About Raèld Triad
Raèld Triad is three processors in one plugin, with a switch choosing which one runs. COMP is a full compressor. VOX is for voices, on one fader, and brings a voice forward. MAX brings the quiet parts up level with the rest and holds the loud parts down. Only one runs at a time; the other two keep their settings until you come back.
With every control at its neutral setting, the output is the input, delayed by the latency, bit for bit.
Installing
- Close your DAW.
- Unzip
Raeld-Triad-2.0.0-Windows.zipfrom the download page or your purchase email, run the setup inside and follow the steps. The plugin goes intoC:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3, and a standalone app is installed too. - Open your DAW and rescan plugins. DAW plugin lists show it without the accent, as "Raeld Triad", so type "raeld" in the plugin browser.
Requirements: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) and any VST3 host, or the standalone app.
Quick start
For a lead vocal, try these in turn and keep the one that does what the voice needs:
- To make it silky and sit in the mix: press COMP and load Vocal: Silk Lead. Move THRESH until the centre meter shows the amount you want, then set GAIN so it's as loud with the plugin as without.
- To bring it forward: press VOX and lower COMP until the voice comes up to the front of the mix. Leave GAIN near the top. Set GATE last, and only if the room between phrases bothers you.
- To bring out the quiet parts: press MAX and raise LOW LEVEL until the soft words sit with the loud ones. Watch the BOOST strip: it should move with the quiet words and fall back on the loud ones.
The modes aren't matched in level. VOX and MAX make up their own level and COMP doesn't, so the sound can jump when you change mode. Judge each one at the same loudness: BYPASS is an easy way to check.
The window
One window, the same size in every mode. It opens small, at 471 × 471. Drag the corner or use SIZE for 85 to 300 %; it keeps its proportions, and a size you choose is kept for new windows.
Moving a fader
- Drag it, with Shift for fine steps. Click along its travel to send it there.
- The mouse wheel moves it, and so do the arrow keys once it has keyboard focus.
- Double-click resets it. Its value is always in view and brightens while you move it. Every control has a tooltip.
The top of the window
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| COMP, VOX, MAX | Which processor runs. The change is a short crossfade, with no click, and the latency doesn't change. |
| BYPASS | The untouched input, in time. |
| MONO | Folds the output to mono. Not saved in presets. |
| < name >, SAVE | The presets: click the name for the menu. |
| UNDO, REDO | Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y also work. |
| A, B, COPY | Two complete settings to compare. COPY puts this one in the other slot. |
| DARK / LIGHT | Switches the plate between pale and graphite. It changes nothing in the sound. Your session keeps the choice, and new windows start with the last one you chose. |
The meters
Each meter holds its highest reading in the box under it. Click the numbers to reset them; changing mode resets them too. The two lights over the output are the limiter's: yellow when it starts, red once it's taking 6 dB or more.
COMP
A full compressor. One gain for both channels, from the louder one. It adds no makeup of its own: use GAIN.
| Control | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| THRESH | 0 to −60 dB | Where compression starts. Its flag rides on the IN meters, so you can read it against the level. |
| RATIO | 0.5 to 50 | 1 is off; under 1 it expands. Its flag rides on the centre meter, where reduction hangs down from 0 and expansion rises above it. The number under the meter is the most it has moved. |
| GAIN | ±30 dB | The level into the limiter. Pushing it sets how hard the limiter works. |
| ATTACK | 0.5 to 500 ms | How fast the gain moves down. |
| RELEASE | 5 to 5000 ms | How fast it comes back. With ARC on, what the automatic release works around. |
| MIX | 0 to 100 % | The untouched sound blended in, in time, so it can't comb-filter. |
| TRIM | ±18 dB | The level after the limiter. |
| ARC | on or off | Automatic release control. Lit, the release follows the program: quick after a short peak, slower after sustained work. Off, RELEASE alone sets it. |
| ELECTRO / OPTO | one button | Press to change. ELECTRO lets go faster near zero; OPTO lets go slower near zero, for a softer hand between phrases. |
| SMOOTH / WARM | one button | Press to change. SMOOTH adds nothing. WARM adds low harmonics as compression deepens, and a little more reduction. |
For a silky vocal, start slow: an ATTACK around 30 ms, a RELEASE around 250 ms, ARC and OPTO on, SMOOTH. A very fast ATTACK on a low voice lets the gain follow each pitch cycle, which roughens it: that's a sound you may want, but not the silky one.
VOX
For voices, on one fader. Lowering COMP gives more reduction and more level together, so the voice comes forward without getting louder at its peaks.
| Control | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| COMP | 0 to −36 dB | Threshold and ratio on one fader, with makeup. Set it first. The number under the meter is the most it has reduced, gate included. Hold Ctrl to move COMP and GAIN together. |
| GAIN | 0 to −36 dB | The ceiling. Near the top it sets how hard the limiter works; lower down it acts as a fader, and the limiter gets out of the way. |
| GATE | −72 to 0 dB, OFF at the bottom | A very gentle expander under this level, read on the ENERGY meter. It lowers the room between phrases and doesn't reach silence. Set it last. |
The more you lower COMP, the more the room comes up with the voice: at −21 a room tone comes up by about 16 dB. That's what GATE is for.
MAX
LOW LEVEL brings what's quiet up level with the rest. HIGH LEVEL compresses what's loud, with makeup. OUTPUT trims the result.
| Control | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| LOW LEVEL | 0 to +48 dB | Raises the level below which sound is lifted, and sets the most it can lift. Its reading is taken over the phrase and not each cycle, so it rides the words. Loud parts stay as they were. Under about −34 dB it eases off, so breaths come up less and the room under the voice stays down. The BOOST strip shows the lift. |
| HIGH LEVEL | 0 to −48 dB | Where compression with makeup starts: lower is denser and louder. The CUT strip shows the reduction, hanging from the top, the limiter's work included. |
| OUTPUT | 0 to −48 dB | Trims the level. Peaks can't pass it. |
Start with LOW LEVEL around +6 to +12 on a vocal. Much past that, a voice starts to lose its shape: at +24 loud and quiet phrases come out almost the same. LOW LEVEL's reach depends on your recording's level: for a quieter take, raise it further.
The limiter and true peak
Every mode ends in a limiter with a short look-ahead. No sample passes its ceiling. In COMP it comes back quickly; in VOX and MAX it comes back more slowly, so it doesn't reshape each cycle of a low note.
The ceiling is on samples, not the peaks between them, which can go over when it's working hard. At deep settings we measured up to +3.4 dB over on drums and +2.2 dB on a master. Before a master goes out, follow it with a true-peak limiter such as Raèld Vertex.
Mono and stereo
Raèld Triad runs on mono, mono-to-stereo and stereo tracks; your DAW picks automatically. On a mono-to-stereo track the mono source feeds both sides. The MONO switch folds the output to mono, to check how it holds up on a mono speaker. It isn't saved in presets.
Presets, undo, A/B
A factory preset sets its own mode and leaves the other two as they are. Init resets all three. A preset you save holds all three modes and which one is running.
| Mode | Presets |
|---|---|
| COMP | Vocal: Silk Lead, Even Lead, Upfront Rap, Smooth Ballad. Bass: Solid Notes. Drums: Snappy Bus, Parallel Crush. Guitar: Acoustic Even. Keys: Gentle Glue. Mix: Bus Glue. Expander: Tighten the Room. |
| VOX | Vocal: Light Touch, Everyday Lead, Forward Pop, Dense Rap, Tucked Backing. Podcast: Even Speech, Noisy Room. Instrument: Guitar Leveler. Bass: Level Hold. |
| MAX | Vocal: Bring Up the Detail, Forward and Loud. Podcast: Quiet Words Up. Bass: Even Sustain. Drums: Room Up. Instrument: More Sustain. Mix: Loud and Open. Master: Gentle Lift, Loud. |
Thresholds assume a healthy recording level, with peaks around −10 to −6 dBFS. If your track is much quieter or louder, move them to suit.
UNDO and REDO cover everything but BYPASS and MONO, and so does A/B, which is saved with the session.
Names in your DAW
Your DAW's automation list shows each control by mode and name: COMP Threshold, VOX Gate, MAX Low Level. ELECTRO / OPTO is COMP Character, SMOOTH / WARM is COMP Harmonics, and ARC is COMP Auto Release.
The latency is 64 samples at 44.1 and 48 kHz (1.3 ms), 128 at 88.2 and 96 kHz, 256 at 176.4 and 192 kHz: the same in every mode, and reported to your DAW.
What we measured
At 48 kHz, on test signals and a synthetic sung line whose phrases are 8.79 dB apart. These numbers say what the plugin does. Only your ears, on your own material, can say whether it's right for you.
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Every control neutral, and BYPASS | the input, delayed by the latency, bit for bit |
| Latency | checked against the actual delay at every rate from 44.1 to 192 kHz, buffer from 32 to 2048, and mode |
| COMP, ATTACK 16 ms | 63 % of a 20 dB move in 31.0 ms (the fader is a time constant on the linear gain) |
| COMP, RELEASE 160 ms, ARC off, at 12 and 6 dB | 159 and 159 ms |
| COMP, ARC on, RELEASE 160 ms | 63 % of the way back in 6 ms after a 20 ms burst, 88.5 ms after 5 s |
| COMP on the sung line, 3:1 at −30 | phrases 8.79 to 2.60 dB apart |
| COMP, THD at 110 Hz, −10 dBFS | SMOOTH 0.013 %, WARM 0.125 % |
| VOX on the sung line, COMP −21, GAIN −2 | phrases 8.79 to 5.09 dB apart; peak over average 12.36 to 9.28 dB, which is what brings it forward |
| MAX on the sung line, LOW LEVEL +12 | phrases 8.79 to 1.70 dB apart; the quiet phrase up 8.5 dB, the loud phrase up 1.4 dB; breaths up 3 dB against the voice |
| MAX, a room tone at −66 dBFS, LOW LEVEL +12 | not lifted |
| The gain's fast movement on a steady 110 Hz vowel, against the signal | COMP −36 dB in its fast default, −40 dB at 30 / 250 ms; VOX −23 dB at COMP −21; MAX −32 dB at LOW LEVEL +12, HIGH LEVEL −6 |
| The ceiling, every material 12 dB hot | no sample over it |
| A mode change while playing, and every fader moved while playing | no clicks |
| Sessions saved and reloaded | the same settings and the same sound, bit for bit |
| CPU, stereo at 48 kHz | about 1 to 2 % of one core in any mode |
From version 1.0
2.0 is a free update, rebuilt from scratch. 1.0 ran all its stages together in a chain; 2.0 runs one at a time. Sessions from 1.0 open with each value in its mode, in the first stage that was on (COMP, then VOX, then MAX), and can sound different. If a project relies on 1.0's sound, finish it before you update. 1.0's user presets are rewritten once, and each original is kept beside it as .raeldpreset.v1.
Troubleshooting
| If | Try |
|---|---|
| The level jumps when I change mode | Expected: the modes aren't matched. Use COMP's GAIN, and VOX's and MAX's faders, to level them. |
| LOW LEVEL does nothing | Your take may be loud enough to sit over its threshold: raise it further. Or it may be so quiet that it's under −34 dB, where the lift eases off: raise the track's level first. |
| The room comes up in VOX | Raise GATE until the gaps fall, or ease COMP back. |
| The limiter lights stay red | It's working hard: back off COMP's GAIN, VOX's COMP or MAX's HIGH LEVEL. |
| The master reads over 0 on a true-peak meter | The ceiling is on samples: follow it with a true-peak limiter. |
| The plugin isn't in my DAW's list | Rescan plugins, and search "raeld": it's listed without the accent. |
| A short dropout every 45 seconds | That's the demo. Enter your key: see below. |
Activation and support
Paste your Raèld Triad license key, or your Raèld All Access key, into the activation window. A key works on 3 computers. Without a key the plugin runs as a demo with a short dropout every 45 seconds. See support, or email info@raeldaudio.com.
Uninstalling
In Windows, open Settings, then Apps, and uninstall Raèld Triad. Your own presets stay in Documents\Raeld Audio until you delete them.
Raèld Triad is not affiliated with or endorsed by any other manufacturer.