Free compressor recommendations

[tehlord]

Recently I sold my Powercore which covered all my compression duties.

I'm considering purchasing the Glue as a buss compressor so that's that covered.

I'm looking for a channel compressor for use in Cubase.

I'm covering ducking duties with the standard Cubase compressor, but it's not particularly fantastic at 'normal' compression.

I was looking at the Kjaerhaus classic as i've used the classic limiter plenty. What else is out there that's worth looking at?

The most critical use will be on vocals and keeping Sylenth crispy lead lines in check, so pretty transparent would be nice.

Ta

[tibah]

I currently prefer the ReaComp from the Reaplugs you can download for free from the Cockos site, and the compressor thats build in NastyVCS. Martin Eastwood's Compressive is also worth a try.

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/2670.html
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/4371.html
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/3103.html

[dickiefunk]

Bootsy's Density :-

http://www.kvraudio.com/get/4047.html

Best free compressor I've tried!!

Also +1 on ReaComp and Compressive!! 3 top notch compressors free or otherwise!!!

[RunBeerRun]

My fave free-beeve is Ea Reckon compressor. Good sound for free.

[Resonator63]

Digitalfishphones
All free all good
http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=results&st=d&c=345

[mauseoleum]

For free, I really like the ReaComp.
You can really "dial in" the settings.
If you want to use the maximum oversampling at export,
you have to "tweak it" at cca. 8x oversampling while
playing to get the similar character on export. YMMV.

[oneshotdeal]

Density 1+2
Blockfish
MjCompressor
GComp

No competition.

[kinkajou]

reacomp
roughrider
bootsies stuff too!

[tehlord]

Plenty to be getting on with there.

I'd forgotten about the Bootsie and Reacomp plugs so thanks for that, and the other suggestions!

[LeVzi]

If you are getting the glue, you'll have both base's covered, it suits both.

[bduffy]

You already got a lot of suggestions here, all of them good (I agree: if you're buying Glue, you've got a great track compressor too!). I would add:

dlm SixtyFive. Absolutely on of the best track compressors out there, really nails that dbx sound! Great price too.

[Jafo]

My tastes run to vintage, so take this with a grain of salt. (Maybe a small Siberian salt mine). These all have squiggly, program-dependent transfer curves, which sounds feels right to me.

All the Digitalfishphones olugs are superb. Blockfish in particular is a forgotten legend; it does wonders on vox -- smooth and warm, with a lot of choices and character. It's also easy to dial it into giving something aggressive and punchy. I'm saving my pennies to buy Sonar so that I can use its payware descendant.

BuzzROmm's BuzzMaxi, especially version 2. I love it on drums, sometimes bass. Soft yet punchy. Very nice indeed for adding color!

TLs-3127 is superb, but it's aggressive and really easy to overdo. Great for squashing drums -- the transients stay nice and sharp. Push it harder, baby!

For something more modern, Compressive nicely straddles the line between vintage and precise. It also gives you a ton of control over everything. Not as colored as the previous, yet with its own subtle character. Excellent.

Also, Reaper's (standalone) compressor is wonderfully multiband. If you know what you're doing and like to control it all, nothing else comes close. Very uncolored.

Classic Compressor is too clean and too precise for my tastes (i.e., not "classic" enough), but it's also good.

Bootsy's plugs are also superb, but too heavy for my rig, and they don't quite have enough of that vintage irregularity I love so much. Still, they're well worth the try if you've got the cycles to spare!

Blockfish and BuzzMaxi do the vast majority of the work for me. They're light enough and colorful enough that I can use a digital eq (yay, Reaper's standalone!) and still get what I like. YMMV.