Cleanest most transparent vst compressor?

[futurefields]

I'm confused by the term 'transparent' in this context?
Presumably anything that alters a sound is not transparent? Educate me.

Are you being serious? You post here a lot, you should know what it means when someone asks for a transparent compressor. Enough with the elitist bullshit, guys.

[BASSDRIVE]

[bduffy]

What's the most translucent compressor?

[MountainKing]

Though it might get a bit tricky to get this one (these days ...) .... but:

Kjaerhus Unipressor is very nice - easy to use and transparent.



Just a thought.

[BASSDRIVE]

Seriously though, I like Maximus & Pro-C.


You should also try the new Nasty VCS. It's more than a compressor though. It's not "Transparent" per se, but certainly GREAT sounding.

[yellowfever]

I'm confused by the term 'transparent' in this context?
Presumably anything that alters a sound is not transparent? Educate me.

Are you being serious? You post here a lot, you should know what it means when someone asks for a transparent compressor. Enough with the elitist bullshit, guys.

What the hell is wrong with you? I'm trying to understand the question from the OP's perspective. He says he wants transparent and then lists a series of colouring compressors. Get over yourself.

[futurefields]

Nothing wrong with me, dude. OP is asking for simple recommendations of transparent compressors. What's so difficult about that to understand? If you disagree with the ones mentioned, then tell him why and list some transparent compressors. When you and others enter into the thread and start questioning the semantics of "transparent compression" it does nobody any good. It's basic studio terminology to refer to cleaner compressors as 'transparent' and more tonally altering ones as 'colored.'

Back on topic:

If you JUST want transparent digital compression, you can get that for free. If you want to spend some money on something that can do all types of compression, including transparent and colored, look into Pro-C. If you just want a good all-rounder that isn't necessarily 100% transparent, but is clean enough to use on pretty much everything and sounds great, look into the Sonalksis SV-315.

[tony tony chopper]

When you and others enter into the thread and start questioning the semantics of "transparent compression" it does nobody any good.

It's not because everyone uses a term that it means the same thing to everyone. To me, transparency still does not apply to a compressor. You can more or less transparently make a normalized signal louder using a limiter, you don't need a compressor (you need nothing) to make a signal transparently quieter.

Although color is a rather abstract term as well, let's agree that it means no noticable spectral change, only changes in dynamics. Thus you would just exclude all multiband compressors & compressors featuring saturators.
We could argue that at very fast rates a compressor's gain can change the color as well, but a compressor working so close to audio rate would be more a saturator.

Plus it looks like your personal definition of a transparent compressor is based on compressors that you know, & if the OP is asking then he doesn't know, so his definition must be different.

A transparent comp is one that sounds cleaner when compressing.

That's one useless definition btw, slightly more useful than "a transparent comp is one that sounds more transparent when compressing" would be.
I've made compressors (which may be easier than using them btw) and I wouldn't know if they're transparent or not. Transparent limiting, that yes I understand and that's the major goal of a limiter.

[yellowfever]

When you and others enter into the thread and start questioning the semantics of "transparent compression" it does nobody any good.

You can more or less transparently make a normalized signal louder using a limiter, you don't need a compressor (you need nothing) to make a signal transparently quieter.

Agreed, mainly, but the only thing with using a limiter is you'll squash the dynamics; other than that, totally agreed. When I do use compressors, I use them sparingly. EG I use them really only on kick and bass, then sparingly on a drumm buss. And +1000 about making them quieter; simply turn the channel down. Do people REALLY use compressors to make things quieter?

[tony tony chopper]

Agreed, mainly, but the only thing with using a limiter is you'll squash the dynamics;

Yes that's why it's all an art & not all limiters are equal as for making things louder while preserving dynamics. IMHO the best is a combo of slight saturation (& thus coloration, but here too you can slightly saturate without noticable coloration) & limiting (with some black magic in the envelope detection & slopes).
Making an already normalized signal louder with no perceivable degradation is definitely possible, that's where transparency really makes sense.

[dickiefunk]

If you JUST want transparent digital compression, you can get that for free.

What would you recommend I try?

[yellowfever]

Or, rather than using compressors, you can always just choose the right sound in the first place or layer sounds.

[Igro]

If you JUST want transparent digital compression, you can get that for free.

What would you recommend I try?

Martin Eastwood Compressive
http://martineastwood.com/wordpress/

[LOSER]

http://chime.tv/products/glass2k.shtml will make not only your compressors transparent but also your DAW and other effects if you want.

Also I have yet to find a definition of "transparent compression" that does not involve any other not defined terms such as clean, not fat, smooth, etc ...
Just for kicks I googled "transparent compressor definition" and look what comes up at #1: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tr ... definition

Anyway I used to think transparent and clean meant the compressor doesn't add any harmonic or otherwise distortion to the spectrum but only lowers the volume where the threshold is exceeded without altering the general waveform. So a pure sine wave in a clean compressor with the volume over the threshold results into a clean sine wave (EDIT: with the appropriate lower volume) out of the compressor without added sidebands and other artifacts. That's how I always build my compressors ... however I was told I was wrong and had no idea what I'm talking about.

To the people thinking that discussing the definition of the request is off topic: you must be one of those people that try to fix problems without even get a comprehensive idea of the problem. So in the end your results might not be related to the problem at hand.

So without further cluttering this thread I wish good luck to dickiefunk in finding whatever he is searching for, but would hope that he would give a bit more info about what he is needing the compressor for (that is what qualities he is searching) and/or a definition of the terms clean and transparent, because otherwise my recommendation would be: http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=re ... t=1&rpp=15 (since they will all fit into one or the other definition of transparent)

[dickiefunk]

So without further cluttering this thread I wish good luck to dickiefunk in finding whatever he is searching for, but would hope that he would give a bit more info about what he is needing the compressor for (that is what qualities he is searching) and/or a definition of the terms clean and transparent,

I have mentioned that I am looking for a compressor that doesn't color the sound of the original source. I would like the compressor to make the source sound fuller and punchier without pumping or messing with the transients.

I would be mainly using it with various vst's such as :-

NI Alicia Keys, Garritan Steinway, True Pianos 1.5, NI Scarbee Jay Bass and Many Guitar.