Toneboosters Compressor 4

[djanthonyw]

I don't have MBC, maybe I should get it? Any thoughts on which mode is most suited to buses?

What do you mean by modes? Like single band or multi band mode? I would say single band for channels and multi band for busses or master.

MBC is very good, Pro MB is also very good, I dunno about it blowing Pro MB away, maybe in price.
MBC is definitely worth having, tho I don't think it supports linear phase crossovers, which might
be useful in some situations. Certainly for the price, MBC is hard to beat.

When I demoed both I found MBC to sound a lot better and it offers saturation and drive controls which Pro-MB does not. As with all the FF plugins, the GUIs are very nice and intuitive but the sound is not anything special. I'd also say that the new TB plugins have GUIs that aren't far off from FF and TB plugins let you choose from multiple color schemes which is a nice touch.

[jens]

I don't have MBC, maybe I should get it? Any thoughts on which mode is most suited to buses?

What do you mean by modes? Like single band or multi band mode? I would say single band for channels and multi band for busses or master.

Pretty sure they are referring to the five modes ""Punch", "Complex", "Smooth", "Warm, "Clean".

[digitalboytn]

I'd also say that the new TB plugins have GUIs that aren't far off from FF...

One could say that the newer TB GUIs were directly inspired by FF

I never bought any FF plugins,but when I discovered the TB v3 offerings a few years ago,I picked most of the up and the V4 plugins are always in the first call for me

They are top shelf, world class plugins

[pekbro]

I don't have MBC, maybe I should get it? Any thoughts on which mode is most suited to buses?

What do you mean by modes? Like single band or multi band mode? I would say single band for channels and multi band for busses or master.

MBC is very good, Pro MB is also very good, I dunno about it blowing Pro MB away, maybe in price.
MBC is definitely worth having, tho I don't think it supports linear phase crossovers, which might
be useful in some situations. Certainly for the price, MBC is hard to beat.

When I demoed both I found MBC to sound a lot better and it offers saturation and drive controls which Pro-MB does not. As with all the FF plugins, the GUIs are very nice and intuitive but the sound is not anything special. I'd also say that the new TB plugins have GUIs that aren't far off from FF and TB plugins let you choose from multiple color schemes which is a nice touch.

I think they are both very good, but also different. I have both and had MBC first, not to mention
Multiband X6 from DM, which I find better than the others at times. They are all very good choices, but not at all equal in every scenario. I go between them a lot, it just depends on
what you like and when. Pro MB is probably the one most in need of a refresh, I will say that.

In any event, I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

[swilow11]

Toneboosters Compressor 4 is my goto after Fircomp2 was abandoned. Love the visual feedback- just enough to get a deeper sense of what's happening without being distracting. Super clean sounding without too much clickiness or distortion. Haven't dived too deep into the different modes but whatever the default is works well for me.

Toneboosters are badly slept on in the production community. Often I feel that devs who utilise low pricing get put in the "not serious/professional" basket. But TB quality is absolutely up there with the likes of Fabfilter. I demoed ProC and ProQ against the Tb equivalent and certainly couldn't detect $150 difference. I use Tonebooster Compressor 4 and MBC most tracks, but use TBT Kirchoff more for surgical EQing.

Really love how Toneboosters offer essentially unrestricted demos. You can really get used to how their products fit into your workflow for as long as you need. I quite like their limiter to, although I mainly use a brainworx one or Ozone. Not a huge fan of TB synths- they're not bad by any means but are a bit underwhelming.

[Greenstorm33]

Agreed, they are so good, and they just keep getting better. Just got the email yesterday about linear phase in EQ Pro. I actually prefer EQ Pro to ProQ for the most part, and I find Compressor 4 and MBC to be at least as good as their equivalents as well. Not to mention that they're each like half the price of a FF version update.

[pekbro]

Toneboosters stuff is very good, but it's also far from perfect. There are many reasons someone might prefer other stuff over it and vice-versa. As for being slept on by the production community, that doesn't make sense, anyone who knows Breebaart's background would be stupid to try and question his knowledge of any audio technology, or the value offered by his products.

Honestly, I bet more folks than you would guess, already own some or all of his stuff and would tend to point folks towards him who are looking for the best value when starting out.

The reality of it, is that using only one line of tools for all your audio needs is not really going to work for very many.

[bungle]

The reality of it, is that using only one line of tools for all your audio needs is not really going to work for very many.

This is the reality of the terminally online, the majority of people are actually using the built ins in their DAW, 3rd party plugins are generally prettier and if you are lucky have some nice extra features, but again, the majority of users wont ever use those extra features.

[yzcoruhT]

Toneboosters Compressor 4 is my goto after Fircomp2 was abandoned. Love the visual feedback- just enough to get a deeper sense of what's happening without being distracting.

Toneboosters Compressor 4 is the best compressor if you compare the price and the sound. Still preffer FirComp2 more, it is easier and faster to dial it, in my opinion.

[whassup]

If I wouldn't be swamped in really good compressors of all kinds and flavours I would concider this one as it is really good.
Toneboosters plugins I own are MBC, Barricade and EQ Pro.
Great interfaces, a lot of cool features, great sound.
And their demo politics is really cool.
These things make me relax and like a company.

[swilow11]

Toneboosters stuff is very good, but it's also far from perfect. There are many reasons someone might prefer other stuff over it and vice-versa. As for being slept on by the production community, that doesn't make sense, anyone who knows Breebaart's background would be stupid to try and question his knowledge of any audio technology, or the value offered by his products.

Honestly, I bet more folks than you would guess, already own some or all of his stuff and would tend to point folks towards him who are looking for the best value when starting out.

The reality of it, is that using only one line of tools for all your audio needs is not really going to work for very many.

Fair call. I do encounter many more people talking about and using Fabfilter than TB but that may not mean a lot.

I think TB stuff is as good as Fabfilter and certainly not just for people "starting out". And yes, not perfect, what is though? Curious what imperfections you're referring to?

There are some workflow improvements I could imagine. Eg with MBC, being able to just double click a spot on the spectrum to create a band split would be easier than having to click the + icon. Although maybe something similar is possible.

[digitalboytn]

The truth is that when the program material is good,then what you use on the back end is less relevant

The focus should always be on the strength of the creative ideas and the quality of the performance

[whassup]

There are some workflow improvements I could imagine. Eg with MBC, being able to just double click a spot on the spectrum to create a band split would be easier than having to click the + icon. Although maybe something similar is possible.

Hm, that works here on Windows11 VST3. Double click anywhere in the FFT area creates a split.

[whassup]

The truth is that when the program material is good,then what you use on the back end is less relevant

The focus should always be on the strength of the creative ideas and the quality of the performance

Totally overrated!

[pekbro]

Toneboosters stuff is very good, but it's also far from perfect. There are many reasons someone might prefer other stuff over it and vice-versa. As for being slept on by the production community, that doesn't make sense, anyone who knows Breebaart's background would be stupid to try and question his knowledge of any audio technology, or the value offered by his products.

Honestly, I bet more folks than you would guess, already own some or all of his stuff and would tend to point folks towards him who are looking for the best value when starting out.

The reality of it, is that using only one line of tools for all your audio needs is not really going to work for very many.

Fair call. I do encounter many more people talking about and using Fabfilter than TB but that may not mean a lot.

I think TB stuff is as good as Fabfilter and certainly not just for people "starting out". And yes, not perfect, what is though? Curious what imperfections you're referring to?

There are some workflow improvements I could imagine. Eg with MBC, being able to just double click a spot on the spectrum to create a band split would be easier than having to click the + icon. Although maybe something similar is possible.

I didn't say it was for people starting out, it's just that they are often looking for the best value.
Regarding using the TB stuff, I own most of it and use it a lot, I happen to like using FF (and others) as well. I do think the preset system and some other workflow related stuff with the UI's are not as much to my liking as FF's. Also not keen on the extra onboard saturation/comp/lim etc, I tend to prefer using separate plugins and almost never use them. I hardly ever use the limiter because of this...