The Peak Reduction and Gain controls combine with the Comp/Limit switch to determine the amount and sound of the compression. The following controls and meters are provided:
Gain provides makeup gain to bring the signal back after passing through peak reduction.
Peak Reduction controls the amount of signal entering the side-chain, which in turn affects the amount of compression and the threshold. The more Peak Reduction you dial in, the more “squashed” the sound. Too little peak reduction and you will not hear any compression action; too much and the sound becomes muffled and dead sounding.
The Comp/Limit switch affects the compression ratio. The common setting for audio production is Comp, which provides a maximum compression ratio of approximately 3:1. In Limit mode, the unit behaves more like a broadcast limiter, with a higher threshold and compression ratio of approximately 12:1.
Both Gain Reduction and Output metering are provided. The Meter knob operates as follows: