Arts Acoustic CL Series compressors- no love?

[lazerkind]

I didn't think I needed another compressor but was foolish enough to try the demo and now I'm hooked.
I simply love the sound of these babies with just a little bit of drive.

And considering how quickly I dial in a sound that I like I will actually save time by using them and that justified at least part of the cost for me.

So lots of love to the CL-series from me
//L

[shogger]

Sounds really common for me. Don't have this "WOW" effect. I know some freeware that sound the same. IMO.

Ah really? Which are these?

Shogger

[brok landers]

Aren't there dozens of compressor plug-ins? New ones have to rise above the sea of ones already available, and being new might not be enough. Buyer fatigue.

hmmm ... i don't see it that way ... every good compressor has it's own flavour and in certain situations that particular compressor just does it perfect, while on other material it fails, be it expensive or free. in terms of the cl series i'd say they have 2 important things that sets them rapidly apart from most others:

1. they sound damned analog, at least to my ears, that have heard and worked with an awful lot of high end analog compressors since over 20 years, and i am quite a compressor whore, so to say ...

2. they to my ears work equally good on most material, which imo is a stunning goal to reach.

it all comes down to subjective taste ... but if you really like analog coloring aside from that my-unit-saturates-with-a-nonelinear-curve-therefor-i-can-call-it-analog bullcrap, and are knowledged with real oldschool analog compressors you most likeley fall in love with these. the only thing that could be, is, that you don't like that _certain_ color they provide, then they're not for you, as that certain color is all over them.

[brok landers]

Sounds really common for me. Don't have this "WOW" effect. I know some freeware that sound the same. IMO.

Ah really? Which are these?

Shogger

i already asked him the same, i'd really like to hear audio examples or try those for myself ... up to now i was not able to reach the result i got with the cl series with any other plugin, by far not ... not that the compressors i've tried aren't good, actually there are some absoluteley great ones ... but there's something absoluteley loveley to the transient response the cl compressors do that is nowhere to be found in another compressor plug i've tried so far, and i tried a lot. also that "steadyness" (for the lack of a better description) they provide is simply stunning ...

btw, perfect signature!

[eduardo_b]

Aren't there dozens of compressor plug-ins? New ones have to rise above the sea of ones already available, and being new might not be enough. Buyer fatigue.

hmmm ... i don't see it that way ... every good compressor has it's own flavour and in certain situations that particular compressor just does it perfect, while on other material it fails, be it expensive or free.

Well, this may all be true, but that means a significant amount of effort to demo, significant money to buy and then the monumental task to choose which ones of dozens to use. Not necessarily a bad thing, but also not necessarily good either.

[sellmestory]

Sounds really common for me. Don't have this "WOW" effect. I know some freeware that sound the same. IMO.

I would really like to know which ones does sound as good as this.




sell

[Download SOphist]

ok, so we all would like to know which freeware sounds as good as this, and save some good money.

[contrary]

Well probably more than most processors , comps do have wide and variable personalities and strengths and weakness so I guess no ones going to get on with only one or two in the trick bag !!!

Really not a shock though ; how many mechanics only have one sort of 12mm spanner in there tool box ????


Maybe devs are going to keep on trying to fill that spot . It would be nice to see something more with a tunable or mixable attack and release time behaviour that could vary between linear/exponential response control .

[shogger]

Well probably more than most processors , comps do have wide and variable personalities and strengths and weakness so I guess no ones going to get on with only one or two in the trick bag !!!

Really not a shock though ; how many mechanics only have one sort of 12mm spanner in there tool box ????

My guess is that the typical mechanic could get by with just one 12mm spanner, but the 13mm ones are often used so...

Shogger

[nick at artsacoustic]

ok, so we all would like to know which freeware sounds as good as this, and save some good money.

I'd be interrested in these, honestly. Honest probs to the dev who does it then.

To all: Thanks for the praise!

[bullshark]

There are also a ton of good compressors around and these are fairly expensive.

Yep, we're inundated with free to cheap, delicious sounding comp already, enough to cover any wanted flavor, so its no wonder an expensive plug, only available in x86 VST I should add, goes pretty much unnoticed.

Heck, I've sold my only two commercial comp, none of which cost half as much as this, because my host bundled comp and other free ones covered my needs better.

[koolkeys]

I think it's all about perspective. I mean, define "expensive". As we know, that's completely a matter of opinion. VALUE is also a matter of opinion.

Not everyone is going to need these compressors. That would be stupid to assume that they would. But they DO have a unique sound, and one that I doubt exists exactly the same in another plug, especially free. Don't get me wrong. I know there are some excellent free comps out there. One of my favorite vocal comps is a freebie.

Just because there are other lower priced good sounding comps, doesn't mean they take the place of these comps. It all comes down to the need. If you haven't tried them, you wouldn't know the "sound" they have yet. If you HAVE tried them, and feel you could match the sound AND features with a free comp, tell the world what it is. I see people say this many times about various products; "I can do the same for free". But they don't often name their methods.

I think, if nothing else, the devs would benefit from knowing what other plug you think matches these comps in their sound.

Brent

[bullshark]

I think, if nothing else, the devs would benefit from knowing what other plug you think matches these comps in their sound.

For me, its not about "matching the sound of these comp" as much as matching the sound in my head, the sound I want to hear. If a free or cheap plug gets me there, and gets me there easily without headache, there isn't any reason for me to try or demo anything else, is there?

Although I must come back on my words a little; I own and use Voxformer, so technically I still use commercial comp since there are two comp in this channel plug.

[eduardo_b]

I think it's all about perspective. I mean, define "expensive". As we know, that's completely a matter of opinion. VALUE is also a matter of opinion.

Sort of...but it's fairly obvious in any category where the mid-range is, and what is well below or above it. As for what unusually low or high pricing means in terms of value, that is indeed completely subjective.

[Patchen]

Just did a quick demo last night, this thing is sounding niiice. Sounds somehow 'solid', I can se myself using this on the 2bus on many occasions. It would sit nicely in my mastering toolbox along with the UAD comps and The Glue.

I also love the M/S capabilities and all the tweakability. This is a sound designers Compressor for sure. Gotta start saving... I do have one question, in the 'XL', is the 'stereo' gain reduction meter just an average of the M and S reduction meters or something different?