Standalone Compressor VST

[GuitarLegend]

I seem to have a fundamental problem with phrasing a search question so I came here to ask for human assistance. When you are watching a series of YouTube video clips, the volume level can change enormously between clips. I had the idea that a compressor/limiter in the audio path could provide a solution but I don't really know how to go about that. I thought that there might be a stand alone compressor application somewhere but I cant find one.

Any ideas on how to implement this?

 

[cobaltaudio]

You mean one that slots into your OS + soundcard somewhere?

I'm not sure that there is one.

Mostly because vst plugins usually run within mixing software and you can't really just apply them to your Operating System's audio path.

If you are using an external interface then you could write a patch to do it. I wrote something similar a while ago in max/msp to run all the windows sounds through an interface as well as the DAW software as normal - no physical repatching! There's no reason you couldn't put a compressor into that kind of signal chain, either write a simple one or load one in.

So your issue isn't really finding the right compressor to buy, it's finding the right place to put it in the digital audio path.

However, louder youtube videos tend to be compressed already, so to get them down to the volume of the quiet ones, you're going to have to crunch them pretty hard. Maybe it's not worth it?

 

[GuitarLegend]

Thanks for your response CA. I was thinking that the volume control in the system tray is between any app and the audio interface/soundcard. These YouTube vids dont sound compressed, they just sound loud. Some are soft. Riding the volume control is not really desired so I thought that someone else MUST have had a similar problem.

I COULD put the browser in loopback mode in the DAW and plug in a compressor... but thats kinda cheesy even if it worked.

Thanks for your input anyway

 

[GuitarLegend]

I apologise if it sounds like I doubted your word on the compression of YouTube vids. If they are compressed well, you can't hear it. I recorded two consecutive vids, one megaloud, the next megasoft and what you can't hear in the audio, you can see in the waveform, i.e. the loud one shows distinct compression, the quiet one didnt show any. However, I still believe a compressor could be used to even out the difference. I tested that on the two recordings. Easy enough when you can see what you are working with. Probably not so easy to apply to unpredictable levels.