State and Perspectives of Open Source Compression
Andrés CABRERA and Ricardo ESCALLÓN and Marcela ZORRO
Sección de Audio y Tecnologı́a, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Address
Bogotá,
Colombia,
{cabrera.andres, rescallon}@javeriana.edu.co
Abstract
This is a LATEX sample for your paper. The abstract
should comprise 50-100 words. This document will
present an overview of compression algorithms in re-
lation with existing open implementations, and will
present a proposal for improvements and further de-
velopment
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1 Introduction
Compression is an important part of audio pro-
cessing as it provides can control dynamic range
to make a certain material fit a medium or a
particular circumstance, and it also offers a cre-
ative sound shaping process. Though compres-
sors have been built since the beginning of audio
recording technology, most processes and algo-
rithms still remain mostly trade secrets, and lit-
erature on the subject is scarce. There are sev-
eral large categories of compression. This doc-
ument will only deal with feedforward compres-
sors which calculate gain reduction from mea-
suring an envelope tracker. It will not deal with
half-cycle or full-cycle limiters or feedback com-
pressors, as these involve completely different
approaches.
Arts compressor [1](part of the Beast pack-
age) implements a simple PEAK compressor
which applies the attack and release time con-
stants not to the gain curve but to the sample
values themselves. In other words, it smooths
the signal using this constants to generate the
level curve (see file trunk/plugins/artscompres-
sor.cc1 ). Arts compressor is a stereo compressor
with adjustable stereo behavior: it can track the
level of either channel, or it can use the maxi-
mum absolute value between both channels.
1 2
http://svn.gnome.org/viewvc/beast/
2 Standard Compressor design
characteristics
Classic digital compressor design presented in
[2] and [3] (See Figure 1) involves measuring
level, and then determining a gain reduction
value from this level according to a static curve
after converting level to a logarithmic scale.
These gain values are then smoothed according
to attack and release times to produce a final
gain value which is applied to a delayed version
of the original signal. There are two ways in
which level is traditionally measured. One is
using RMS and the other is using a low-pass
filtered (or otherwise smoothed) version of the
individual sample values. In [2] and [3], the au-
thor recommends downsampling the level mea-
surement, as it will not affect the result sub-
stantially and it will
2.1 Multichannel compression
2.2 Implementation
This classic model is directly implemented in
well known plugins like the SC series by Steve
Harris, and the Tap Compressor, which is ac-
tually the same algorithm internally, but with
a list of presets instead of direct control. The
SC series of plugins feature the following: SC1,
which is a
While RMS provides a closer measurement of
a signal’s energy, due to the fact that it must
always average over a certain time period, it will
tend to
SC Series, Tap compressor
3 Currently available compressors
Text2 , note at end of page.
3.1
Text of the subsection with citations such as [4],
[5] and [6].
Text of note.
 Figure 1: Classic Compressor model

3.2 Arts compressor until they exhibit certain desired characteris-

3.3 Foo plugins tics. This kind of tuning is harder to ac-
3.4 Mda plugins complish on the digital domain where discrete
parts which can mold the sound are not read-
3.5 Dyson Compressor (Ecasound)
ily available. However digital compression can
3.6 Calf plugins model the characteristics of analog compressors
3.7 Csound compress opcode through adjusting a digital compressor’s param-
3.8 PD compress object eters, to approximate the effect of the compres-
PD’s compress object is a compressor which sor to the analog. This has been proposed in
doesn’t use envelope following and [7].
t f l o a t i s a m p l e f a c t = x−> 5 Improvements to compressor
x pifactor ; modeling
t f l o a t o s a m p l e f a c t = 2 . 0 / M PI ;
Text. Text. Text. Text. Text.
while ( n−−) { 6 Conclusions
∗ out = atan ( ∗ i n ∗
Concluding text.
isample fact ) ∗
osample fact ; 7 Acknowledgements
out++; i n ++;
} Our thanks go to . . . .

3.9 Supercollider compander ugen References

Simple envelope follower to peak [1] Matthias Kretz and Stefan Westerfeld. Arts
http://beast.gtk.org/ compressor from the beast package.
3.9.1 Subsubsection [2] Udo Zölzer et al. DAFX:Digital Audio Ef-
Text of the subsubsection (see Table 1). fects. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, 2002.
3.10 Ecasound compressor (Dyson [3] Udo Zölzer et al. Digital Audio Signal Pro-
Compressor) cessing. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, 1997.
[4] K. Sparck Jones. A statistical interpre-
Software Features
tation of term specificity and its applica-
AA Harddisk-Recording tion in retrieval. Journal of Documentation,
BB MIDI Sequencing 28(1):11–21, 1972.
CC Score Notation
[5] Uwe Simmer Denny Schimdt and Joerg
Table 1: Example Bitzer. Parsing in functional unification
grammar. In K. Spark Jones B. J. Grosz and
B. L. Webber, editors, Readings in Natural
Implication of multichannel compression. Language Processing, pages 125–138. Mor-
4 Compressor modeling gan Kaufmann Publishers, Los Altos, 1986.
High-end analog compressors are coveted de- [6] Fredrick Mosteller and David Wallace. In-
vices since they perform compression which al- ference and Disputed Authorship: The Fed-
though irregular, is pleasant sounding. Ana- eralist. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mas-
log compressors are usually “tuned” by ear sachusetts, 1964.
[7] Denny Schimdt Uwe Simmer and Joerg
Bitzer. Parameter estimation of dynamic
range compressors: Models, procedures and
test signals. 120th AES Convention, 2006.