What Does The Jury Say on Uhe Presswerk?

[chokehold]

A really big feature of Presswerk is that you can't only compress but also expand.
Best of all: you get to "mix" between the expanded and compressed signal.

High-passing the expanded path (in Presswerk) and mixing it partially into the compressed signal allows you to bring back some of that crisp high-end into an otherwise flattened sausage. Puts the "click" right back into the kick drum.

Setting the saturation to "pre" lets you beef up the signal before you compress it, which makes it useful not only as a post-comp distortion unit, but also as a sort-of pre-comp exciter. Or monitor the internal Sidechain path, use the "pre" saturation, activate Output clipping and drive your signal right into the wall with the Input gain.

I absolutely understand how one can be overwhelmed (or afraid of dealing) with the wealth of possibilities it offers. But if you know what you're doing (rtfm d00d!), it's very easy to handle. Which, I guess, goes for everything.

[AC222]

Wow, thank you everyone that has posted so far. Great feedback. A couple of questions for anybody who has posted already or anybody else that has experience. Can this be set to sound transparent or is there always going to be a signature Uhe sound imparted with all controls set to flat. It sounds like this is more of a character piece than transparent with all the saturation going on but I wonder if you could just get nice clean compression with it as well for added versatility.

My other question is could this thing capture the vibe of something like a Shadows Hills Mastering Comp? I'm not expecting an exact sound or 1:1 emulation but I wonder if its possible to get similar color/vibe?

Thanks!

AC

[3ee]

It can be used as a clean compressor:

Just turn off DPR and set saturation amount to minimum.

[Kindred]

If I was just starting out building my plugin folder I would definitely get this. I still think it has hands down one of the nicest GUIs of any plugin out there. I didn't buy it when it came out because I literally have a folder full of compressors already.

However if Urs ever changes his policy and has a short sale where he discounts it, I think I will grab it as I really liked it. The GUI creates a nice placebo effect I found helpful, if that makes any sense.

[AC222]

Thanks 3ee and Kindred. Everyone here is making me salivate now. That GUI is really pretty. The thing is that I already have a bunch of great compressors so I definitely don't "need" this but there is something really tempting. From the clips I've heard, it really sounds closer to hardware compression than most of the algo stuff there and obviously less cpu hit than those darn intensive Nebula comps that can sound fantastic. Yes, I have them and enjoy them but it is a buzzkill when you want to use tons of instances and your computer chokes....Hmmm I'm just hoping someone will talk me into this one...lol

[Rah]

I'm interested in opinions from those that have also tried Boz +10db

Ie if you have Presswerk is their any point?

I demoed +10 db and attempted to match what I did with it with Presswerk and I thought I was close enough that I didn't need +10db

But mileage varies. And +10db sounds real nice though

[Tp3]

I don't like the idea behind Presswerk (for me it's too complex).

+1

If it comes to a "compressor toolbox" IMO DMG Audio with "Compassion" is a better option if people like tweaking (Afaik it goes a lot deeper than Presswerk and allows more different compression behaviour) .... and I like the modern interface more

I don't like the idea behind "compressor toolbox", either....
(and not just with compressors. in my experience, for me - a toolbox becomes very quickly a "foolbox" : the wealth of options makes me forget what I wanted to do in the first place...)

[masterhiggins]

As far as "replacing" the vintage emulations out there... it's not suppose to do that.

That ethos applies to too many plugins these days, which is why people end up with 50 different compressors, all of which are "slightly" different. I kind of find it refreshing when plugins aim to trim down one's collection.

[Ah_Dziz]

It's an amazing compressor. For me it showed up too late as I literally have about 100 or more other compressors at this point and already have a goto for a given situation. For somebody who is still at the earlier stages of amassing a collection of plugins this thing seems amazing. I can do some pretty subtle but extremely effective mix and bus glueing as well as pretty much any other type of compression behavior you might be needing. It can also get nastier than almost any other compressor plugin I've ever used without sounding out of control and destroyed. I almost bought it for that alone but it turns out that that isn't a sound I often need in my work. If I ever go to do an old school punk or hardcore album I'll pick this up for sure.

JJ

[Twrogstudio]

Interestingly, despite Compassion being great, I never got on with it. Possibly because I'm lazy, but Presswork was a joy from day 1. Compassion for me is like a stern little German woman in a lab with crazy eyes and a hairy mole. Amazing things will come of it, but not in a particularly sexy way.

[HobbyCore]

I purchased Presswerk despite not demoing it much, and I've been using it for ~2 months now.

My main issue with it is that probably 90% of the time I get poor results with it because there are so many parameters to tweak. The other 10% of the time it feels like I get lucky and it sounds better than anything else that I've used. (and I've owned a lot of fancy hardware comps)

Increasingly I've found that I rarely feel like opening presswerk and spending the time trying to get the 'best sound' when I can get 'good enough' from pro-c or a specific hardware emulation.

For the few times where only the absolute perfect result is acceptable, I can't imagine living without presswerk. On the other hand, I am constantly frustrated trying to use it, and I'm very far from an inexperienced user.

FWIW, I've read the manual many times, and it pretty much explains the things I already know. It doesn't do a very good job explaining how various parameters work together that are uncommon to be on the same compressor.

[3ee]

HobbyCore, try the "Vintage" patch folder... those presets are meant as initialize ones for certain characters... so in most cases, all you need to do is bring up the input level or bring down the threshold, this will probably help you realize certain relativity with Presswerk's feature set more easily.

[Numanoid]

'The Jury' ?

Is that a new member?

Have you ever posted a useful comment in this forum? I doubt it.

I don't expect getting any accolades from my postings, like you are fishing for

[Rah]

Yeah it's a bargain for someone who hasn't already got tons of compressors already

If I was already loaded to the teeth with quality compressors I might not be so quick to jump in with Presswerk.

On the subject of the toolbox nature of it, I've found it best to construct or appropriate presets with specific compressor tasks in mind, so as not to get too lost.

I have half a dozen presets that I use all the time and then I'm tweaking those, already in the ballpark of what I need

[transmetropolitan]

It occurs to me that a practical example of how it's benefitted me might help.

One small feature I really love is the ability to assign negative values to the sidechain timing.

On this mix:

https://soundcloud.com/musculoskeletal/ ... etal-remix

I wanted to have a very very quick attack on my drum bus comp. So I selected the drum bus from my mix as the sidechain input, and then tuned the timing of it with the knob, so that when the kick hits on the 1 the comp envelope is already open. It usefully helped the groove and provided the drums with a bit more forward momentum.

It's totally possible to set up what was achieved with Presswerk here with other comps. But unlike any of my other compressors, Presswerk makes it easy. It was the twist of a couple of knobs, instantly useful and what I wanted. Within 30 seconds I achieved the groove and envelope shape I wanted from the compressor.

That speed/ease of use is worth quite a bit to me, much as I could have achieved it with other tools.