aXCompressor – Ambisonic Compressor Plugin
aXCompressor is an ambisonic compressor specifically designed to control the dynamics of ambisonic signals without damaging their delicate spatial balance.
aXCompressor has all of the parameters for a standard dynamic range compressor. Simply use it exactly as you would with a stereo compressor. Easy!
AAX • VST3 | Mac • Windows
Easy To Use
Tame the dynamics of your ambisonic recordings and mixes just like you would when working with stereo. aXCompressor is an ambisonic compressor with the settings you already know.
Gain Reduction Display
Shows the amount of gain reduction applied over time. The range can be adjusted by right clicking and selecting a new range.
Spatial Side-Chain
Point a virtual microphone anywhere in the sound scene to pick which sources drive the compressor. You can even control the directivity of the microphone for additional control.
Features
• Input gain – boost or cut the input gain.
• Output make-up gain – adjust the output level to compensate for a reduction in overall level due to compression.
• Threshold – the threshold level above which a signal will have compression applied.
• Ratio – controls the amount of compression applied when signals go above the Threshold.
• Knee width – control how smoothly the compressor goes from uncompressed to compressed as signal level increases. Zero knee width is a hard knee.
• Attack time – the time in milliseconds for the compressor to become fully active once the signal goes above the Threshold.
• Release time – the time in milliseconds for the compressor to stop acting on the signal once it falls below the Threshold.
• RMS or peak detection – control whether it is the signals peak or average levels that are used to determine if the level is above the Threshold.
• Azimuth, elevation and focus – control the side-chain driving the compressor with a variable focus virtual microphone pointed at the source of your choice.
Process High Resolution Tenth-Order Ambisonics
aXCompressor can process any order up to tenth-order Ambisonics, letting you work with the highest spatial resolution currently available*.
* Currently only possible in Reaper 7+ which allows for tracks with up to 128 channels. Other DAWs are limited to seventh-order (Pro Tools Ultimate) or third-order (e.g. Cubase).
Input/Output formats
Input: Any Ambisonic channel format with the W channel on the first input
Output: The same as the output
aXCompressor applies the dynamic range compression while preserving the spatial relationship between all of the sounds in your immersive scene.
Formats and Requirements
• Plugin formats: AAX and VST3
• Mac: Intel or Apple Silicon (Universal Binary), 4GB RAM, macOS 10.13 or later
• Windows: 64bit, 4GB RAM, Windows 10 or later
All plugin formats require a host with an internal routing that supports the required number of channels for Ambisonics to function. Please check that your usual DAW can handle Ambisonics. If it cannot then you should consider using Reaper.
Tenth order Ambisonics requires a massive 121 channels for each track! As of January 2024 only Reaper can handle this so please download the demo version to test if your DAW and workflow is compatible with this product!
Buy aXCompressor Ambisonic Compressor
If you don’t need the full power of tenth-order Ambisonics then you can purchase versions limited to first- or third-order.
Don’t worry if you think you might want to upgrade later. Our Upgrade Policy means you’ll never spend more than you would have if you had bought the update in the first place.
