Blue Cat's Dynamics 4.2 Released, with new GUI, dual lookahead and more

[Blue Cat Audio]

Dear KVR Members,

We are happy to unleash Blue Cat's Dynamics 4.2, a new version of our all-in-one broadband dynamics plug-in that can be used as a compressor, limiter, gate, expander, waveshaper or all combined at once.

With a brand new user interface (fully zoomable), dual lookahead capabilities and many new features and enhancements (full list below), this new version offers even more control over the dynamics of the audio signal with a greatly improved workflow. It is also available at a cheaper price (129 EUR/USD instead of 149).

Upgrade to the new version is free for existing customers. A special introduction price (23% off the plug-in) is available until February 28th. Demo versions are available for download on www.bluecataudio.com, in most popular plug-in formats for Mac and PC.


New in Blue Cat's Dynamics 4.2:
- Regular price dropped to 129 EUR/USD.
- Brand new GUI design, with improved usability and touchscreen support.
- The GUI can now be zoomed from 70% to 200%.
- Lock the GUI state to prevent changes when loading presets.
- New lookahead function for the dynamics section.
- New brickwall limiter with optional lookahead.
- Link pre and makeup gain to compensate gain changes.
- Lock GUI state to prevent changes when loading presets.
- Last loaded preset is now remembered in session and displayed in the presets menu.
- Plug-in state can now be reverted to the last loaded preset.
- Save and reload dynamics curves and bands as presets (+copy & paste).
- Now supports retina displays on Mac (text and graphs using high resolution).
- Mac: new installer.
- Mac: fixed minor compatibility issues with Mac OS High Sierra and Mojave.
- Changed demo limitations: up to 5 instances allowed, bypass time changed to half a second, and bypass parameter is not affected anymore.
- Dropped support for Windows XP and Mac OS X 10.6 and earlier.
- Dropped support for legacy RTAS and DirectX plug-ins formats.
- Fully compatible with previous versions of the plug-in (except for VST3 on Mac, as explained here).

System requirements:
- Intel Mac running Mac OS 10.7 or newer.
- PC running Windows Vista or newer.

Pricing:
- 99 EUR/USD instead of 129 (23% off) until February 28th.

[DJErmac]

This one is very impressive actually. Curiously, it doesn't respond to envelope parameters as I expected (it needs way more release than any other compressor I know to get the same sound and avoid distorsion), but now that I've found the right values, it sounds really good.

[Blue Cat Audio]

There is unfortunately no convention for the attack and release time so we indeed all use our own scales... Also Dynamics is probably a bit different as it uses an old analog-style method for these parameters. Glad that you like it in the end!

[dmbaer]

Dynamics is probably a bit different as it uses an old analog-style method for these parameters.

Care to elaborate a bit on what is an "old analog-style method"?

[Blue Cat Audio]

Well, Dynamics attack and release controls operates directly on an envelope follower (you can visualize the resulting envelope below the Dynamics response curve).

[Blue Cat Audio]

Here is a short video explaining how you can use upward compression with limited range on a snare drum: