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Hi, Over the years I've come to realise just how important compression is for the stage pianist. The better digital pianos have become, the more important compression has become. Although I can remember have just the same problem with my Fender Rhodes Stage 73 back in 1977! The basic problem is that the dynamic range of a piano is massive in comparison the typical gig environment and pa capability. Unless there is an agreement in the audience to be quiet the, quietest notes will have to be amplified to a level where the loudest notes will be beyond the pa's reproduction capability. This situation gets dramatically worse when performing with a typical band. Once you add drums the actual dynamic range is seriously squashed. Simply turning up the piano's volume isn't a solution. All the will happen is distortion, simply because the difference between quiet notes and loud ones is too great for the pa or your backline to handle. The solution is compression. That's why serious stage pianos have master compressors. I've been using the master compressor on my Roland RD700SX for many years. It enables me to convey something of both quiet and loud parts even in a loud environment. It works very well. Can't say the same for the Nord Stage 2's master compressor.. It's a blunt thing that shouts 'I've been compressed' Not what you want if all you are trying to do is let the audience hear the piano 'naturally'. The PX5s has a master compressor, and I've spent some time with it, trying to understand exactly what the parameters are actually doing. It isn't as straight forward as you might think. Page E-23 of main PX5s Tutorial gives an outline of the controls available but there isn't enough info to understand what constitutes typical settings. For example: Threshold, does as it says, do more than simply adjust the threshold at which compression starts, but it isn't clear exactly what the relationship is between numbers 0 and 127 and Compression threshold / Limiter. This is true for Ratio too. In fact it isn't obviously clear what setting these two should have to defeat the compressor so that it does not affect the signal!! Maybe we could have these properly defined? A diagram with numbers would be brilliant! What would also be very useful is some setup guides (templates) for typical applications, just like I've defined above. E.g.. dynamic range reduced so as to work with a typical five piece band, but not sound like a sledgehammer; or settings to suit piano backing for a singer/soloist; or piano for worship etc.. Typical working musician stuff….. Thanks