Cleanest most transparent vst compressor?

[dickiefunk]

Hi,

I'm looking for a really clean transparent compressor and at the moment am really liking Stillwells Bombardier. I've also got Bootsies Density mkII and have tried the demo for PSP's Old Timer.

I'm looking to download demos and try lots out and am downloading The Glue as we speak.

What is the cleanest least colored compressor currently available?

[tehlord]

Probably the Cubase one.

[Liero]

You're looking for a transparent compressor AND you like bombardier and density and old timer, compressors that aren't really that transparent? Hmm.

The most transparent and flexible compressor ATM is Fabfilter Pro-C.

[himalaya]

Voxengo's Soniformer comes to mind. I find it very transparent, which is no surprise as it is more of a mastering plugin. How about Polysquasher ?

[koolkeys]

I would say either the T-Racks Opto compressor or Pro-C.

And yeah, Bombardier and Density are definitely not clean compressors! They would compliment the ones I listed well though.

Brent

[S-N-S]

too bad Density crashes renoise 2,5,1

[tongsong]

http://refinedaudiometrics.com/products-clas.shtml

no coloring, no MSG, drop them a mail and u ll get it for free

[crimsonwarlock]

Grab the Reaplugs package (it's free) and see what's inside

[mauseoleum]

Grab the Reaplugs package (it's free) and see what's inside

+1

[Bronto Scorpio]

Grab the Reaplugs package (it's free) and see what's inside

+1

I'm using the ReaComp in my "everything is done with freeware" Project and it's really nice!

Cheers
Dennis

[dickiefunk]

Thanks for the replies.

I thought buss compressors like Density mkII and Bombardier were regarded as clean / transparent compressors and track compressors were more colored?

I am looking around at various compressors as I am aiming to have a small number of complimentary compressors for :-

Bass
Guitar
Piano / keys
Percussion
Master Buss

My current collection is Stillwells The Rocket, Nomad Factory British MLC-226 (haven't installed this yet), Density mkII.
I have tried the demos of Stillwells Bombardier and PSP's Oldtimer and like these.
I'm going to try the demo of The Glue over the weekend and am downloading Fabfilter's Pro C. The only problem is Pro-C is way more expensive than I was looking to spend but if it is that good then I might consider it!

[Zombie Queen]

Voxengo Soniformer is multiband compressor, sort of different beast, but it might be useful on master bus, depends on taste, I find it very useful on wilder, experimental tracks, to shape some extremities.

Polysquasher is not transparent IMO.

And Pro-C is worth the money, at least worth demoing.

[Nokenoku]

Compressors are totally a matter of taste .. also what's considered as "transparent". A compressor is never really transparent .. it can be maybe "unobvious", but this still depends on the material and on the settings.

So it's a question, which can't be answered by anyone but yourself. Just try out a lot of plugins and you'll see, what works best for you.

[pandashake]

Pro C and Mode 1 of MixControl are probably the cleanest I have. Both are pretty transparent while doing their intended job. For grit though, I LOVE the PSP Oldtimer. For no more control than you're given with that thing, it does wonders. And it can do the "cleaner" thing as well - just switch off the valve emu.

[khanyz]

I know it's old(ish) but the sonitus compressor covers a lot of ground for me. The sonitus bundle has also been reduced in the Cakewalk's Store (just be aware of how crap the online store is).

Also Polysquasher and Maximus and impressive but Pro-C is the standout for me.

IMO, Mastering/Bus compressors are a difficult beast as it's not easy to determine what's transparent. With tracks you just need to consider the sound of a single source, whereas Mastering and Bus Compressors are usually used to add some cohesion to a mix of sources. Whether this is transparent or not is very subjective.

Overall, I would say that Maximus is probably the most transparent compressor I use in any given situation. It's design and flexibility allow it to be tuned and restricted to allow a broad range of compression. Unfortunately it's only cheap if you have FL Studio.