Has anyone got both of these and used them intensively? How do they compare? Crunchessor is a track comp rather than mix comp, The Sonalksis can do track and mix, as I understand it.

How do they compare in terms of flexibilty of sound, colouring sound,'analogueness', transparency, ease of use etc.

I need a compressor mostly for techno/groove electronica.

For tracks I often prefer Crunchessor. The sonalksis release is sometimes a little slow for drums. Crunchessor's valve style warming is very flexible and sounds really nice.

But for mixes I love Sonalksis. I haven't found a compressor yet that can compete with it for mix compression. I'm really not sure how to describe the nature of its sound, other than that it behaves in a really 'natural' and fluid way.

I swear by both of them. I sold my UAD-1 card because I just loved the Sonalksis so much.
Now I find myself replacing a lot of my Sonalskis fx inserts with the Crunchessor.
Voxengo really has the magic touch when it comes to valve crunch sounds. I love the Crunchessor on acoustic guitars and vocals.
I'll admit at first I didn't completely take it seriously, because Aleksey talked about it pretty much like, "hey - try it, it might be ok for you", so I got the feeling he wasn't sure about it (and did the price reflect this?).
Since the last update, I swear by it. It's great.

Thanks both of you. Actually Jeff, your posts are some of those that have steered me away from the UAD card. Instead, for now I'll get the Emulator X pack, Gliss EQ and Crunchessor. Just got to decide if I'll add the Sonalksis.

I'd also like to PSP Mixpack and Vintage Warmer, but can't afford the lot.

Choices, choices.....

I have them both too and think they complement each other very well. The sonalksis sounds very different compared to crunchessor. Both are extremely high quality plugins. My advice is to get crunchessor first as it's really inexpensive and then use the sonalksis comp demo the full 30 days and see if you need it's flavour too.

Cheers!
bManic

And isn't the Sonalksis like 5x as much as the Crunchessor?

You could buy a whole lot of Voxengo plugins for $250.

... and the Golden compressor from Kjaerhus beats both of them (?).

OK now my opinions, too: I suggest checking out vanilla compressor. I didn't like crunchessor as much as I wanted too (because I like Voxengo stuff in general and I hoped that it would be MY compressor). Vanilla got a peak mode added recently to the good sounding RMS mode so it covers lots of territory with very good sound and simple use. Well suited for massive sounds as well as subtle compression.
And forget about the mix pack while I concider Vintage Warmer an essential plugin for me. Very versatile and very good sounding. Don't misjudge it by the presets as some aren't too useful me thinks.

rawcan

klagga wrote:

... and the Golden compressor from Kjaerhus beats both of them (?).

I have all three plus loads of other compressors, and the only 2 that ever get used are the Sonalksis and Crunchessor.

Greetings!

The Golden Compressor | GCO-1 is a versatile compressor that can sound like many other compressor types and be used for any kind of compression, tracking, mixing and mastering. Of course if you want to get the most out of it you will have to learn how to use the advanced settings. We where actually thinking about making a light version with less controls as some people seems to be overwhelmed and confused by the many means of adjustment. But our original plan was to make one versatile compressor instead of 10 with each “flavour”, in the long run that is more economical for the user

Thanks
Torben

tony Smyth,


if you've never tried the UAD, I suggest demoing one or something before you decide not to get one.

As someone whos tried sonalksis, crunchessor, and UAD stuff, they're all pretty different.

The golden compressor sure is an excellent compressor but there is not a chance that you can get it sounding like crunchessor no matter how you try (trust me, I've tried) . That's what appeals to me with crunchessor it REALLY has a sound of it's own, it's even pretty weird somehow which makes it unsuitable for a lot of material but excell on other. As a first I'd recommend getting a versatile good sounding compressor that doesn't break the bank and this is hands down Kjaerhus Golden Compressor, no doubt about it. Then I'd start feeling for flavour like crunchessor, sonalksis, t-racks compressor (which I personally don't like at all) etc.

Any german samplitude 8 users here? Apparently the analogue suite by sacha is a real UAD killer according to german Keyboard mag (not that cheesy Keys mag which IMO sucks big time but the respected, thick, thorough Keyboard mag). I'd love to hear some clips of them in action while waiting for the samp 8 demo!

Cheers!
bManic

What about the "Waves" compressors? any good?

HI

I feel that in many cases unless you are trying to control the levels and shape (dynamics) of recorded/audio material you will struggle to hear much of a benefit from compression, I do!

If your using primarilly sequenced material then you have a compressor at hand - midi event velocity - yes you can change the percieved level of the material and spectral dynamics of sequenced material but with 'subtle' compressors like the GOLD I find it pretty much a waste of time (in this scenario), the Voxengo crunch is one of a very few compressors that I have come accross that is usefull on sequenced material.

For Audio now you are talking a different ball game and I would be tempted to try anything and everything - as the wild dynamics at play in recorded audio can bring out a variety of interesting results in many of the products that are avalible.

Flipper.

yes - I've seen people putting a comp one every vsti-track

tony Smyth wrote:

I'd also like to PSP Mixpack and Vintage Warmer, but can't afford the lot.

Btw, PSP offers academic pricing, if that works for you...

rawcan wrote:

OK now my opinions, too: I suggest checking out vanilla compressor. I didn't like crunchessor as much as I wanted too (because I like Voxengo stuff in general and I hoped that it would be MY compressor). Vanilla got a peak mode added recently to the good sounding RMS mode so it covers lots of territory with very good sound and simple use. Well suited for massive sounds as well as subtle compression. ... rawcan

thanks for the plug, man! i thought about posting one myself, but i wasn't sure if it would violate the ethics of the forum.

anyway, if you're looking for a smooth, versatile compressor, please give the Vanilla Compressor a try. (http://www.chunkware.com/vanilla/) it doesn't have any valve modelling, a la Crunchessor--and Aleksey really does that well--but i've got a project on the back-burner with that in mind.

i have a new build--perhaps the final alpha version before going into beta--which i have yet to upload. it needs some refinement/performance tweaks before being "unleashed on yo ass."

updates include:
- updated power summing for equal compression in peak/RMS modes
- a look-ahead output limiter! not for crushing upwards of -10dB, but for grabbing peaks.
- performance tweaks?

i hope to upload it soon. after that, feature development is done. it's already got a bunch of parameters, and i want to maintain simplicity. the next focus will be on GUI and performance refinement.

please check it out. thanks.
== chunk

http://www.chunkware.com