Fuse Audio Labs releases the VCL-25A Vintage Vari-Mu Leveler

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I spent a good amount of time with this compressor convincing myself I didn’t really need it.

Then I bought it anyway...

LEVEL UP!!

If anyone ever asks, "What is KVR?", I will link them to this post

[plexuss]

I demoed it. it sounds nice. However it over-laps too much with other compressors I have so it would just be redundant. but as a nice sounding analogue model, yes, it's quite nice and musical sounding with some really useful feautres.

[sqigls]

IK sucks all balls ever.

So IK sucks yours? I guess that means you like em.

they try, but no ping-pong massage
they just suck
I'll never buy anything from them ever again.

IK just make everything so difficult, earlier this year i went through ABSOLUTE HELL just trying to claim the free compressor from CM... I had to go to the website to figure out how to download some thing which had a different name to what the installer said it was, downloaded some preliminary installer, something clashed with my existing plugins, my previously purchased IK plugs also had to be replaced, had to download some other next gen "shop" installer, hundreds of MB, then had to download some OTHER f**king thing which was MASSIVE... in the end, I had to pay through the teeth to my internet provider for the GIGABYTES of SHITE i had to churn through... for ONE plugin!! very frustrating.


Fuse Audio Labs on the hand, NEVER a problem.
Never had a single issue.

[fuseaudiolabs]

(do all Mu comrpessors contain tubes by design?).

Vari-mu designs use the fact that you can vary the gain by moving the Q-point along a non-linear transfer characteristic by means of applying a bias voltage. Some early diode-bridge and transistor based circuits exploit the same principle (including the 373 btw.) so it doesn't have to include tubes by design, although one might argue whether you would call these compressors vari-mu.

Best,
Ray

[pekbro]

I spent a good amount of time with this compressor convincing myself I didn’t really need it.

Then I bought it anyway...

LEVEL UP!!

If anyone ever asks, "What is KVR?", I will link them to this post

I owe it all to KVR

Actually, after reading about all the cool stuff he's been involved with, I
thought I would like to support the developer a bit in his own efforts.
Surely his success is a good thing for all of us.

-Cheers

[digitalboytn]

Softube FET is fantastic and probably the best 1176 emulation on the market. Just being a bit older doesn’t mean it’s not excellent, they got it right first time round, it will still sound good decades from today. It’s a top notch emulation and it’s not the same as the NI VC76.

If I remember correctly,the original 1176 was released some time ago,so because it is old,it must be rubbish also

I think that all of the plugins that Softube coded for NI are excellent....

Just like the hardware,there are idiosyncrasies in the best emulations that give each one a little character...

You can spend hours comparing them and getting really picky about the smallest details,or you can just get on with the job and use the tools to create great music...

I prefer the latter

Getting back on topic...

I checked out this Vari Mu plugin and it's pretty cool,but I already have MJUC and the Softube/NI one and I like both of those enough...

But the Fuse Audio VCL-4 is very nice

[Fantasie]

Hi Ray, I found a small bug (at least in the demo).

When the release time is set to 3.3 and the plugin gets closed, the position of the knob changes to 2.3 after reopening it. Other values are correct and don't change like this.

This seems just a GUI issue and does not affect the sound, so no problem here to use/evaluate the plugin at the moment

I'm using AU demo version in latest Logic X on Sierra.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I spent a good amount of time with this compressor convincing myself I didn’t really need it.

Then I bought it anyway...

LEVEL UP!!

If anyone ever asks, "What is KVR?", I will link them to this post

I owe it all to KVR

Actually, after reading about all the cool stuff he's been involved with, I
thought I would like to support the developer a bit in his own efforts.
Surely his success is a good thing for all of us.

-Cheers

I hear ya. It's a worthy thing to do

[fuseaudiolabs]

Hi Ray, I found a small bug (at least in the demo).

When the release time is set to 3.3 and the plugin gets closed, the position of the knob changes to 2.3 after reopening it. Other values are correct and don't change like this.

This seems just a GUI issue and does not affect the sound, so no problem here to use/evaluate the plugin at the moment

I'm using AU demo version in latest Logic X on Sierra.

Hi there,

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check asap.

EDIT: I can confirm your issue. However, I can also confirm that it's just a visual thing, if you click on the knob to see the callout, you can see that it retains the correct 3.3 value. This will be fixed asap.

Best,
Ray

[Fantasie]

Hi there,

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check asap.

EDIT: I can confirm your issue. However, I can also confirm that it's just a visual thing, if you click on the knob to see the callout, you can see that it retains the correct 3.3 value. This will be fixed asap.

Best,
Ray

Thanks for your quick response! Good to hear that it's just a GUI thing.

In terms of the sound, I'm demoing it right now on the piano part and it's really smooth sounding at longer release settings. Probably the best vari-mu ITB compressor I've ever heard for it

[edit]
I just made a demo track to compare the smoothness of the compression for the piano.
It's only simple piano impro with basic synth pad, but one could get the idea.

Original (No comp) vs VCL-25A vs Vari Comp/Native Instruments

Settings
VCL-25A: release 3s, mix100%, GR 1 to 10dB
Vari Comp: attack 40ms, release 4s, HP detect ON, mix 100%, GR 1 to 10dB

https://soundcloud.com/user-143624654-4 ... -demo-song

VCL-25A retains the original feel and tames the dynamics in a musical way. On the other hand, Vari Comp sounds a bit bright and thin to me (matter of taste of course).

[fuseaudiolabs]

[edit]
I just made a demo track to compare the smoothness of the compression for the piano.
It's only simple piano impro with basic synth pad, but one could get the idea.

Original (No comp) vs VCL-25A vs Vari Comp/Native Instruments

Settings
VCL-25A: release 3s, mix100%, GR 1 to 10dB
Vari Comp: attack 40ms, release 4s, HP detect ON, mix 100%, GR 1 to 10dB

https://soundcloud.com/user-143624654-4 ... -demo-song

Very nice track and examples, thanks for sharing.

[fuseaudiolabs]

You can now download the v1.1 update which fixes inconsistent rounding on the release knob that would lead to visual issues:

https://fuseaudiolabs.de/#vcl25a

[Fantasie]

Thank you Ray, I installed v.1.1 and the knob is fine now

[hiltonsister]

Is this STA-Level emu?

[Burillo]

Is this STA-Level emu?

no, it's an RCA BA25A emulation.