Is TrackComp 2 by DMG Audio the best compressor?

[SamDi]

I'm trying to decide whether to buy PSP Impressor at intro price ($20).

TrackComp 2 is what i would buy if money is no object. Maybe i'll buy it some time later.

It‘s not legit to call a thing the best without beeing able to quantify it to objectively measure and compare it to the others. So it‘s rather a matter of taste regarding the sound and the workflow and of course the special cause what you want to do with it, if you regard it for you the best then. For sure all the DMG Audio plugins belong to the top notch class and are worth to own them and many of them are on my wishlist. But since I try to get the DMG items on my wishlist as used, because buying them new, they are really too pricey for me und they appear not often used on the market, it‘s difficult for me to get them. Also they are literally NEVER on sale. The conclusion is, that not many, which have bought it do regret that buy and it seem to be a really high quality product

DMG offers a discount if you own some of their products. For example I have 6 DMG products. If I add Essence to my cart it shows $132US regular price but with a $50 discount as an existing customer, for a total of $86. It's not a deep discount but it can help with affordability.

Unfortunately I have just one plugin from them, so that discount is kind of limited to me ATM, especially because I rather look for the most priciest products (Compassion, Multiplicity and Limitless).

Furthermore as a hobbyist I am really pretty overeqipped with compressors, thus I have to admit, that further improvement of my music is not depending on tools, but rather my time and effort to invest. But GAS, you know...

What is the only real open point in my list - I do not have a really good limiter yet (just Elevate, if you want to regard that as good). So maybe this is the one to really get next.

From Fabfilter, I would have the option to get Pro-L if they go next time on their typical sale for ~78€, which is kind of a steal. DMG Limitless would stand with 191€ on the other side, which is pretty steep. I can not really justify this amount to myself.

On the other side, before I should make an invest for a limiter at all, I would rather want to go to the "best" there.

So I should regard hunting a Limitless on the sell forums as a kind of sport, because it's reeeaally rare

[s28]

...
Trackcomp, at £75 is quite pricey really.

...

If Trackcomp is already pricey... what is Pro-C2 then with it´s 149,-€ for being an absolute boring digital standard compressor in a fancy dress??

An even pricier compressor.

DMG are great, trackcomp2 is really nice. It is still pricey for a lot of a people.

I didn't mention fabfilter, there are ofc less value for money products that trackcomp2.

Good answer

Thank you - good response

[DaveGamble]

Ya ok. But from a customer perspective (mine), its a compressor.

Obviously you are indeed correct about your own perspective. However, don't let that cause you to miss out on some of the most delicious sounding distortions from the rack (1176/LA2A without compression, Zener THD mode) [Respectively: rock'n'roll, tube warmth and insane shredding]

Dave.

[dionenoid]

Trackcomp, at £75 is quite pricey really.

It's 75 bucks for a range of compressors : DMG, LA2A, 1176 (2 types), DBX160, API 2500, SSL Bus, SSL Track and Zener. All of the most popular compressor models in one plugin.

People do easily pay 29 bucks for the millionth mediocre LA2A or 1176 emulation with limited functionality, yet 75 bucks for a bunch of really good emulations (with added features and the ability to compare various models in one plugin), is suddenly too expensive. Very weird.

[zerocrossing]

Trackcomp, at £75 is quite pricey really.

It's 75 bucks for a range of compressors : DMG, LA2A, 1176 (2 types), DBX160, API 2500, SSL Bus, SSL Track and Zener. All of the most popular compressor models in one plugin.

People do easily pay 29 bucks for the millionth mediocre LA2A or 1176 emulation with limited functionality, yet 75 bucks for a bunch of really good emulations (with added features and the ability to compare various models in one plugin), is suddenly too expensive. Very weird.

This is exactly what I was going to say. $75 USD for what you get is quite cheap, especially when you consider the quality.

[hlecram]

I'm trying to decide whether to buy PSP Impressor at intro price ($20).

TrackComp 2 is what i would buy if money is no object. Maybe i'll buy it some time later.

It‘s not legit to call a thing the best without beeing able to quantify it to objectively measure and compare it to the others. So it‘s rather a matter of taste regarding the sound and the workflow and of course the special cause what you want to do with it, if you regard it for you the best then. For sure all the DMG Audio plugins belong to the top notch class and are worth to own them and many of them are on my wishlist. But since I try to get the DMG items on my wishlist as used, because buying them new, they are really too pricey for me und they appear not often used on the market, it‘s difficult for me to get them. Also they are literally NEVER on sale. The conclusion is, that not many, which have bought it do regret that buy and it seem to be a really high quality product

DMG offers a discount if you own some of their products. For example I have 6 DMG products. If I add Essence to my cart it shows $132US regular price but with a $50 discount as an existing customer, for a total of $86. It's not a deep discount but it can help with affordability.

Unfortunately I have just one plugin from them, so that discount is kind of limited to me ATM, especially because I rather look for the most priciest products (Compassion, Multiplicity and Limitless).

Furthermore as a hobbyist I am really pretty overeqipped with compressors, thus I have to admit, that further improvement of my music is not depending on tools, but rather my time and effort to invest. But GAS, you know...

What is the only real open point in my list - I do not have a really good limiter yet (just Elevate, if you want to regard that as good). So maybe this is the one to really get next.

From Fabfilter, I would have the option to get Pro-L if they go next time on their typical sale for ~78€, which is kind of a steal. DMG Limitless would stand with 191€ on the other side, which is pretty steep. I can not really justify this amount to myself.

On the other side, before I should make an invest for a limiter at all, I would rather want to go to the "best" there.

So I should regard hunting a Limitless on the sell forums as a kind of sport, because it's reeeaally rare

I might add: every time dmg comes out with a new plugin they offer an additional intro discount for that for a month or so, irc.
Maybe when limitless 2 (just sayin, I have no infos on that…) comes around, there might be a chance to catch it. Or perhaps when dmg introduces the saturation plugin which they’re supposedly working on atm you find something new to buy and rank up in the upgrade tier stage…

Btt: I find trackcomp decently priced for what you get and it is the most versatile one in my arsenal.

Cheers
Marcel

[hlecram]

Trackcomp, at £75 is quite pricey really.

People do easily pay 29 bucks for the millionth mediocre LA2A or 1176 emulation with limited functionality, yet 75 bucks for a bunch of really good emulations (with added features and the ability to compare various models in one plugin), is suddenly too expensive. Very weird.

Well said!

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I love TrackComp2 (TC2). Totally a desert-island compressor plugin for me. If you compare it to hardware (I've got Stam 1176A/D/G and LA-2A clones plus an Audioscape SSL-G Buss Comp clone), TrackComp2 stacks up very favorably. To the point where the biggest differences are "less noisy". Compared against other plugins it holds it's own and betters most. As Dave said, try driving other LA-2A's into crazy distortion territory. The one in TC2 excels at that. The value/cost discussion is nuts IMO. TrackComp2 is the best value in compression IMO outside of freeware. Nowhere else do you get such high quality circuit models of so much gear.

Now, where I don't necessarily love TrackComp2 is in the GUI. The makeup gain fader being something you have to pull down to increase gain just completely breaks my brain. Especially when the output gain knob goes up for gain increases. Also, I know you can zoom in on the meter by double clicking GR, but that should really be the default state. Or have a separate GR meter from the output meter. That whole right section of the GUI would benefit from an overhaul IMO. It also feels like you have to be willing to paint outside the lines when it comes to the LA-2A's attack and release settings - like the plugin itself is much, much slower than the GUI says, so you can do an LA-2A model with <1ms attack, and the actual attack is much slower. If those little nitpicky things could be improved, I'd love it even more.

[s28]

Trackcomp, at £75 is quite pricey really.

It's 75 bucks for a range of compressors : DMG, LA2A, 1176 (2 types), DBX160, API 2500, SSL Bus, SSL Track and Zener. All of the most popular compressor models in one plugin.

People do easily pay 29 bucks for the millionth mediocre LA2A or 1176 emulation with limited functionality, yet 75 bucks for a bunch of really good emulations (with added features and the ability to compare various models in one plugin), is suddenly too expensive. Very weird.

I didn't say it's too expensive. I said it is pricey for some people. £75 is a lot for some people, in general.

I think trackcomp2 is great value for money, it has a load going on and DMG is a great company.

Your misquoting me there, I don't think it's too expensive for what it is.

[SamDi]

Trackcomp, at £75 is quite pricey really.

It's 75 bucks for a range of compressors : DMG, LA2A, 1176 (2 types), DBX160, API 2500, SSL Bus, SSL Track and Zener. All of the most popular compressor models in one plugin.

People do easily pay 29 bucks for the millionth mediocre LA2A or 1176 emulation with limited functionality, yet 75 bucks for a bunch of really good emulations (with added features and the ability to compare various models in one plugin), is suddenly too expensive. Very weird.

This is exactly what I was going to say. $75 USD for what you get is quite cheap, especially when you consider the quality.

Sorry, I don't get on which price bases you all are discussing here:

1.) It was mentioned it's £75 not $75.
2.) It's not £75 anymore, because it was the introduction price - now it's £85 for UK
3.) In $ it's 111 for US
4.) Since they seem to add additional VAT for European countries (what I don't understand because the £85 should include VAT for UK already). But in € they seem to calculate 85*1,19(£->€)*1,19(VAT in DE for example), which leads to ~120€ then, which is indeed pretty much steeper compared with your 75$.

Don't get it wrong, that I say it's not worth it. But it's not really as cheap as you mentioned it...

[SamDi]

I'm trying to decide whether to buy PSP Impressor at intro price ($20).

TrackComp 2 is what i would buy if money is no object. Maybe i'll buy it some time later.

It‘s not legit to call a thing the best without beeing able to quantify it to objectively measure and compare it to the others. So it‘s rather a matter of taste regarding the sound and the workflow and of course the special cause what you want to do with it, if you regard it for you the best then. For sure all the DMG Audio plugins belong to the top notch class and are worth to own them and many of them are on my wishlist. But since I try to get the DMG items on my wishlist as used, because buying them new, they are really too pricey for me und they appear not often used on the market, it‘s difficult for me to get them. Also they are literally NEVER on sale. The conclusion is, that not many, which have bought it do regret that buy and it seem to be a really high quality product

DMG offers a discount if you own some of their products. For example I have 6 DMG products. If I add Essence to my cart it shows $132US regular price but with a $50 discount as an existing customer, for a total of $86. It's not a deep discount but it can help with affordability.

Unfortunately I have just one plugin from them, so that discount is kind of limited to me ATM, especially because I rather look for the most priciest products (Compassion, Multiplicity and Limitless).

Furthermore as a hobbyist I am really pretty overeqipped with compressors, thus I have to admit, that further improvement of my music is not depending on tools, but rather my time and effort to invest. But GAS, you know...

What is the only real open point in my list - I do not have a really good limiter yet (just Elevate, if you want to regard that as good). So maybe this is the one to really get next.

From Fabfilter, I would have the option to get Pro-L if they go next time on their typical sale for ~78€, which is kind of a steal. DMG Limitless would stand with 191€ on the other side, which is pretty steep. I can not really justify this amount to myself.

On the other side, before I should make an invest for a limiter at all, I would rather want to go to the "best" there.

So I should regard hunting a Limitless on the sell forums as a kind of sport, because it's reeeaally rare

I might add: every time dmg comes out with a new plugin they offer an additional intro discount for that for a month or so, irc.
Maybe when limitless 2 (just sayin, I have no infos on that…) comes around, there might be a chance to catch it. Or perhaps when dmg introduces the saturation plugin which they’re supposedly working on atm you find something new to buy and rank up in the upgrade tier stage…

Btt: I find trackcomp decently priced for what you get and it is the most versatile one in my arsenal.

Cheers
Marcel

Hm, seems to happen not to often. 2020 for TrackComp2 and 2013 for EQilibrium, if News history is complete. Could get a long wait

[plexuss]

Ya ok. But from a customer perspective (mine), its a compressor.

Obviously you are indeed correct about your own perspective. However, don't let that cause you to miss out on some of the most delicious sounding distortions from the rack (1176/LA2A without compression, Zener THD mode) [Respectively: rock'n'roll, tube warmth and insane shredding]
Dave.

To be fair I left out that I also think TrackComp is an excellent audio tool and good value for the money. I think it works out to about $117US regular price which works out to $13 per compressor model. And then you are in the DMG game and will get further discounts. Even the regular price is a no brainer. Frankly its worth considering unloading duplicates from other companies for the all in one TrackComp. YMMV

[Fornicras]

I haven't tested it, tbh this is the first time I'm hearing about DMGAudio. I didn't listen to sound demos yet but having multiple emulations in one tool is a great thing. The only thing that bothers me is the interface, I wish it would be more visual like C2.

[fese]

Now, where I don't necessarily love TrackComp2 is in the GUI. The makeup gain fader being something you have to pull down to increase gain just completely breaks my brain. Especially when the output gain knob goes up for gain increases. Also, I know you can zoom in on the meter by double clicking GR, but that should really be the default state. Or have a separate GR meter from the output meter. That whole right section of the GUI would benefit from an overhaul IMO. It also feels like you have to be willing to paint outside the lines when it comes to the LA-2A's attack and release settings - like the plugin itself is much, much slower than the GUI says, so you can do an LA-2A model with <1ms attack, and the actual attack is much slower. If those little nitpicky things could be improved, I'd love it even more.

I agree about the GUI, maybe that is the reason why I don't use TC2 as much as I should. I actually do not have a problem with the makeup gain, I've gotten used to that, but more with the "middle" section". It feels rather small and crowded and I heartily dislike horizontal faders as controls. Doesn't make sense to me, I think regular knobs work much better on plugin interfaces.
Also, it would be really usefull if there were simplified UI modes for the classic compressors (like the views in u-he Presswerk) that resemble the original layouts. One of the advantages of a LA2A is of course that it is so dead simple and quick to use. Two knobs, bam, you're done. While the added features in TC2 may be helpful in some situations, sometimes simplicity is your friend.

[Krzysztof Oktalski]

The makeup gain fader being something you have to pull down to increase gain just completely breaks my brain. Especially when the output gain knob goes up for gain increases.

This was intentional, if you have the gain the other way there's a tendency to yank it quickly and blow your speakers/ears. We tried it both ways and settled on pulling down, because it makes you think a bit longer and less likely to move it quickly to a potentially dangerous position.

Also, I know you can zoom in on the meter by double clicking GR, but that should really be the default state.

If it were default you'd often never see the incoming signal, the right hand section would seemingly do nothing until one of the two right hand faders were adjusted. I think that would be disconcerting for many users. I'll discuss some kind of preference for this, although there is no setup pane on TC2.

Or have a separate GR meter from the output meter. That whole right section of the GUI would benefit from an overhaul IMO.

The point of Trackcomp was to give a tonic to the complexity of Compassion. Having 2 GR meters would change that, can you show me an example where you think such a layout works well?

It also feels like you have to be willing to paint outside the lines when it comes to the LA-2A's attack and release settings.

Dave addressed this when he was talking about T4Bs. It's maybe outside of your T4B's lines, for the T4Bs we've got it makes sense.