Is TrackComp 2 by DMG Audio the best compressor?

[Ploki]

all this dev responses prompted me to demo it again. 123€ tho...

Just keep requesting demo extensions until you either fall in love and decide you have to have it, or decide you can live without it. We’re super quick with demo extensions.

Dave.

Then there's the fact that you're behind Oddsound and you're just such nice guys - you're not making this easy

otoh, you're making it really easy

[bmanic]

TrackComp has become one of my go-to compressors for all kinds of things. I love the fact that we have so extensive control over the various parameters. I also LOVE the fact the there are no tonal changes (except for what all the harmonics bring to the game). This means that you can actually use the DBX 160 model for MASTERING purposes if you so desire. There's wonky huge frequency spectrum skew as I had on the real thing and no damn noise! And you can set it to a ratio of 1.02:1 and a super deeeeeep threshold and still get a tiny hint of that DBX smack and movement.

This kind of stuff makes TrackComp unique and extremely useful and versatile. Also it works flawlessly as a native M1 ARM plugin.

It's absolutely awesome!

(sorry Ploki, not trying to persuade you or anything... )

[Steelmount]

TrackComp has become one of my go-to compressors for all kinds of things. I love the fact that we have so extensive control over the various parameters.

I agree. This is what I like about this plugin.

Just keep requesting demo extensions until you either fall in love and decide you have to have it, or decide you can live without it. We’re super quick with demo extensions.

Yes. This is a very friendly and kind strategy that I appreciate a lot!
When I ask for a extension for Equilibrium it took like one hour?? amazing team!

[midi_transmission]

We've spent a lot of time studying this topic and I heartily disagree. Watching people use knobs on software made me realise it's an anachronism from hardware that serves very little purpose apart from making older users more comfortable by using a familiar analogy. Those faders give you a much better representation and are more efficient in terms of screen space, they're quicker to use and you don't start tracing a circle with your mouse, which is frankly just weird.

Krzysztof Oktalsk, I agree. As long you can still drag on them up/down with the mouse the DMG faders are a great solution. For some reason I much prefer drag up/down compared to drag left/right.

Most of the time I drag up/down (for me the quickest and effortless interaction with the mouse, I never get tired this way), sometimes left/right (often for detail adjustment, easier for me to do small, precise movements with the mouse this way) and sometimes I click at a place to set a value quickly.

The interface so well thought out and highly functional. It's a joy.

[midi_transmission]

I think we could improve the meter law and that might mitigate your concerns a little, nobody really needs to know what's happening at -107dB on a compressor. I'll talk to Dave about that, I think that might make a bigger improvement than we realise in the first instance.

Yeah, as I was writing that out I think I was leaning that way too. Maybe even playing with the scaling some more too where the first 20db or so are larger. Some fine tuning with the existing metering might just do the trick.

The Softube thing can be seen here:



...those side and bottom panels kind of "pop out" if you chose to enable them. Most of the time, I'm happy with just seeing a GR meter, but it's nice to be able to see in the input / output with gain difference on those interfaces. Different design philosophy though and might not work for TC2.

Taste is different of course. But I much prefere TC2 to this. What don't you like about the GR meter? You get even get a higher resolution when double clicking on it. I tried to understand it but I still don't understand the problem.

[bmanic]

The problem with the double click is that the GR meter becomes a non-linear meter.. but worse is that the makeup gain slider also changes it's resolution in how it responds to the mouse, while input and output gain do not. This creates an inconsistency that isn't all that nice to work with.

I'd much rather have everything linear and a few more ranges. One for normal abuse use, about 24dB range should be more than enough. One for more delicate use which could be 9dB range, then one for mastering tasks where it's only 6dB of range. Then make sure Input, Makeup and Output gains all have exactly the same mouse sensitivity in each mode.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

The problem with the double click is that the GR meter becomes a non-linear meter.. but worse is that the makeup gain slider also changes it's resolution in how it responds to the mouse, while input and output gain do not. This creates an inconsistency that isn't all that nice to work with.

I'd much rather have everything linear and a few more ranges. One for normal abuse use, about 24dB range should be more than enough. One for more delicate use which could be 9dB range, then one for mastering tasks where it's only 6dB of range. Then make sure Input, Makeup and Output gains all have exactly the same mouse sensitivity in each mode.

...and I'd add: the ability to set one as default. Or store the meter settings with the preset.

[Calagan]

I don't have nothing valuable to add to the discussion. I'm just a very happy user of TrackComp and I'm happy to hear a bit from Dave Gamble and Krzysztof Oktalski.
I use TrackComp all the time. I love its sound, its interface (I like it alot actually) and its stability.
The fact that I have every compressor I could want under the finger is another reason why I use it all the time : if I need to process a drum bus, I may want to use an SSL one for get some glue and punch. After some tweaks, I may think that actually I may need to explore more an agressive territory and try the 76a on slot B. The day after, I could feel that I want pumping mood and release the Zener limiter on slot C. And then compare the 3 options and decide what I like best.
Or I could just compare 3 different versions of the same settings with only tiny differences on slots D, E and F.
All this at the same level thanks to the autogain...
All this to say that TrackComp is also a beast thanks to its various features : 8 slots, autogain, upsampling etc. etc...

[andymcbain]

all this dev responses prompted me to demo it again. 123€ tho...

Just keep requesting demo extensions until you either fall in love and decide you have to have it, or decide you can live without it. We’re super quick with demo extensions.

Dave.

Well in that case, I may have to revisit the API model

[Plugintester]

The best compressor is the one you know best and that gives you the best results.
For example I like Waves CLA 3A on guitar, but it's not always my choice, sometimes I do not use compression at all.
Of course you can't compare Waves CLA 3A to DMG, DMG is a swiss army knife.
You also have to learn when it makes sense to use a compressor, not just adding a compressor to every track.
But if I had to keep one compressor only,
I'd keep ReaComp haha

[QCGroove]

Speaking of DMG, where's TrackWarmth? Take my money!

[onerob]

One question: Why was there not a highpass filter option on the sidechain for the 76 models? (Other than the fact that they don't exist in the hardware).

[DaveGamble]

One question: Why was there not a highpass filter option on the sidechain for the 76 models? (Other than the fact that they don't exist in the hardware).

I could swear BLIND I added this. :S

[DaveGamble]

Speaking of DMG, where's TrackWarmth? Take my money!

It’s a very fair question, but to me the answer is obvious to anyone who keeps up with the news… so it’s intriguing. Are the Synth and Effects forums really so far apart? :S

In short, go watch an interview with Steve Duda

[onerob]

One question: Why was there not a highpass filter option on the sidechain for the 76 models? (Other than the fact that they don't exist in the hardware).

I could swear BLIND I added this. :S

It escaped