Using the Soft Clipper cell as a compressor

I branched this from a previous discussion because it contains a new discussion topic.

The original intent of the soft clipper is to provide an analog clipping characteristic similar to that of a vacuum tube. it behaves much differently than a normal audio compressor. Here is the basic difference:

A normal compressor detects the incoming signal level (peak or RMS, depending on the detection type) and adjusts the output gain for the entire signal on the output.

The soft clipper detects the incoming signal level (peak), and adjusts the output gain only for the peaks that exceed some certain level. When the input drops again below the threshold, the output is no longer compressed.

So, for the normal compressor, you have gain compression for the entire signal. For the soft clipper, you're compressing only the peaks. The result is that while the normal compressor represents approximately linear gain, the soft clipper is non-linear - in other words, it results in harmonic distortion.

So, I would only recommend using the soft clipper if you want to intentionally distort the signal.

The intended uses of the soft clipper are generally:

Creating a subtle distortion on the output - essentially emulating analog distortion

Used in place of a limiter for a "softer" clipping characteristic