Black Rooster Audio releases the VTC-2 Vintage Tube Compressor

[funky lime]

Now I am actually interested in the plugin. Too many compressors. But fun. Getting demo.

Edit:
No Demo?

There is... you just have to create an account, download/install the entire 600mb bundle of all their plugins, and create a 14-day demo license from the website

[Agreed]

That's not quite fair - it is true that you download a bundled installer that's about 600MB now, but you can select which plugins are installed in the installer quite easily, and which formats and all that. And making a trial is done on a per-plugin basis, so you're not burning all the trials at once, I've had no trouble getting new trials for every new plugin that's come out just by going to the account page and creating a trial license for them. For what it's worth, if you do have any issues trying to evaluate it, I feel pretty good that Black Rooster support will help you as they have helped me in the past consistently.

I am having a good time checking it out, pals, it's a cool compressor! Love its character, nice "Drive" behavior. Makes for some killer parallel compression on gainy guitars, for example. Still evaluating it but I'm sure making presets like I'm gonna buy it...

[Agreed]

Any time I see something is emulating vacuum tubes, one of the first things I do is force it to become a guitar amplifier. I dunno, maybe it's weird, but when I start seeing harmonics like this throws off in Plugin Doctor I just gotta try. In this case I'm very glad I did, as this VTC-2 is absolutely the best results I've ever got forcing something to be a guitar amplifier that was not supposed to be.

Here, have a listen, this is just six instances of VTC-2 with "Drive" ranging from 7-10, some set to 1:2 ratio others set to 1:4 ratio and the final one set to a 1:10 ratio (lower on the last one it's less saggy, but I was liking the looser, woolly feel). All pretty fast attack but I did vary it a tiny bit. "Trims" set individually to taste with the first four in the -4 to -2 range and the final two boosting, big impact on the sound how each of these is set (gain staging, baby, yeah!). Then, Nembrini IR Loader with some Dr. Bonkers IRs.

https://vocaroo.com/1m2HIvw7U6ri

I want to be clear, its compression behavior and very nice sonic fingerprint was already impressing me, but if you're looking for a guitar amp sim the hard way...

I've decided, after playing with this for hours today in different ways and then this fun experiment I am most definitely buying this plugin. I think it's awesome at its real job and has character that will be useful. I do think if Black Rooster wanted to, they could make a really cool amp sim these days, what with actual tone shaping in the right places internally they could do then. The playing feel of this unusual experiment is surprisingly nice, responsive - pretty neat!

[BlackRooster]

Just want to take a moment to thank Black Rooster for doing great work for some years now. I've been very glad to support y'all and I know I've got my money's worth for the plugins (got 'em all up to this release). Your customer service has been kind and helpful any time I've had an issue or a question. I have much positive feeling toward your brand and you have earned it.

I hope I can phrase this with the right sensitivity. I do worry when you talk, it seems like for maybe a couple years now, about financial struggles, to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I respect that you are being candid and I respect that the circumstances are challenging in the general plugin market. But I become concerned, not the least of which reason because these are call & response authorized and in the back of my mind there is a fear there... If y'all are struggling that bad for too long, eventually you go to use them and can't authorize. Like I said, I have bought all of your plugins so far, and believe me, I hate to talk so candidly about such a dire possibility in the face of a new product release that should be mainly a fun/exciting time. Just felt a need to express a concern as a big fan.

Certainly I hope for the best possible outcome and that things will be great behind the scenes for Black Rooster as a company and its many happy users will enjoy a happy mutually beneficial relationship for a long time to come.

Anyway. I am downloading this to check it out now, let y'all know how I find it!

Thank you very much for your kind words. Appreciated.

[BlackRooster]

Honestly: This is trolling - we made our point. We are not Universal Audio employing a trillion developers. And yet, we are working on it. This whole discussion should be about the plug-in and its sound & interface. Our customers don't buy formats, but state-of-the-art DSP. We would really appreciate, if we could shift from repeatedly commenting on VST3. Everything has been said, and we DID GET IT. Thank you!

Honestly: It’s NOT. You’re promising VST3 support since forever, but it looks like you have some bigger priorities than Cubase users. I’m using Cubase and can’t really discuss a plugin that isn’t supporting my DAW no matter how much I’d like to. Before calling my dissatisfaction trolling I was also interested in your VLA-3A since May 2022, but after seeing your attitude I think that I’ll be looking for some alternatives.

Viele Grüße,
Equisonus

There is no bad attitude behind that. It is just - why don't people respect an honest answer anymore? I have made it super transparent, that this company is not in the position economically to compete with the development pace of the big players, partly because the big players permanently ruining the market with their $1.90 sales. In addition - the expectations towards smaller software developers are somewhat unreal - and I feel, that this is also coming from a bias towards small companies based on how large software companies operate. But one can simply not compare both types of company, especially when one type is aiming and capable of destroying the other type.

I am not whining, but I want to illustrate and have you understand, that the decisions made and strategies planned within small software companies can easily be compromised or even wiped out by the tiniest situations such as employees leaving, new technologies, or bad campaign timing, etc. Things, that large companies are immune to or that don't have that much of an effect for them. For us, with the current situation and all those fancy fusions and hyper-sales with 110% discount, it is getting tough to plan ahead other than RELEASES RELEASES RELEASES.

So instead of having people complaining the trillionth time about our shitty VST2 only situation, one could simply support a brand with actually testing their plugins, posting reviews or even buying from them, to have them actually compete and allow for the next generation of plugin developers to make a dime!

No idea how complicated this framework update is and if will be applied to all plugins automatically. And no idea if it would be accepted by users or is financially reasonable. But I would pay the price of a plugin for a framework update of all plug-ins easily. Let's call it a 2.0 version.

Lets say with manual oversampling from 0x-16x besides the current auto oversampling as a default. Zero latency (0x) and super low aliasing (8x, 16x) can both be great to have.

VST3 support backported to a version 1.0 to make everyone happy (actually just using the 2.0 version minus the new other enhancements).

You could also add a equal loudness workflow to the list.

I'm very grateful that we have all these smaller, super customer friendly audio devs which often have even a better quality than the big ones. The audio world would be different without them, not to our advantage. Full support.

Great suggestions, some of them are in planning already. THanks!

[BlackRooster]

Now I am actually interested in the plugin. Too many compressors. But fun. Getting demo.

Edit:
No Demo?

You can always demo, we have just had a server hickup not recognizing the updated product catalog within MyAccount. All fixed - just log in and create yourself a trial.

[jens]

Any time I see something is emulating vacuum tubes, one of the first things I do is force it to become a guitar amplifier.

Same here.

(Yay, I resisted)

[Dip200]

Having no VST3 is a show stopper for me amd I see that I’m not alone.
Come on, it’s almost 2024 already.

Honestly: This is trolling - we made our point. We are not Universal Audio employing a trillion developers. And yet, we are working on it.

The funny thing is that Universal Audio has not yet ported a single UAD-2 plugin to vst3 , let alone updated the GUIs with an option to resize them. (dear reader, don't confuse UAD-X with UAD-2)

That said, yes you were kinda slow and announced vst3 on your website aeons ago. But the only company I'm angry about is Steinberg or Yamaha or whoever owns them for discontinueing vst2. Although, there was a Cubase 13 leak and the windows version will feature vst2.

[midi_transmission]

I like the box tone. It is subtle, but it can make the signal a bit wider and has a silky touch. I had some drum tracks that sounded finished when I applied it with just 1db reduction and a fast release. I can recommend to check it out.

[BlackRooster]

That's a great review. thanks!

[abi]

I think this sounds great! For my taste the Altec, VLA-FET and this one are top plugins which are easily comparable quality wise with the UA stuff. Of course with less latency that is!

Only downside is that I’m already drowning in compressors…

[BlackRooster]

Only downside is that I’m already drowning in compressors…

Same here ...

[Agreed]

The way you can push this and it still holds together musically is really impressive. I know it is not your intention, BRA, that six instances in a row slamming can turn into a guitar amp, but what its nice sounding behavior at such an extreme does illustrate is that this compressor can handle an absolutely massive amount of gain and compression without becoming unmusical And when using it as intended, it just has a really nice voice, a really nice way of contributing harmonics, and as someone else noted, a very nice "box tone" which is always cool to see in a plugin.

[BlackRooster]

I love the way you guys are "misusing" the unit. Maybe we will come up with another amp sim.

[jens]

Please do!