Compressors XTREME comparision (160 files)

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Compare compressors on extreme settings

Over 50 software compressors were tested on an ordinary 2 bar drum loop with fast attacks, short releases, high ratios and low threshold settings.
Such extreme settings are unusual, but it's a good way to hear differences and to get an impression of the sound character.

You will hear mastering, bus, track or channel strip compressors without any other sound making plugins. Just the pure compressor. Most of them are bounced with two or more variations. The compressor settings did not follow specific rules with fixed values. The only goal was to find the best sounding extreme compression and to hear the character of each compressor. The files that do not sound extreme have extreme settings too but the compressors do not behave extreme.

The library contains 160 files bounced at 24 Bit/ 44.1 kHz

At the 1st February 2012 all compressor names will be published.
Until then you will only be able to recognize the files by numbers and to decide with your ears which ones you like most.


Download link, more informations and tips...

Best Regards
SPUMD

----
Our Opinion
1. February 2012

The best is always a matter of taste and a matter of what you need.
If you like to compress the audio signal neutral, without adding color or or much sound, we found a lot of compressors that solve this task very well. Depending how far you compress the signal subtile changes were added.The Abbey Road compressors, Cytomic Glue, Nomad British MLC and E-3B and most of the Nebula compressors are a perfect examples for this.

But when it comes to adding sound and color, we found the following sticking out of the library.

Nebulas Boing 747 (file 021) and Voxengos Drumformer (file 141) create a nice soulful boom.

Mellowmuses Vintage CP3V (file 131), Nomads E-Comp (file 028) and UAD CS-1 (file 046) create a lot of atmosphere.

Izotopes Ozone 5 Comp (file 128) has a very unique and nice mid frequency sound.

Best bang for the bug we heard from Nebula Free Bundle, Meldas MPressor, Stillwells Rocket and DDMFs LinComp.

Izotopes Ozone 5 comp is in our opinion the most flexible and unique, and we love this comp. It's quit funny because we found Izotopes Ozone 4 (file 084) and Alloy (file 082) the worst sounding in this library.

All the best
SPUMD
Last edited by SPUMD on Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Video

Developers Tested:
  • Abbey Road
    Antares
    Apple AU
    Arts Acoustic
    BBE
    Brainworx
    Cytomic
    DDFM
    Elysia
    Fabfilter
    Flux
    Focusrite
    IK Multimedia
    iZotope
    Lawo
    Logic
    MDA
    Melda
    Mellowmuse
    Metric Halo
    Nebula
    Nomad
    PSP
    RND
    Slate Digital
    Softube
    Sonalksis
    Sonnox
    Sound Toys
    Stillwell
    Suger Bytes
    TeamDNR MixControl
    UAD
    URS
    Voxengo
    Wave Arts
    Waves

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Wow!!! Looks like you spent a lot of time and effort putting this together for us.

Probably too much to ask, but would you mind taking this test one step further and telling us which one was the best one for this one drum loop? Sure, it might seem like I'm too lazy to listen to 160 variations on the same drum loop and I am. 160 files!!??!! Do you want us to develop a 4/4 phobia? :D

The compressor geeks will love this test tho, over and over and over again.
perception: the stuff reality is made of.

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I would have put a list of freebies and low cost too.
JSCompshaper, Bolsteriser, Roughrider, Molot, and some others.

I think a couple more are not going to take much time to you.
Could you do it please? :)

Anyway thanks for the great effort.
And have a good day, i will take a look at video :)
Image

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Thank you very much for this tremendous work but I don't know if it's useful to compare these loops.

I saw for instance Cytomic TheGlue and Stillwell TheRocket in the test.

Extreme settings means that the release time of TheGlue = 100 ms and the ratio is 10:1.

For TheRocket that's a release time of 1 ms and a ratio of 'all' which is above 20:1.

Is it useful to compare 2 loops with such different settings to each other? There will be a difference but it won't give info about the character of both compressors.

A release time of 1 ms (Stillwell) will give distortion but a release time of 100 ms (Cytomic) probably not, or less. So people will choose TheGlue as beter sounding because the settings of TheRocket are insane...

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mandolarian wrote:Wow!!! Looks like you spent a lot of time and effort putting this together for us.

Probably too much to ask, but would you mind taking this test one step further and telling us which one was the best one for this one drum loop? Sure, it might seem like I'm too lazy to listen to 160 variations on the same drum loop and I am. 160 files!!??!! Do you want us to develop a 4/4 phobia? :D

The compressor geeks will love this test tho, over and over and over again.
Well what's best depends on what you need.
At the end you have to listen and judge by yourself.
The loop is only 4 sec long and you will need about 10 minutes for all files. First day you pick your favorites, next day you choose out of your favorites, your top 10.

On the 1st February we will publish the filenames and our opinion.
IrionDaRonin wrote:I would have put a list of freebies and low cost too.
JSCompshaper, Bolsteriser, Roughrider, Molot, and some others.

I think a couple more are not going to take much time to you.
Could you do it please? :)

Anyway thanks for the great effort.
And have a good day, i will take a look at video :)
Hi Iron,
we plan to add files to this library and offer all users to participate.
Just download the Raw Drumloop, follow the instructions and send us the files.

Regards
SPUMD

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SPUMD wrote:
IrionDaRonin wrote:I would have put a list of freebies and low cost too.
JSCompshaper, Bolsteriser, Roughrider, Molot, and some others.

I think a couple more are not going to take much time to you.
Could you do it please? :)

Anyway thanks for the great effort.
And have a good day, i will take a look at video :)
Hi Iron,
we plan to add files to this library and offer all users to participate.
Just download the Raw Drumloop, follow the instructions and send us the files.

Regards
SPUMD
Oh, that's a nice idea, i will do some tests tomorrow, for sure.
Thanks. Have a good day :)
Last edited by IrionDaRonin on Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Image

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manducator wrote:Thank you very much for this tremendous work but I don't know if it's useful to compare these loops.

I saw for instance Cytomic TheGlue and Stillwell TheRocket in the test.

Extreme settings means that the release time of TheGlue = 100 ms and the ratio is 10:1.

For TheRocket that's a release time of 1 ms and a ratio of 'all' which is above 20:1.

Is it useful to compare 2 loops with such different settings to each other? There will be a difference but it won't give info about the character of both compressors.

A release time of 1 ms (Stillwell) will give distortion but a release time of 100 ms (Cytomic) probably not, or less. So people will choose TheGlue as beter sounding because the settings of TheRocket are insane...
Hi manducator,
most of this questions we cover with this article.

Here is the qoute that should answer your question..
(...)The compressor settings did not follow specific rules with fixed values. The only goal was to find the best sounding extreme setting and to hear the character of each compressor.
(...)

Just understand the files as one perspective and not as a final judgment.
(...)
The Rocket offers extremer options than the Glue and the way it distorts will maybe please somebody. Maybe someone will prefer the Glue because he sounds more "neutral".

Like i said ... it depends always on what you need or what you searchin for.
So don't worry about "others" we take care of the library and if someone thinks his baby was not treated good, he can redo an extreme compression and send us the file with a short discription of his settings.

Everything is explained in the RAW Drumloop download


Regards
SPUMD

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Edit: sent email
Last edited by Shy on Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Music is spiritual. The music business is not." - Claudio Monteverdi

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--ts----ts----ts----ts----ts----ts----ts----ts---
-boom-------tick--------boom--------tick--------

u gotta be kiddin'

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yerusalan: he's not kidding, he chose that sample for good reasons. Anyway, almost all the examples on the page are horrible, mostly because the compressors are horrible at handling it. SplitComp is light years ahead of them.
"Music is spiritual. The music business is not." - Claudio Monteverdi

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some critisism on how it's done:

levels are all over
filenames don't reflect processor name
why rar dmg file

a bigger picture:

I have tried real hard to comprehend what it's all about, what I can make of it after listening and how to apply what's learned and I gotta tell you, in the end, it all looks pointless and I can't answer any of these questions.

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yerusalan wrote:some critisism on how it's done:

levels are all over
filenames don't reflect processor name
why rar dmg file

a bigger picture:

I have tried real hard to comprehend what it's all about, what I can make of it after listening and how to apply what's learned and I gotta tell you, in the end, it all looks pointless and I can't answer any of these questions.
Like I told before, most questions are answered if you follow the link in the first post of this thread and read the article
(...)Listen to details! Even if it is an ordinary drum loop you can get informations about high, mid and low frequencies or about transient changes. Take attention to that. (...)
The only critic that makes sense is "why rar dmg file".
Simple answer: We work with Macs. Sorry if this format causes trouble for you.

About your bigger picture...
Well you hear differences and if you like the compression/sound changes compared to the Raw Drumloop/original file than the compressor might be the one you searched for.

Sorry if it does not help you but i can tell you that it helps me to pick my favorites and to get a clearer picture of my tools.

To all that sent files:
All new files will be add after 1st february to this library.

Best Regards

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yerusalan wrote:I have tried real hard to comprehend what it's all about, what I can make of it after listening and how to apply what's learned and I gotta tell you, in the end, it all looks pointless and I can't answer any of these questions.
Yup, waste of time.

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I am trying to register at speedupmydaw.com but after filling out all forms and clicking submit, notting happens. :help:

great initiative by the way. i have sent you some renderings of my compressor RedAmption too. hope they will be attached in the next round.
http://audioteknikk.net/index.php?optio ... temid=9#RA

best regards
tor @ AudioTeknikk
Free quality VST effects
http://www.audioteknikk.net

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