is a 25/75%
ratio of feedback/feedforward. In 'FB2'
it's 50/50, and in 'FB3' it's 75/25.
If you want to know what any
of these alternate modes actually do
you will have to look it up (tons of info
about how compressors work out
there) online somewhere, because
others have explained it better than I
could anyway. If you do choose to
look it up, look for the differences
between RMS and Peak, and
feedforward and feedback detection.
Or you can just try some of them out
and see how they sound. Keep in
mind that the main set uses settings
that are based on the hardware, so
these extras are allowing for you to
get results that the hardware wouldn't
allow, but with the same smooth
tone.
The 'Fast Attk A' programs in
the main group are duplicates of the
PEAK programs in the 'FB3' set, which
means they use 75/25
feedback/feedforward ratio. 'Fast Attk
B' programs are dupes of the PEAK
programs from the 'FF' set, so they
use fully feed-forward detection.
They are duplicated in the main
group to provide quick and easy
access to alternate versions that still
use the same detector type (peak),
but with various levels of feedforward
in the detection path which allows for
faster attacks that catch more
transients. The hardware can't catch
all those transients but with these
software recreations you can squash
stuff flat all day long. Fast Attk A is
still a little more like the hardware
compared to B. These also have
controls set to fastest attack position
and with some look-ahead by default
on load.
The 'Ext SC' programs are set
up to use an additional stereo input
going into Nebula to trigger the
compression. This is a common
technique and I'm not going to go
into detail about when/where/why to
use it in this manual. There are only
external sidechain programs for the
variants that use fully feed-forward
detection. This means that everything
in the FF set has an Ext SC duplicate,
and the 'Fast Attk B' programs in the
main group do also.
Notes on SHQ programs
The SHQ programs are not just
simply programs saved using 'timed'
mode instead of the default 'freqd'
mode. They also use much longer
kernels which means more of the tone
from the unit should theoretically be
provided (with a slightly more
accurate bass response), and a faster
prog rate, which means the
attack/release shapes are more
accurate.
They take a huge amount of CPU, so
with the exception of the 'SHQ-lite'
temporary use version
you probably won't
be able to run/audition them while mixing.

You will have to use either the

standard versions, or the 'SHQ-lite',
then switch to the full SHQ progs on
render, if you want to use them. The
problem is that when you switch
programs, you lose your settings on
the controls. To get around this will
be left up to you, but Iwould suggest
trying to find out if your host
software has a simple way of doing it
via it's automation handling. For
example, set up the compressor the
way you want, then tell the host to
save its current control positions to
automation. That way, after you
switch programs the control will still
be in the same spot. Depending on
your host there may be even better
ways of doing this. See the
tips section for more info about SHQ and for a better explanation of the 'SHQ-
lite' programs which are intended only for temporary mixing/auditioning use,

and NOT for rendering.

Nebula Configuration
Adjustments Required
In all of my compressor releases I
ask that the adjust their main Nebula
settings to allow for a look-ahead of
up to at least 10ms. My look-ahead
controls always go to 6ms, and ifyou
don't tell Nebula to allow a program
to go that high, the control won't
show you what you are actually
getting. This time Ialso have to ask
that you change another setting- the
max allowed timed length, so that
the SHQ versions work properly.
These are the only 'mods' you need
to have these things work as Iintend
them to, and Iwould strongly
recommend that you don't have
anything else modified (unless you
know for sure that it won't affect
these comps adversely).
These changes actually are hardly what Iwould even
call a 'mod', because they won't result in any changes to how any program in

your collection actually works. All

they do is make Nebula allow longer
times for both things. It's actually kind
of ridiculous that Ihave to ask you to
do this. For example, the default max
look-ahead allowed by Neb is 1.5ms.
That's barely enough to have a slight
effect. These settings should already
be set high in case a dev (like me)
wants to have these things go longer.
The best way to change these
is by editing the .xml that is with the
Nebula plug-in .dll. So go where you
installed the plugin, and open the
differenc for the nebula version you
use (either 'reverb' or standard).
Look for these tags:
 <LTIMED> XXX </LTIMED>
<AHEADLENGTH> XXX
</AHEADLENGTH>
Where 'XXX' is whatever number they
are currently set to. The number isn't
measured in milliseconds, Ithink it's
microseconds. Change that number
to allow more time. Here is what mine
are set to:
<LTIMED> 5500000 </LTIMED>
<AHEADLENGTH> 23000
</AHEADLENGTH>
Now save the xml. This should allow
you to use SHQ programs and have
up to the full 10ms look-ahead. If you
don't do this, you can't have those
things. Nothing will explode if you edit
that xml just in the way I've
described here, and it will have
absolutely on any other
0 effect
program. If you are really afraid for
some silly reason, make a backup of
the xml before you edit it.

Controls
Attack- Variable from 0 to
50ms. Programs load at 4.30ms,
which provides the speed closest to
the hardware (which has a fixed
attack time that can't be adjusted).
The speeds above and below that
have been enabled by me to provide a
bit more flexibility with how the comp
can be used. There isn't any
witchcraft behind this, and it doesn't
compromise quality in any way. It
just opens up more possibilities. But if
you are a purist you can always keep
it in that default position. See the tips
section for more about this control
and what you should and shouldn't
expect from it.
Release- Variable from 0ms to
1500ms. Programs load at 100ms by
default which represents the fastest
release time possible with the
hardware. The slowest the hardware
offers is 1500ms, but the hardware
has a few fixed positions it can be set
to between 100 and 1500. These
programs are fully variable so again
they are more flexible. The ability to
go from 100ms down to 0ms was
again added by me to offer more
possibilities, and Ithink going a bit
below 100ms here can really bring
outmore of the character of the
comp. As with any compressor,
if you set this too fast you can (and likely will) get

distortion (or other weird artifacts),

especially with bass. Don't think this
thing is broken if you set the release
really low (below 60) and get
distortion. Just set it higher until it
goes away. Again, see tips section for
more about this.
Thresh- This adjusts the
threshold, above which, compression
begins. For the programs in the main
set, this control should be pretty
accurate, but for the alternate sets it
can be off a few db from what the
readout tells you and where the
thresh is actually set. For some of
those alternates there is even a
in how accurate it is
between the 1k and 5/10k versions,
so you can't rely on the readout for
those alternate sets, but you really
should always be using your ears
anyways. The gain reduction meter is
usually fairly accurate, so you can use
it to help determine where thresh
needs to be set.
Ratio- Variable from 1:1 to
6:1. Turning it up gives you more
compression (if input level is above
thresh). 1:1 gives no compression.
MakeUp- This control...
doesn't exist! The reason is because
of the way Nebula's internal routing is
set up. A makeup control will always
exist inside the feedback loop that the
detector uses to measure the signal
and determine how much gain
reduction to apply, if feedback
detection is being used. This means
that raising it would actually increase
compression, so it wouldn't just be a
straight output gain control, it would
actually alter the effect. The
hardware's makeup gain control does
not behave this way, except with the
limiter section. Ididn't want people
adjusting makeup with this comp and
having their results change and not
knowing why (not everyone reads
manuals). The main Nebula output
control won't affect compression, but
it only allows for 6db of gain, so if you
want more you should follow Nebula
with a simple gain plug-in. I
recommend Sonalksis' FreeG vst.
It's free, as the name implies, and
offers up to 18db of gain. It also has
some nice meters on it, and it's very
simple. The limiter programs in the
609A Limiter set will have makeup
control even though they also use
feedback detection, but there it's
accurate to the hardware (the unit's
makeup will cause the limiter to
squash more).
Hipass- Adjusts the cutoff
point of a high-pass filter on the
internal side-chain in Nebula that
determines how much compression
you get. If you are compressing a
more complex input, like a mix of
elements, you may not want the bass
elements to dominate/control the
compression effect.
Ahead- It allows you to add a
look-ahead of up to 10ms, and can
be used to achieve a peak limiting
effect, or just to soften the attack a
little. If you haven't followed my
previous directions on altering
Nebula's default settings, this control
will only give up to 1.5ms look-ahead
even though it still reads up to 10ms.
This control will not be found in the
main program set, or the 'ALT' set,
because those both use full feedback
detection, so look-ahead would have
no effect with them.
Dry db- This control can be
used to add some dry signal back in.
It's not a wet/dry % control that
adjusts the level of 'wet' signal
relative to dry. It only adds some dry
into the output, and doesn't lower the
wet level. It can go from no dry (reads
-192db) to +6db, which provides a
dry signal at 6db louder than the input
into Nebula. Considering the fact that
lots of compression lowers the 'wet'
signal significantly, the dry control
here works just about as well as a
wet/dry crossfade control.

General Usage Tips/Ideas:

Keep in mind that this thing's main duty

is bus compression. For that purpose you
should have a decent mix of all the
elements already, maybe with individual
compression/eq on some or all of them
before sending them to the bus. The 609A
is probably best used to add some thickness,
maybe some rhythmic pumping/motion to a
bus mix (such as a drum bus), and a little
additional compression. This isn't a rule
though, and there are plenty of other uses
besides bus compression. Related to the
previous tip- EXPERIMENT and find other
uses besides just bus compression for these
programs! You might be surprised how
many cool uses you find for them.
you use this comp
If with mix buses,
you might find that you only need a bit of
compression to make everything tighter and
sound more cohesive, with a bit of added
thickness as well. Try setting mid to long
release times, a low-mid ratio, and a
threshold that results in only a few db of
compression.

Don't expect the main programs to provide L2-like peak limiting with all transients
being caught. The actual unit will not
flatten all transientsyou throw at it, and it
seems to be a bit of a misconception going
around that if a software compressor doesn't
catch them all, it's somehow bad or not as
as good as the hardware it's based on simply
for that reason. The truth is that many
great hardware comps do not instantly
grab all transients.
They just don't work that way.
Especially not a feedback detection based
comp such as this. Even fast feedforward
based hardware will probably let some tiny
sliver of a peak through before compression
kicks in. So, even if you set the attack speed
to 0ms, it won't be instant with the main
programs. However- if you really want to
squash something flat, catching all
transients, without using another
compressor, it IS possible. Try the Fast Attk
A or B programs, and raise look-ahead until
transients are caught. Fast Attk A is a bit
closer to the hardware sound while still
allowing the ability to catch all transients,
which the hardware could not do. SHQ
programs need less look-ahead than their
standard version counterparts, to catch
transients, with any of the peak mode
programs that use some feedforward signal
in their detectors.
Another option for taming peaks that are
missed by 609A BusComp during heavy
compression, would be to use a 609A
limiter program (not included in this set)
right after the comp. Even the hardware's
limiter section uses feedback detection and
lets the first 3ms of any peak through. But,
using a 609A comp program before a 609A
limiter one could give you a more 'full'
sound character of the unit, and you could
use the limiter with the
feedforward/lookahead setup while keeping
the comp more authentic.
Ifyou set the release time to its fastest
position you can and most likely will get
distortion or other artifacts, especially with
bass inputs. This is not a flaw of the
programs. You shouldn't be trying to use
super fast release times with bass on
probably any comp, without expecting
distortion. It's a known thing that happens
with any compressor with a release that can
go fast enough (below 50ms) and I'm not
going to explain why it happens here (look
it up online, there are plenty of sources
explaining it), but Ikeep getting people
asking me about this. At the fastest setting
most types of inputs (not just bass) will
distort in some way, depending on the
setting. The reason Iadded in the
ability to go faster than the hardware's
fastest 100ms setting, is because it can bring
out the character/tone of the comp even
more and sounds great in some cases. I
have even had cases while testing where
the fastest speeds did generate distortion
with certain audio signals, but it sounded
good (to me)! If you don't like the results,
don't set it that fast! There is a whole range
on that control besides that tiny area with
those fastest speeds. Faster is not always
better. Stick with speeds 100ms and over for
most authentic behavior, as provided by the
hardware.
I'm repeating this from the description
of the makeup control, in case you missed
it. There is no makeup control, for good
reason. Irecommend you follow Nebula
with something like Sonalksis' FreeG plug-in
which can be used for up to 18db of gain.
If you decide to dig into the alternate
versions provided, you might want to keep
in mind that the main set represents the
hardware the closest. Those programs use
peak detection mode with 100% feedback.
So knowing this, the further you veer from
either of those two things (100% feedback,
and peak mode), the further from the
hardware's type of behavior you get (which
isn't necessarily bad). If you want to stick
close to the sound of the main set but try
something slightly different, try the PK
programs from the FB3 or FB2 set, OR try
anything in ALT. The FF set is the least like
the hardware. The SHQ versions will have
a slightly but noticeably different attack
sound from the standard versions even using
the same settings, especially with faster
attack speeds. This can't really be avoided,
and it's directly because SHQ is more
accurate. So if you intend to use the SHQ
versions on render, you can try using the
special 'SHQ-lite' programs for
auditioning/mixing before rendering if your
CPU can handle it. Even though they are
only 1k, they still take more CPU than the
standard 10k version will. Finally, if you
really like what the standard versions do
(with their attack sound in particular) and
can't get an SHQ version to recreate it
exactly, don't worry use the
about it and just
standard version. No harm will come out of
this. Again, keep in mind that we are talking
about very small differences here, so if you
can't use the SHQ versions because they
change the sound too much (this should be
rare), OR because they just take more time
to render than you want to wait for, then
don't sweat it because the
standard programs are great too.
These were created using the
-18dBFS=0dBVU standard, so your levels
going into the programs should be around
-18dBFS RMS level.

V1.1 use this version number to keep track of

updates. If the manual posted at my site has a
higher version number than the one you have, your
set probably isn't up to date.

Programs and manual copyright May-July 2013 Tim

Wisecup www.cupwise.com
 Thanks:
Giancarlo, Enrique, everyone else at
Acustica andeveryone involved in
advancing Nebula in any and all ways.
www.acustica-audio.com

All of my supporters! Especially those who

help me out a little further by telling others
about my stuff (which helps me to be able to
continue putting out new things). Cupwise
FX is a small operation and Ineed all the
help Ican get, in terms of financial support,
in order to continue doing this. Ithink my
prices are set relatively low. So if you like
my stuff and get some good use out of it,
consider giving it an honest review
somewhere, or just let your friends know
about it. Idon't want to ever include any
form of copy protection with my stuff either,
so please, before you share these programs
with others, consider how you would feel if
the fruits of your labor were shared freely
rather than you being compensated for
them. Contrary to what some people seem
to think, making Nebula programs is NOT
just a simple matter of 'running some tones
through some hardware', especially not for
things that are more complex, such as these
compressor programs.