My takeaways are evenness, fullness, articulation & keeping up in the mix are what I am after with this compressor rabbit hole.
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At the end of this video she goes through some interesting compression for various end listening devices (laptops, phones, etc) thrown on.
I had wondered how they get things to sound decent on crappy speakers, etc when my covers just sound like junk on things like laptops
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For mixing purposes, it’s really useful for each track to have some final compression and limiting, per track. But this really only applies to mixing multiple instrument tracks - for playing over a backing track you’ll be fine without it.
This is in addition to / separate from any other compression you are doing.
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My primary compression I do for bass track tone at the very start of the track is usually a variant of this Multipass preset I have tweaked a bit:
Basically, different compression in three different bands, combined with some other effects applied kind of subtly.
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Man I tell you, I did some recording tonight and then played around with my new compressor plugins…how did I get along without them!!!
For nothing else but evening out my relatively crapping fingering, it is magic.
I like that 1176 style plugin, very easy to use and although at first it seems subtle, when you start to learn what to listen for, its night and day!
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Yeah! So convenient in software too. This extended to all effects for me. You can see that slippery slope now I am sure 
Compression is one of those things that really makes a difference in mixing as well. More so for when you have multiple instrument tracks; if you did, I would recommend putting a track limiter on each (the 1176 with a really high ratio would work fine).
It’s counterintuitive, but compression and limiting is your basic way to increase loudness in mixing. Loudness and levels are different related concepts, but are not the same.
Blasting the master levels up into a limiter a la the Loudness Wars were an example of that taken to a ridiculous extreme, but done lightly at the track level it works great. It’s the best way to make vocals and drums sit in a mix well.
Basic tenet of mixing, level does not equal loudness. Takes a while to wrap your head around.
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I was just watching the below video, and the part at around 12 minutes reminded me of your comment - he says the touch sensors are superior to mechanical switches, because they never break. 
We’ll see…
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I’ve got an MXR M87 that I’m not entirely happy with - it’s probably just my inexperience with compressors, but I have read that the attack range goes from very fast to lightspeed, which I think I’m noticing.
So I’ve ordered a used Pigtronix Philosopher Bass Micro as it was a very good price on Reverb. Seems a completely different approach from the M87, so it’ll be interesting to try them out side by side. Anyone tried one of these?
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I suspect it probably depends on how well the sensing circuit is designed for noise rejection, sensitivity and debouncing. I’ve had an induction cooktop with all touch sensitive controls for years now and it has been easy to operate and fine. It never accidentally does things I don’t want it to do unless it gets wet, so I’d have to say it’s good design.
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Of course you can do a compressor in your DAW, and you can do many compressors in your DAW, each at different points in your chain, and ones that are on for certain parts of a song, and when the baseline changes, others may go on / off to get a clean recorded sound.
But for the live stuff, @John_E , you can have more then one compressor on your board. Hell, I have 4. I planned to sell one of them, listed it on Offer Up, then ended up trading it for a different compressor of a different type.
I traded my Boss Bass Comp BC-1X for the VOX Cooltron Snake Charmer VacuumTube Compressor that is in this link.
Its a really nice smooth compressor. I now have two tube compressors, this VOX and the Markbass Compressore (which is still the best compressor I have ever had the pleasure of using, I am sure there are much better out there, but I have not had the pleasure of using them)
Just saying, yeah, if you paid full retail price for your Bassist, then it might not be worth having it on your board, next to another compressor that cost even more then it. That to me would be overkill, but thats because I have flipped and traded so many different pedals by now, that all in all, I probably only have about $250 into my 4 compressors that would end up costing close to $1000 or more if all bought brand new (and I still may sell one off eventually, cuz 2 of them are like double pedal size, so I won’t have them all on the board at the same time).
In that case, I have no argument against compressing in the DAW, nobody needs to have $1000 in compressors on their board, unless they want them.
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Hmmmm…
I will have to search myself. I will look for the link, but if I recall correctly, I did those recordings when I first got my first DAI, and I had the signal very saturated, cuz I was not too familiar with my DAI at the time. So you can really hear a difference in compression on those recordings, but the bass sounds really rough is about the best way to describe it.
I should still have those recordings, and still might have them in a sound cloud account I don’t bother with cuz of censorship, but should be able to get into if anybody is interested.
in the mean time, I will look for the link.
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Anyone have any experience with the Cali76 pedal?
I love the plug-in and thinking this might be a better fit on my coats than the confusing Hyperluminal.
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No direct experience with the pedal but Tyler does a good demonstration here
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I think it may be @Paul who’s into this one.
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Yeah! My fav pedal. Best to read Ovnilab to explain it. Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Bass and Compact Deluxe
I fully agree on this review.
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@Paul - great article, thank you
here is my struggle…
The Hyper Luminal has 3 compressors in it:
BUS - SS Bus clone
SYM - DG’s old Super Symmetry
FET - a Urei/Cali 76 clone
I orginally thought more options = better.
I find myself drawn to the FET only.
I also find that the controls and feedback are super UN-intuitive and confuse the heck out of me. I know what I like in my DAW, but cannot figure out how to translate that to the Hyper Luminal. I don’t like having to USB into the pedal to make certain adjustments either.
In my DAW, I am in LOVE with the Waves Cali CLA-76 compressor plug in, use it constantly now.
I actually many times compress in series with a Waves CLA-2A post the Cali above, but that’s another story.
So I thought simplifying might work, and why not simplify with something I know I like already, the Cali-76 (for bass of course). And since it is such a standard, figured it makes sense.
Do you think the Cali 76 will be the right move here?
I would sell the Hyper Luminal for sure.
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It depends. 
The Cali is a really nice compressor and I absolute love it. I mean Nolly is also a big fan so it can’t be bad right? The only thing is that the compact bass version has one attack/release knob and a separate hpf knob. They also sell a attack and release separate version but you won’t get the hpf. I’m okay with the hpf but just something to consider.
Metering is okish on the compact version (the TX is the best but also 4 times the price and hard to get). If you want good metering I would look at the new Empress compressor Compressor MKII – Empress Effects Inc.
But yeah overal I really like the sturdiness and output of the pedal. It’s for sure studio grade.
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This weekend’s research project….
I’m going to fiddle intensely until I fully understand this damn compressor thing.
Tuner->Mixer/Splitter-> A channel to compressor / B channel dry
Sending both to separate DAI/DAW inputs.
Thanks for all the suggestions. If/when I learn something, I’ll share.
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Ooooh….
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Might be awesome. Digital compessors are usually good.
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