Schwerkraftmaschine Breakthrough Explained
- 13.01.2017
- Michael Krusch
- Story
- Schwerkraftmaschine
Part 3 of our review of the different compression modes in the Schwerkraftmaschine
Imagine a compressor.
It compresses.
Up to a specified value, but not beyond.
That's what the Breakthrough mode does.
It compresses up to 6 dB.
And not beyond.
You can raise the level beyond that point, but it won't affect compression.
If you want to reduce the gain reduction, then simply use the mix knob.
Each level spike, drum or guitar attack or vocal consonant is allowed to pass through, even though the overall signal is compressed.
So one loud cymbal crash in the drum group won't affect the rest of them.
Can you imagine how it sounds?
The best thing is to have a listen for yourself.
What Sets Breakthrough Apart from Normal Compression
An ordinary compressor turns the signal down harder the further it rises above the threshold. Above the threshold the curve gets flatter, but it keeps climbing – so a loud peak is always pushed down a little more. Breakthrough cuts that logic off: at 6 dB of gain reduction, it stops. Anything louder than that passes through untouched (hence the name). The curve on the right shows exactly that – above the knee it runs parallel to the uncompressed line again.
This is possible because the Schwerkraftmaschine generates its control signal digitally in the side chain. The gain element is still a Vari-Mu tube, but the rule for how much to compress is freely programmable – and for Breakthrough that rule has a hard ceiling.
When to Use Breakthrough
The mode is made for material whose character lives in the transients: drum groups, percussive guitars, vocals with hard consonants. The signal gets denser and moves forward, but the peaks keep their impact. If you want less density, don't reach for the threshold – use the mix knob, which blends the uncompressed signal back in. And if low frequencies dominate the control signal, the Schwerkraftmaschine's side-chain filter (low-cut and tilt EQ) helps here as in every mode; it works on top of the filters built into the modes.
The Video: Breakthrough in Action
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The Series: All 11 Compression Modes of the Schwerkraftmaschine
Part 1: Multi-Band Complex · Part 2: Diode Pressor · Part 3: Breakthrough · Part 4: Stereo Transformer (MS Processing) · Part 5: Schwerkraftmaschine vs. Vari Tube Compressor · Part 6: Vocal Leveler · Part 7: Optical Compressor · Part 8: Drum Smasher · Part 9: Classical VariMu · Part 10: Chart Analysis · Part 11: Deesser
Related: Schwerkraftmaschine Classical VariMu Explained – how Vari-Mu control works · Schwerkraftmaschine Drum Smasher – the opposite approach: hit it hard
