DxL Compander [software dbx-like linear-decibel]

DxL Compander is a dedicated software app for adjusting audio dynamic range. It can be used as an additional post-expender after digitization of analog tapes, LPs and radio broadcasts that came with previous compressed mastering; or a pre-compressor before transmitting digital audio to analog tapes or radio broadcasts in order to avoid unmanaged compression. It can also be used for enhancing the dynamics of digital audio in a dbx-like manner.

View on Mac App Store

Technically, the underlaying companding principle is linear-decibel, which is a digital equivalent of typical dbx linear-mode compander, but essentially differs from those more popular dbx-I/II/Disc Noise Reduction systems. It does not apply any frequency pre-/post-emphasis and therefore does not require complementary/symmetric encoding and decoding on both ends. It's a single-end commander. The software features continuous adjustable companding rate (up to 5:1), continuous adjustable threshold level, selectable RMS/Average level detector and adjustable capacitive attack/decay characteristics.

Particularly, pre-recorded tapes and LPs were often known with compressed mastering. After being digitized, each digital archive comes with new potential to be decompressed (expanded) back to its original dynamic range. This software can help releasing the potential. However, since the original compression method and parameters are all unknown today, perfect restoration is almost impossible. This software is by no means a tool for exactly reversing any previous compression, but is just one more option which often means one more opportunity for accomplishing such an experimental task that heavily relies on repeated trial-and-error iterations and subjective judgements. It is supposed to work the best if the audio was known being pre-compressed with a dbx linear compender.

DxL Compander is a stand-alone GUI app without relying on any other DAW host. It can work in one of the following four modes:

Input	Output	Comment
Audio In	File	a digitizer/recorder, with dbx-like codec
File	Audio Out	an audio file player, with dbx-like codec
File	File	an off-line dbx-like processor, with batch capability
Audio In	Audio Out	an on-line dbx-like processor, with slight delay

Currently supported audio file formats are:
WAV, FLAC, AIFF: up to 96k/24bit.
MP3, AAC, M4A: up to 48k/VBR.
* Excluding some proprietary variants having the common file extensions, or additional format-normalization may be required.

A VST plugin is also available as an optional software component of the application.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Contact: anaxwaves@gmail.com