Antress Firechainer vs IKmultimedia 670 vintage compressor/limiter

[Igro]

I think removing GUIs from plugs could be a real ear opener. By saying this I didn't mean to bash Antress' or anyone else's plugs, I really think all plugin developers should use pictureless GUIs, but that's just a dream as we could hear how plugins work finally

Anyone who thinks packaging and psychology don't go hand and hand in the advertising world is fooling himself. Having said that, it's not just the ears that should be able to tell the difference, it's also the brain. It is free and you get what you pay for, sometimes more, mostly less but that should tell you something before you even hear it. jmho.

I think Antress plugins should cost 200 bucks each, this thing make them sound fantastic for haters.

[dblock]

I think Antress plugins should cost 200 bucks each, this thing make them sound fantastic for haters.

I've had all the Antress plugins. I like the gui's more than the sound of them and while it's all a matter of personal tastes, I wouldn't say they are even close to being in the league of my $200 plugins like my fabfilter pro-c, Sonalksis compressors, urs channel strip. Owning all of those I'm able to compare them side by side and well, no comparison. I mean Antress plugins are ok but not in the same world as these plugins though good for what they cost.
I don't think they were meant to compete with $200 plugins and imo, they don't.
That's not to say though, that I think every $200 plugin is worth $200. I think most are overpriced but I'm speaking strictly in terms of quality and design.
At the end of the day though, I'd rather hear great music with less than ideal plugins than sh#tty music with top of the line stuff.

[enroe]

I don't think they were meant to compete with $200 plugins and imo, they don't.

Funny! This test proves the opposite.

[SadPuppyBlues]

Funny! This "test" suggests the opposite.

I fixed that for you.
Now you're good and accurate.

[Robert McCormick]

Not to mention that the Fairchilds are loaded with about 20 tubes and 7 transformers.

Mike Senior's (excellent) "Classic Compressors" piece in the September issue of SOS quotes Geoff Emerick: "Just the sound of the amplifier, even if you didn't do any limiting, just added a certain presence"...

Yes that is 100% true.

[Real Grooves Audio]

I think Antress plugins should cost 200 bucks each, this thing make them sound fantastic for haters.

I've had all the Antress plugins. I like the gui's more than the sound of them and while it's all a matter of personal tastes, I wouldn't say they are even close to being in the league of my $200 plugins like my fabfilter pro-c, Sonalksis compressors, urs channel strip. Owning all of those I'm able to compare them side by side and well, no comparison. I mean Antress plugins are ok but not in the same world as these plugins though good for what they cost.
I don't think they were meant to compete with $200 plugins and imo, they don't.
That's not to say though, that I think every $200 plugin is worth $200. I think most are overpriced but I'm speaking strictly in terms of quality and design.
At the end of the day though, I'd rather hear great music with less than ideal plugins than sh#tty music with top of the line stuff.

I've had all the Antress plugins as well. The GUI's are great, but the sound wasn't right for me, and the fact that there was a tremendous amount of CPU consumption with them made it a no-brainer to move on to other more user-friendly plugs.

URS makes some great plugs. Their BLT is fantastic and rivals Chandlers' "Brilliance Pack" in sound & usefulness.

As for spending $200 for each plug, I'd be more likely to give my hard-earned $ to Bootsy for his amazing plugs before Antress. BTW, you ll should checkout Bootsy's free plugs if you haven't already.

[bmanic]

I've had all the Antress plugins. I like the gui's more than the sound of them and while it's all a matter of personal tastes, I wouldn't say they are even close to being in the league of my $200 plugins like my fabfilter pro-c, Sonalksis compressors, urs channel strip. Owning all of those I'm able to compare them side by side and well, no comparison. I mean Antress plugins are ok but not in the same world as these plugins though good for what they cost.
I don't think they were meant to compete with $200 plugins and imo, they don't.
That's not to say though, that I think every $200 plugin is worth $200. I think most are overpriced but I'm speaking strictly in terms of quality and design.
At the end of the day though, I'd rather hear great music with less than ideal plugins than sh#tty music with top of the line stuff.

You are a bit stuck in the "surely it must be better because it costs money!?" state of mind, eh?

Well let me tell you, as one who owns nearly ALL available compressor plugins on the whole market and one who has access to quite a wide variety of outboard compressors as well, that some of these Antress plugins do sound extremely good and definitely rival some of the competition that costs serious money. We've done ABX blind tests with the antress 1176 wannabe, comparing it to FET compressor from softube and the 1176LN from UAD.. all shooting against a real silverface, revision H. None of the software could match the hardware, in any setting, and ALL of the software had their own take on the 1176 compression action. None of them was more "authentic" than the other. They were ALL very useful and could thus easily justify their own existence.

My personal favorite in that shootout was the softube FET but mainly because of it's subtle (sometimes not so subtle) saturation modeling and the flexibility of it's design. However, having said that, the Antress 1176 fared very well too, giving it's own character on the test material. Not better nor worse than the others.

It is perfectly fine if you are of the opinion that only money can buy you quality stuff but perhaps for your own sake it might be beneficial to dig a bit deeper and actually listen to the things to determine where these various tools shine. Because nothing sounds like Antress and Antress plugins sound like nothing else it is logical to conclude that there might be situations where only one of these will work!

Cheers!
bManic

[gmitch]

Well put Bmanic,it's all about sound and whatever tools u use 2 get there.....

[enroe]

... that some of these Antress plugins do sound extremely good and definitely rival some of the competition that costs serious money. ...

This is concordant with my experiences. Antress has done a fantastic work.

[dickiefunk]

I'm currently using Bootsies Density mkII, Blockfish, Compressive CM, Voxengo Soniformer, dlM D2 and Classic Compressors for my compressor needs.

These new 4.75 compressors from Antress look great and from the various examples comparing them to the UAD stuff sounds amazing!?

Thing is, I'm very much a preset guy when it comes to using compressors and am very much a beginner when it comes to understanding how to use them and how they all sound different!

How do these Antress compare to the compressors I already have? Would any of them do a better job than any I own? Would any of the Antress compressors be worth adding to my collection or replacing any of them?

Thanks

[Evan]

Well done Antress!! And thank you!

[dickiefunk]

I'm currently using Bootsies Density mkII, Blockfish, Compressive CM, Voxengo Soniformer, dlM D2 and Classic Compressors for my compressor needs.

These new 4.75 compressors from Antress look great and from the various examples comparing them to the UAD stuff sounds amazing!?

Thing is, I'm very much a preset guy when it comes to using compressors and am very much a beginner when it comes to understanding how to use them and how they all sound different!

How do these Antress compare to the compressors I already have? Would any of them do a better job than any I own? Would any of the Antress compressors be worth adding to my collection or replacing any of them?

Thanks

Any advice?

[sellmestory]

Isn't any pluging good...if you like it and find it easy to use?




Sell

[johnrule]

I'm currently using Voxengo Soniformer...

Just purchased that the other day...wonderful piece of work.

But you can't beat Antress for the price

JR

[geroyannis]

I'm currently using Bootsies Density mkII, Blockfish, Compressive CM, Voxengo Soniformer, dlM D2 and Classic Compressors for my compressor needs.

These new 4.75 compressors from Antress look great and from the various examples comparing them to the UAD stuff sounds amazing!?

Thing is, I'm very much a preset guy when it comes to using compressors and am very much a beginner when it comes to understanding how to use them and how they all sound different!

How do these Antress compare to the compressors I already have? Would any of them do a better job than any I own? Would any of the Antress compressors be worth adding to my collection or replacing any of them?

Thanks

Any advice?

I would say stick with the ones you already have and experiment with them a lot so that you will learn how they work. Put them one by one on the same track and see what each one can do to it. Density and Compressive alone should be enough for almost everything. Soniformer demands a little more understanding of how compressors work. But like I said, you need to work with your tools in order to learn how they work and what sound options they give you.

That's the only way that you'll be able to decide for yourself if a compressor is good for you or not.