FabFilter

I tried using Pro-MB for sidechaining kick drum on top of bass and found that, even with Release knob turned all the way down to 0%, the lowest band takes too long to recover, resulting in audible "fading in" sound after every kick.

Can we have tighter minimum times for the Attack and Release knobs? I really want to get rid of the other compressor but as it stands I cannot get Pro-MB to recover fast enough. I understand for compatibility reasons the parameter range probably cannot be changed at the knob level, but a small switch could be added that reduces times by a certain amount. Or maybe an "Expert" mode that allows these times to be set in milliseconds (I know Attack/Release times are program-dependent but maybe a mutiplier/divider can be added to tweak the automatic times).

Maybe something for Pro-MB 2 if it is not currently feasible? ;)

Hey Goran

If I understand your issue correctly, there is a fairly quick and easy fix to this.
Instead of sidechaining to your audible kick drum sample, which may have a longer tail than necessary and will elongate the release of the ProMB, create a shorter kick sidechain file that acts only as a trigger for the sidechain. Doesn't have to be a kick sample obviously. Just a tone that triggers the sidechain to your desired length (and release).

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the tip but I prefer to keep things simple (I can just carry on with the less-than-ideal compressor that's already in place, rather than mess with an appropriate tone generator to hack around this). The kick always has a fairly short release time, probably 30 ms or less, basically as short as possible given the fundamental frequency.

I think the automatic/program-dependent release time is not helped by the fact that it's in the lowest band (from around 74 Hz down to 30 Hz) and Pro-MB therefore uses overly safe time ranges. I tried limiting the band to around 45 Hz instead of all the way down hoping for a sharper release time, but then the crossover affects the fundamental and phase is mangled and it does not really work.

I hope FabFilter will consider extending the range of attack/release controls for what is after all a professional dynamics tool - it should be able to handle this situation as well as any rival can. I might as well bring up the "soft" attack time affecting the beginning of the kick, changing the click in a way that varies with time which IMHO also needs extending for these scenarios.

The other tool I would prefer not to use can handle both attack and release components well, so why not Pro-MB? I see it as a blemish on an otherwise amazing plug-in. It is only a minor feature (to be fair, it handles so much almost automatically, but extra control is always welcome).

Hi Goran,

Thanks for the report, we'll look into this when updating Pro-MB!

Cheers,