5 · The Audio Processors

Every channel strip in AnalogDAW carries a full set of analog-modeled processors. This chapter explains each one in plain language — what it does, when to use it, and what every control means. The same processors appear (in slightly different combinations) on tracks, buses, aux returns, and the master; see Channel Strip Types for which strip has which.

Everything is musical by default. Each processor models the behavior of classic analog hardware, so even pushed hard it tends to sound pleasing rather than harsh. Most processors are off until you enable them, except the preamp, which is always shaping the sound.

Preamp & Color

The preamp is the front end of every channel — the analog gain stage your signal hits first. It's always in the path (you can switch its coloring off for a clean pass-through).

Control	Range	What it does
Gain	−20 to +20 dB	Input gain into the channel and its harmonic stage. Drive it for more color, back it off for clean.
Trim	−20 to +20 dB	A clean level trim after the saturation, to set a consistent output without changing the color.
Drive (Color)	0 → 1	The amount of transformer-style harmonic "bloom." 0 is a clean output stage; higher adds rich harmonics. It's level-compensated, so it adds warmth without making the channel louder.
Tilt	−1 to +1	The tone of the color. Blue (left) emphasizes low/low-mids for weight; Red (right) emphasizes high-mids/highs for air and edge.
Phase (Ø)	on/off	Flips the polarity of the signal — useful for multi-mic sources (e.g. top/bottom snare) that fight each other.
Phantom (48V)	on/off	Sends phantom power to a hardware input for condenser mics that need it.
Pad	on/off	A −20 dB input pad ahead of the gain stage, for very hot sources that would otherwise overload.

Use it for: setting healthy levels, and adding analog warmth or bite. A little Drive on a sterile digital recording can make it feel "recorded to a console."

Filters (High-Pass / Low-Pass)

Simple but essential frequency filters to remove unwanted extremes.

Control	Default	What it does
High-Pass (HPF)	off, 80 Hz	Removes low frequencies below the set point — rumble, plosives, mud. Raise it to clean up the low end of vocals and guitars.
Low-Pass (LPF)	off, 18 kHz	Removes high frequencies above the set point — hiss, harshness, air.

Use it for: cleaning tracks before they hit the EQ and compressor. A high-pass on everything that isn't bass or kick is a classic mix move.

Gate

A noise gate automatically quiets a track when the signal falls below a threshold — it "closes" during silence and "opens" when you play.

Control	Range	What it does
Threshold	dB	The level the signal must exceed for the gate to open.
Range	0 to −80 dB	How much the gate turns down when closed. 0 = bypass, −80 = a hard, fully-silent gate. The default (≈ −60) fades naturally rather than slamming shut.
Attack	ms	How quickly the gate opens once the signal crosses the threshold. Fast for percussive sources.
Hold	ms	The minimum time the gate stays open after the signal drops below threshold — prevents chatter.
Release	ms	How quickly the gate closes after the hold time. Longer = smoother, more natural tails.
Sidechain source	track/bus	Optionally open the gate from another track's signal instead of its own (e.g. gate a pad with a kick drum for rhythmic effects).

Use it for: tightening drums, removing bleed and hiss between phrases, killing amp hum during silences.

EQ (Equalizer)

A musical 4-band parametric equalizer modeled on a classic transformer console. Use it to shape tone — boost what's missing, cut what's in the way. (High- and low-pass filtering is handled by the separate Filters stage above.)

The four bands and their default homes:

Band	Default	Typical use
Low Shelf	60 Hz	Weight and "thump" in the low end.
Low-Mid (bell)	360 Hz	Body and warmth, or cutting boxiness/mud.
High-Mid (bell)	3.2 kHz	Presence, attack, and intelligibility.
High Shelf	12 kHz	Air and sheen up top.

Each band has:

Frequency — where it works.
Gain — −15 to +15 dB of boost or cut.
Q — bandwidth: low Q is broad and gentle, high Q is narrow and surgical. For the shelves, Q controls the gentle console "bump" at the corner.
An enable switch and a Bell switch on the shelves (turn a shelf into a fully parametric bell for precise surgery).

Two console-style voicing options shape the whole EQ:

Proportional Q — when on, a bell automatically widens at low boost and tightens as you push it, giving forgiving, musical curves. Turn it off for literal, surgical control.
Harmonics (Class-A bloom) — a touch of even-harmonic saturation added whenever the EQ is on, for that "expensive console" sheen. 0 is a mathematically clean EQ; the default adds gentle color.

Use it for: everything — corrective cuts to fix problems, and creative boosts to flatter a source.

Compressor

The compressor controls dynamics — it makes loud parts quieter so the overall level is steadier and more powerful. AnalogDAW's compressor is special: you choose a mode that models a different classic circuit, and the mode changes both the sound and the controls to match the real hardware.

The same five modes are available on tracks, buses, aux returns, and the master — so a "FET" picked on a bus genuinely sounds like a FET.

The five compressor modes

Mode	Character	Reach for it on…
FET	Fast and aggressive. Adds punch and attitude.	Drums, vocals, bass, room mics.
OPTO	Smooth and transparent. Flattering, almost invisible level control.	Vocals, bass, anything you want gently leveled.
TUBE (variable-µ)	Warm and gluey, rich harmonics.	Mix bus, vocals, mastering.
VCA	Clean and precise. Surgical, punchy.	Snare, tight drums, anything needing exact control.
BUS	"Glue." Gels a whole mix or drum bus into one cohesive sound.	Drum bus, mix bus, master.

Common controls

Most modes share these, though each interprets them in its own way:

Threshold — the level above which compression begins.
Ratio — how hard it compresses (e.g. 4:1 means 4 dB in → 1 dB out).
Attack — how fast it grabs the signal. Fast tames transients; slow lets punch through.
Release — how fast it lets go. Set it to "breathe" with the music.
Makeup / Output gain — brings the level back up after compression.
Knee — how gradually compression engages around the threshold (soft = gentle, hard = abrupt).

Mode-specific controls

Each mode also exposes the real front-panel controls of its inspiration:

FET — characteristic ratio buttons, plus an All-Buttons-In ("British mode") switch for an aggressive, distorted ~12:1 sound.
OPTO — a single Peak Reduction knob and a Limit / Compress switch. Its release is program-dependent (it reacts to the music) by design.
TUBE — a Time Constant selector (positions 1–6, each a different attack/release character, some program-dependent) and an Input Gain.
VCA — a variable ratio, a true-RMS detector, and a soft-knee switch for gentle vs. firm compression.
BUS — discrete ratio/attack/release switches and an Auto release (program-dependent). On the master it offers Auto Make-Up, which keeps the output at unity no matter how hard it's working.

Sidechain

The compressor can be triggered from another track or bus instead of its own signal — the classic example is ducking a music bed under a voice, or pumping a bass against the kick. Pick a sidechain source to enable it.

Use it for: evening out performances, adding punch, controlling peaks, and gluing groups of instruments together.

De-Esser

A de-esser is a specialized compressor that reacts only to sibilance — the harsh "sss" and "shh" sounds in vocals — and tames them without dulling the whole track.

Control	Range	What it does
Threshold	−40 to 0 dB	How loud the sibilance must be before it's reduced.
Frequency	3–12 kHz	Where the sibilance lives (around 7 kHz is typical).
Range	0–20 dB	The maximum amount of reduction applied.

Use it for: vocals and voice-overs with piercing "S" sounds; also cymbals or acoustic guitars that are too bright in the highs.

Plug-in Inserts

Beyond the built-in processors, every track, mix bus, aux return, and the master has six insert slots for hosting Audio Unit (AU) plug-ins — third-party effects you've installed (and on macOS, AUv2 and AUv3; on iOS, AUv3).

Load a plug-in into a slot from the Inserts (INS) section.
Open its editor to access the plug-in's own interface.
Bypass a slot to compare with/without.
Inserts live in the reorderable chain, so you can place them before or after the built-in EQ, compressor, etc.

Plug-in settings are saved with the session, so your projects reopen exactly as you left them (where the plug-in is still installed).

Use it for: reverbs, delays, specialty effects, metering, and any favorite third-party processors.

Sends (Aux & Cue)

Sends tap a copy of the track's signal and route it somewhere else, while the track keeps playing through its own output.

Aux sends feed aux return buses — used for shared effects like reverb and delay, so several tracks share one reverb. Each send has a level, an on/off, and a pre/post-fader switch (pre-fader is independent of the track fader; post-fader follows it).
Cue sends feed cue buses — independent headphone mixes for performers, so the singer can hear more of themselves without changing the main mix. Like aux sends, each cue send has its own level and a pre/post-fader switch.

Sends are covered further in Mixing and Channel Strip Types.

Next: Recording Audio →