what is your favorite compressor?

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:13 pm

re: steevio and hardware compression. that good to hear. I've heard some talk like that from some respected people, and it seemed to make sense, but it's good to have someone close to home and with experience confirm that. I think for some producers those (fairly) cheap hardware boxes might work ok, I think Trentemoller uses that Focusrite box and I quite like his overly compressed sound (though not sure how much he sues that specific device), and obviously Daft Punk like mentioned. But it depends what you're looking for i guess.

Those UAD ones are supposed to be nice. I really hate the idea of the hardware card though, seems a bit silly, but that's just imo.

I don't think software can emulate hardware 100%. I'm more interested in 'analogue inspired' stuff.

I use sonalksis sv-315 for regular compression work. something very beautiful in that compressor I think. probably a bit overpriced for software though.

also like Stillwell's The Rocket. Kinda unique but not good for all purposes (attack time is only between 20 microseconds and 2 milliseconds, ha ha).

also like psp vintage warmer. some weird mixture of tape saturation and compression. with certain inputs it sounds awful but sometimes is just right. the latency on it is a bit of a pain in the arse though.

i really liked the demo for psp oldtimer but couldn't justify having another compressor.

fabfilter pro-c is supposed to be nice.

Stomper · Post by **Stomper** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:24 pm

oblioblioblio wrote:Those UAD ones are supposed to be nice. I really hate the idea of the hardware card though, seems a bit silly, but that's just imo.

I don't think software can emulate hardware 100%. I'm more interested in 'analogue inspired' stuff.

Of course their not 100% accurate. truth is, i dont realy care if they do. they sound realy realy good on their own and thats all that matter.

You might look at the card as a dongle, but its not always that way.
i saw on kvr a few weeks ago a guy that used about 30 Pultac EQ emulations from IK's T-Rack series. the cpu was more than 90%
when he used 30 UAD Pultacs, almost no cpu hit.
So beside the sound of the plugins them selfs, it also depends on how many plugins you are running live without freeze and bouncing.

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:35 pm

Stomper wrote: Of course their not 100% accurate. truth is, i dont realy care if they do. they sound realy realy good on their own and thats all that matter.

You might look at the card as a dongle, but its not always that way.
i saw on kvr a few weeks ago a guy that used about 30 Pultac EQ emulations from IK's T-Rack series. the cpu was more than 90%
when he used 30 UAD Pultacs, almost no cpu hit.
So beside the sound of the plugins them selfs, it also depends on how many plugins you are running live without freeze and bouncing.

yeah about accuracy, i was just saying. i guess there are people who might buy a certain piece of software just becuase it emulated a certain piece of hardware, and you can't be 100% gauranteed at all that they will have the characteristics that you liked form the original device. It depends entirely on what the software guy was listening to, and of course there are different limiations in software environments and hardware environments. anways I'm sure you know all this.

But yeah, I think it is defnitely possible to make nice software compressors, possibly some which have characterisitcs similar, or inspired by those in some hardware devices. and yeah, from what I;ve heard from some other people, those UAD compressors are really nice.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:18 pm

Stomper wrote:
Of course their not 100% accurate. truth is, i dont realy care if they do. they sound realy realy good on their own and thats all that matter.

and youre right of course, its whatever works for you.

you'd be better off with UAD software than a project studio hardware comp for the same price any day.

@manzatour, there really isnt much point routing your audio in & out of your computer to a budget hardware compressor.
(maybe if you had $4000 - $7000 to spend it would be worthwhile.)

Brankis · Post by **Brankis** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:31 pm

best hardware comps for under 2 grand right here

http://www.fmraudio.com/

i have both and they sound awesome

manzatour · Post by **manzatour** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:38 pm

steevio wrote:
@manzatour, there really isnt much point routing your audio in & out of your computer to a budget hardware compressor.
(maybe if you had $4000 - $7000 to spend it would be worthwhile.)

that's also what i thought, plus as i'm not so experienced with compressors it doesn't make so sense in my current situation.
once i will feel more confortable with compression i will look into hardware compressors again...but it could take a little while...
for the moment it is suitable for me to continue exploring software

Brankis · Post by **Brankis** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:44 pm

steevio wrote:
Stomper wrote: @manzatour, there really isnt much point routing your audio in & out of your computer to a budget hardware compressor.
(maybe if you had $4000 - $7000 to spend it would be worthwhile.)

i disagree... you can get an empirical labs distressor for around a grand on ebay which pretty much sounds great on everything... the FMR products are also around $200 each and they compete with the distressor for sure... i have both

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:16 pm

Brankis wrote:
steevio wrote:
Stomper wrote: @manzatour, there really isnt much point routing your audio in & out of your computer to a budget hardware compressor.
(maybe if you had $4000 - $7000 to spend it would be worthwhile.)
i disagree... you can get an empirical labs distressor for around a grand on ebay which pretty much sounds great on everything... the FMR products are also around $200 each and they compete with the distressor for sure... i have both

well i cant argue mate as i've never tried either,
also i was talking new prices, and i seem to remember the distressor was over $2000 for a one channel comp ! when it came out.

its worth mentioning that buying a used compressor is a sketchy business, especially a pro quality one. most of the used kit ive bought over the years has had varying issues and most of it has been in for repair. it can get expensive. even just replacing tubes can get expensive, especially if its got lots of them.

i think the point i was making was that i don't think its worth sending your signal out into the the noisy analogue world unless what you do with it before you send it back is going to be better than what you can do in the box.
its a different matter if you've got other outboard gear and you're routing that back into the computer as well.

is compression all you do outboard ?