Pulsar Modular P11 Abyss Compressor
by p900   23rd July 2022

When I get back into the studio I will follow up with a pic and I’ll explain everything and why.

Marc

I did mention having a preset sharing section on the PM website while doing some pre-release testing last year. I know presets often don't take you where you want to be, but they can still be a good starting point, especially when someone is new to a bit of gear.
Maybe Ziad would consider it.

The problem is that yes, P11 Abyss is a chameleon and can mimic nearly anything.. But the part-time, bedroom producers and young artists/greenhorns around the world just starting out havent a clue about ‘box tones & action” and such things as they’ve never been around such gear. You can send them endless, P11 presets for an EAR, 1176 and an RS124, but in the end, it won’t matter. The greenhorn will just pour some Moogs, drum loops and distorted guitars through the presets (most likely at the wrong input level etc) and not grasp the box tones, or action of these units at all; they’ll just sound different to them and that will be the end of it; as they just continue cycling through them. It must be dumbed down to the point that even a child would understand it..

One would need to make 4 hyper-clean loops: Drums, Vox, Full Mix and Bass. Then the patch maker would need to go to a highend, control room with these loops and while sitting on a EAR, Manley, 1176 etc etc; dialing in and mimicking each box tone and action with P11. Now the loops can be sent to the greenhorn to load into thier DAW along with the presets. Now the greenhorn can cycle through the P11 presets that were taylormade for specifically, these exact 4 corresponding loops..

P11 preset 1176 drums -> clean drum loop that was provided
P11 preset 1176 vocals -> clean vocal that was provided
P11 preset 1176 full mix -> clean full mix that was provided
P11 preset 1176 bass -> bass (as clean as it can be) that was provided

The lightbulb will then start to go off in thier heads.. “Oh, okay, I’m starting to get it now. Well, now let me switch to the P11, EAR presets.”

P11 preset EAR drums - thru same clean drum loop
P11 preset EAR vocals - thru same clean vocal loop
P11 preset EAR full mix - thru same clean full mix loop
P11 preset EAR bass - thru same clean bass loop

“So let me see, EAR 660 drum preset on, off, on, off, on, off okay, I understand this box tone better now. Okay, let me switch it back to the 1176 preset, oh wow, that sounds completely different on the same provided drum loop, I’m beginning to understand the differences between what an EAR sounds like and an 1176 sounds like” — and so on.

It would be a great learning experience and fun, elective course at a music school. -- “Okay, now that I’ve learned these tones & action from the patch maker, let me pull up my own drum loop & bass guitar I was working on last week and run it through the same P11 presets at same, correct input level. Ohhh, wooow, okay! I get it now, I understand the differences and am learning how and when to apply them! this is cool!” — Lightbulb fully glowing above thier heads at this point because now they have a better grasp on what to listen for.


That’s how you would have to do it.. Down to the point that even a 12 year old could get it.

thank you for doing this, I followed along and learned some useful things, especially the kick sidechain, great tip. Only thing was I could absolutely not tell a difference to my snare or yours on adjusting the Soul slider. Going to spend a good while training my ear on that. Great stuff!

How about making a plugin based on the P11 but targeting quick results?
A knob to switch characteristics, so you get Smack, Slap, Crunch, Punch, Glue and Demolish.
Each will have fine-tuned and hidden parameters to get you within that sound characteristic. Still, the user will have a limited number of parameter knobs to help them easily achieve the desired sound.
And for the icing on the cake, sell it for less than $90.

Meanwhile, should I continue with this P11 demonstration series? What should be next, the Smack or the Demolish?

Lower the threshold to get more compression, then try the SOUL slider. This will amplify the behavior, and you will hear it.

Please, continue demonstration series. Very helpful.

Here ya go as promised.

2025 Startup Settings-V1

Threshold: 0.00db
PSI: 1.5
Ratio: 4:1
Knee: Hard
Trim In: 0.0
Attack: 30.0ms but this changes depending on song
Release: 95.00
S/C HPF: 15hz (2 Pole)
G/R Limit: 50.00db
Clip: 0.0db - 3.0ms - Link On @ 50%
EQ1 & 2: Off
O2: Pre - 20.0
Trim Out: 0.0
Saturation In: A/B - 7.5
Saturation Out: A/B - 1.0
100% Wet
Mix: Pre - 3db to push into the Limiter
Limiter: -6db - 4ms
Soul: 100%
TX LM
Clip > Main

This is my starting point.
Where I go from here really depends if I feel I need more saturation or less. If I need more, I turn up the input to drive it. If I need less I either move the 1st Saturation In to a lesser value.

I do NOT hit the limiter more than 1.0db. If I'm driving it too much, I'll dial back the Main Output.

If I feel I need compression, that's when I start to raise the Threshold until I get about 2 to 4db of compression. Really just depends.

I really hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions.

Marc

For those who want to work with the same drum loop I used in my video, you can find it attached below.
It is 96 kHz audio loop. Make sure you switch your soundcard to 96 kHz, otherwise, it will play at the wrong speed.

Just curios - any reason why writing all the values out and doing screenshot instead of sharing the preset?
Thanks for the preset and explaining your use of it. I have been using your ssl bus plus preset at certains times.

Yes please. What's the other Youtube channel?

how about gooey buttery syrupy tube mu?

Maybe a couple of levers? Here, I've done a mock-up.

In all honesty, 2 reasons,

1. Not everyone uses Pro Tools so, I figured I'd share the details and....

2. I don't know where the Pulsar Modular P11 presets are at. LOL

Let me know and I'll share the actual preset.

Thanks, Marc

A very valid reason. If ur on Mac then the workaround I use for many plugins is to press save as in the plugin and it will open the Mac menu where you can right-click the Presets folder and click "Show in Finder". It will open it in Finder from where you can take any preset you like and copy wherever you want.
Hope you can follow me here.
You have a great starting point. Only thing, Im going in hotter on my mixbus and I like unity gain thought-out my plugs on mixbus, so taking IN trim to -5.5 worked great.

UBK-1 was the first plugin I ever purchased, and the UBK Happy Funtime Hour podcast was an essential part of my audio education.

I would be very interested to see what Pulsar Modular's version of UBK-1 would be.

Love this series man, keep it up!!!

Here ya go. The actual Abyss P11 Preset.
I zipped it up.

The path on a Mac is under:

Mac HD/Users/Shared/Pulsar Modular/P11 Abyss/Presets/

Then drop that baby in there. Make sure you unzip the file before doing so.

Hope this helps, Marc

Hey Kuulart, So, normally, the only thing I touch is how hard I go into the plugin to get the right sound which I too only use the "Input" screw.
The only other things I change or do is, the Attack and the Main output going into the Limiter. Making sure I'm not hitting over 1db as that always sounds great to me. I also make sure that I'am hitting the limiter as it has a really nice pushed and aggressive sound.
Oh, and the other thing I play with is the clipper. I'll make sure that it is blinking and not overdoing it.

Now, make sure that you are gain-staging as you go. So if your Peak levels are showing -6db before hitting the plugin (Which is how hard I hit the plugin ALWAYS!!!)
Then make sure the Limiter is set to -6db so you will hear the actual RMS level that the plugin is doing.

GAME CHANGER! It should sound ALOT closer, louder, more punch. bigger, fluffier. Everything will come out in your mix.

I hope that helps.

Marc

There are a couple other things I didn't mention.

1. I typically use the attack at either 30ms for a more Pop sound, or 85ms for a more R&B sound. For Hip Hop, I don't use the compressor. If I do, I do the 85ms to barely nip it. Having the transients on those short kick sounds is key.

2. For these settings, be careful. Everything will sound great/better and it's very easy to overdo it. Of course, if you want to overdo it, just push the input and the compressor threshold for more compression. I typically don't go past 4db of compression.

3. Nothing and I mean nothing sounds like this period! This setting is incredible and I guarantee it will push your mix forward in a huge way!

Again, hope this helps, Marc

Thanks Ziad!

I download them all separately as mp4 in case I want to watch any of them again one day where I don't have internet. Thank you very much indeed Ziad Bey!

Hey Marc!

Thanks for the detailed description! The preset does make the mix closer and bigger but without losing depth.

Do you think you could do some of the next videos on something else than drums? Vocals would be a great candidate or bass.

Yes please. I would appreciate a video on male vocals.

Many thanks - what a great preset! Its a great way to see how powerful Abyss is. I've only owned it for a short while but I love it and its great to learn more tricks to make use of it. Jeez, I'd never noticed the trim screw!

All of your posts on this forum are so well written and contain great information. I always feel privileged to read them.

If I ever bump into King Charles I will suggest he gives you a knighthood for services to music.

Abyss is the gift that keeps on giving! As an amateur, I’ve learned so much about compression and processing audio by learning to use P11 (thanks to this thread and Ziad’s videos). HUGE learning curve but just insanely versatile.

You could make god knows how many plugins with the Abyss engine wrapped in different skins with different sets of simplified controls.