A great take. A little less fader chasing.
The vocal has the feeling. The bass has the groove. A few notes just insist on being louder than the rest. SAMT brings them into place with smooth optical compression, so you can spend less time chasing levels and more time hearing the performance.
Inspired by the legendary LA-2A, SAMT pairs a response that follows the music with adjustable harmonic colour, 4x oversampling and the controls you reach for in a modern session. Turn up Peak Reduction, listen to the phrase settle, and leave the life in it.
The LA-2A was the starting point. The music was the reason.
We studied published LA-2A schematics and the behaviour of optical gain control to understand what makes that style of compression so musical. The way it eases into a phrase. The way its recovery changes after a short peak or a long held note. SAMT brings those ideas into an original digital model with a soft knee and a release that remembers what just passed through it.
Use COMPRESS for gentle levelling and LIMIT when you want a firmer grip. Vocals stay present, bass lines feel more even, and you get to shape the amount by ear instead of setting another pair of attack and release knobs.
A little colour goes a long way.
Sometimes the level is right and the sound still feels a little thin. CHARACTER lets you add harmonic density from SAMT's input and output stages, from a subtle touch to a more obvious edge. Keep it low for gentle polish or drive the input harder when the colour should become part of the performance.
Both colour stages run with fixed 4x oversampling to reduce aliasing from the added harmonics. It is always there, whether you are finding the sound or exporting the finished mix.
Keep the punch. Bring in the weight.
Push the compression a little further, then use MIX to bring the original attack back. Parallel compression is right on the front panel, with the dry and processed paths aligned in time. You can make a part feel denser without committing every transient to the same treatment.
The sidechain high-pass filter lets low notes carry less weight in the detector. Your bass stays in the audio; it simply stops telling the compressor what to do quite so often.
Better, or just louder?
That extra decibel is a very persuasive salesperson. Switch on AUTO GAIN and give it a few seconds to settle. SAMT compensates for much of the level change while you adjust the compression and colour, making it easier to hear what actually helps the track.
Auto Gain takes over the manual GAIN control while it is on. Switch it off and your saved gain setting returns. Use BYPASS for the final comparison, and trust the part in the mix as much as the meters.
