Been trying the PC4K with fast attack/high threshold and it gets rid of it but it completely squashes the sound. Ugh... I think I'm gonna have to use something else.  Man, I can't seem to find anything to use this thing with. It either does nothing, doesn't sound right or creates these pops. I'm thinking I might see what advice the Bakers have on this one. I thought that photocell setting was designed to avoid this. Ugh... everything's gotta be a pain in the butt, don't it?

The pop only happens right at the start of the track. I can't fiddle with that. It's a big open power chord. If there was a way I could somehow trigger the compressor BEFORE that point without any audio I'd be golden. Is there any kind of "look ahead" stuff I could do? I know next to nothing about that kind of thing... just that some effects do it.

Automate the PC76 U‑Type Channel Compressor or input gain

Damn... I haven't really learned how to automate like that yet and was hoping to wait until my next project... not to mention I'm barely grasping the concept of compressors as it is. I think I'd better revisit this thing tomorrow. I got my rhythm tracks EQ'd tonight so I'll just call that a win and start fresh in the morning before I screw something up. Thanks for the input, guys. Any other suggestions are welcome... especially if there are any Bakers lurking. Cheers.

Should not be too bad. You probably do not need to do anything fancy. Create an envelop or two add a few nodes to tweak the levels around the problem area(s).

Problem is I really don't understand that or how exactly to approach it. Like... I can't visualize what that would do or what to tweak and when. It's literally just right when the audio comes in for a split second. The same pop happens when I stop playback. It really seems like they attempted to program this problem out of the effect but apparently not quite enough. Maybe mine's buggy because I really didn't hear much difference between the Classic and the Fast Reset options. Then of course there is the very real likelihood I just don't know what the heck I'm doing. Bah... I'll figure it out tomorrow. I'm too cranky from messing with piles of paperwork today. Cheers.

Serial compression is all about subtle changes on each compressor.
 
You didn't answer about your settings for the PC2A, clipping or where it fit in the chain.  That may have provided a clue to any pops.
 
Sleep on it, I'm sure you'll find an answer.

Okay... after eating some almonds for sanity's sake I think I've conjured up yet another workaround. Tomorrow I'm gonna try tossing a random clip of noise just before the start of the song and leave a second or two silence. Hopefully the gap will be small enough that the compressor stays awake and then I can cut the extra noise out after my mix down when I master. I really want that opening chord to stay the way it is.

The comp's not clipping and reduction is set to about 1 o'clock and the makeup Gain to about 10-11 o'clock (sorry... shut down for the night so I can't see the actual numbers). It is set to Compress and I've got the R37 screw thingy set a little above Flat. It sounds great at these settings... except for the pop of course. Cheers.

One thing you could try is the old reverse/compress/reverse trick