KVR Audio

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:00 am

digitalboytn wrote: Even with the signal just passing through those plugins with no compression or limiting,something "nice" happens to the sound...

I think it's gain staging saturation which is part of the "vintage vibe" that everyone wants.

I prefer stuff like Compassion because it can be programmed to behave like a vintage analog compressor without the saturation. Sometimes too much saturation can be a bad thing

However sometimes when it's used subtley in a big mix it can definitely add a bit of depth and "glue" to the overall mix.

digitalboytn · Post by **digitalboytn** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:18 am

V0RT3X wrote:
digitalboytn wrote: Even with the signal just passing through those plugins with no compression or limiting,something "nice" happens to the sound...
However sometimes when it's used subtley in a big mix it can definitely add a bit of depth and "glue" to the overall mix.

A little bit here and a little bit there

stevemac · Post by **stevemac** » Fri Aug 01, 2014 11:12 am

Having demo'd all of them, the GT is definitely the one that stands out for me so far.

The VC 2A does add something nice to pretty much anything it touches, but the saturation and tone controls on the GT are fantastic. Having said that, I already own Fab Filter Saturn so it's not doing anything I can't already do. The advantage is that there's LESS control that Saturn and you input some character then move on.

One thing I don't like about the VCs is that you have to fiddle a lot to get an initial sound that isn't colouring your judgement by the additional gain all of the INNIT patches give you.

The compressor on the GT sounds really nice to me, have been trying out different settings on various synth bass patches and... Wow! The additional punch coming through on some of the classic filter envelope bass sounds is sounding stunning.

Recently I've been shying away from compression and using more and more subtle stages of saturation, but this type of punch on a few key elements in a mix would be really welcome.

I'll continue to test but given the above I think the GT is going to win

BDeep · Post by **BDeep** » Fri Aug 01, 2014 11:27 am

You just described my exact experience when demoing both the Vintage Compressors and Supercharger GT. I think GT is something special, it can give you that fat, "here's some obvious compressing going on" type sound, that sometimes you just want. And someone said it before in a post, but I think GT is more suited to electronic type music that the VC's. Can't recommend it highly enough.
Btw, I also have Saturn, but I don't think I'm able to shape a kick with it in the same way I can with GT.

stevemac · Post by **stevemac** » Fri Aug 01, 2014 11:41 am

BDeep wrote:You just described my exact experience when demoing both the Vintage Compressors and Supercharger GT. I think GT is something special, it can give you that fat, "here's some obvious compressing going on" type sound, that sometimes you just want. And someone said it before in a post, but I think GT is more suited to electronic type music that the VC's. Can't recommend it highly enough.
Btw, I also have Saturn, but I don't think I'm able to shape a kick with it in the same way I can with GT.

I'm actually finding it hard to find something the compressor on GT doesn't make better to be honest (with the exception of some pretty extreme settings that I won't use)

Saturn is great, I use it almost exclusively for the gentlest tube and tape settings is has. Sits on each of my bus channels (4 bands, all at 50% drive, dry/wet of each band mapped to Ableton macro - adjust each band dry/wet to taste depending on what bus). I also have the N.I. Enhanced EQ on each of those busses, which I highly recommend for bus processing by the way!

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Fri Aug 01, 2014 12:09 pm

I would go for the classic compressors... The VC 2A is some of my most used compressors. The Supercharger GT is IMO something I would strap on the drum buss/bass because it's a tube compressor and this character and saturation modes can improve such sounds a lot.

realmarco · Post by **realmarco** » Fri Sep 19, 2014 6:24 pm

I'd go for the classics , softube made them and NI distributes them..as far as i can tell softube go out of their way to really model the real deal hardware by opening them up and doing god knows what with all sorts of sci-fi looking electronic measurements devices

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:40 pm

Mini neckro bump

dadunn1700 · Post by **dadunn1700** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:09 am

if your producing electronic music go with the GT. Only other compressor you might want by NI for this kind of music is the VC-2a for vocals. Neither the 1176 nor the dbx 160 are among the best compressors for electronic music.....so I wouldn't waste my money. A lot of ppl seem to buy stuff simply bc it says "Vintage" or "Emulation" and think price directly correlates to how good a plugin sounds....don't be 1 of these ppl. I've found a lot of hidden gems and surprises....some of which from NI. Just don't be afraid to take a blind test....honestly you'll find a lot of ppl have no clue what their talking about. I've seen many times... Try uploading the same vocal being compressed by 4 different LA-2A plugins with the exact same settings. 90% of ppl will pick a favorite they didn't expect.

On the other hand if your producing rock, pop, etc then the Vintage Comp bundle would be a much better option over the GT.

bungle · Post by **bungle** » Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:58 pm

VC2a is definitely smooth on vocals
76 is good on electronic beats, but you need to go extreme and use it in combo with another comp
160 is great on basses but again you will probably use it in combo (Nothing unusual in that anyway in electronic stuff)

They are my second set of 'go to' compressors, funnily enough after the Solid Dynamics from NI, that just works on a wide range of material and is not too heavy in the character department, so when i want character it is getting backed up by one of the others
Combos of these has replaced DC8C for me for most stuff (An amazing comp, but my brain works better with the NI ones)

Igro · Post by **Igro** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 9:26 pm

There is no point to buy those vintage comps for electronic music, as stated above. Don't waste your money. And yes, GT would be the right choice.

frankz00 · Post by **frankz00** » Fri Oct 17, 2014 5:47 am

I love me some SuperCharger GT but I really haven't used it in many projects. But the last one I did use it in was electronic music. If I remember correctly, I used it for sidechaining.

But if you already have a classic or analog style compressor, I'd definitely say GT.

NI Voucher - Classic Compressors or Supercharger GT??