KVR Audio

jochicago · Post by **jochicago** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 6:25 am

I think it's clear from the comments but I wanted to step in to say:
Best for what? Nothing fits every purpose. You can't color with a transparent one, you can't do transparent bus with a colorful one. You can't mid/side with a compressor that doesn't have that setting, but a compressor that has it probably won't add character to your track.

There's only good for the application. Then any of the 20 favorite compressors can be described as excellent at what they do.

if you must have only one plugin, then the many-in-one comps are going to come up. FF C2, but also McDSP 6030/50/60 has 10 compressors, and there are a few others that have 3 or more compressor styles available.

Except for H-Comp. It only appears to have 5 styles. It's mostly just 1 compressor style with 5 styles of "analog" effects on top of the compression algorithm to make it sound like they are modeling something.

imrae · Post by **imrae** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 7:38 am

If I could only have one compressor it would be DC8C3. It's flexible enough to get into the ballpark of any other compressor I've used, and basic stuff is quick to dial in. In practice I like having other compressors too, because it's easier to load bx_opto than spend a while playing with the soft knee and program dependence, the saturation in MJUC seems to interact with the compression in a slightly nicer way, and Kotelnikov does the two-stage thing very cleanly in a single instance where DC8C might need two instances (or something comparable might be cooked up the range control and an attack setting that grabs the material just right?)

SoundPorn · Post by **SoundPorn** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 7:52 am

Currently my favorite compressor is H-Comp. I'd imagine for EDM you want something that makes thing snap and can boost transients and H Comp is possibly the best at it.

My current other favorites at the moment are 3 from W.A. Production, Puncher which is a multiband transient shaping comp, Puncher which is a 3 knob 4 mode compressor, saturator, and stereo widener, and Sphere Comp which in digital mode has an incredible snap to the envelope and the bus mode offers good smoothing.

And my current go to on my master bus when I need extra weight and thump is Firefly by Soundspot, I just love how it seems to smoothly picks everything up then throw the kicks back at you violently while at the same time gently letting the melody down.

AdvancedFollower · Post by **AdvancedFollower** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 9:05 am

SoundPorn wrote: Mon Feb 04, 2019 7:52 am Currently my favorite compressor is H-Comp. I'd imagine for EDM you want something that makes thing snap and can boost transients and H Comp is possibly the best at it.

Another great feature of H-Comp is that you can set it to host sync, so you don't have to do the maths to calculate the release time relative to the tempo (and if for some reason you change the tempo, the release time changes with it), making it great for "pumping" compression.

Other than that, I mainly use the stock compressor in Studio One. For drums, I tend to use the CLA-3A. I started using it as a quick fix (since it basically has just 2 knobs) to tame the drums (4 - 6 dB reduction) during the song writing process, but since it sounds so good, I usually leave it in.

I bought some WA Production and Soundspot dynamics plugins during their ridiculous holiday sales, but haven't played around with them enough yet. Same with the Sonimus channel strip, which I'll probably incorporate once I get used to it.

do_androids_dream · Post by **do_androids_dream** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 9:12 am

Just download the demos and try them out. That's the only way you'll get anywhere. My favourite compressors are all old freeware. There's some expensive payware I think sound horrible that others rate.. so yeah, you just have to try them out for yourself on multiple sources.

perfumer · Post by **perfumer** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 9:25 am

MasterTuner wrote: Sun Feb 03, 2019 8:57 pm thanks...
maybe my sin is asking, "what is the best ..." when it should have been "what is your favorite and why..."

What compressors do you have?

My current favourite: Zip. Why? Modulatable parameters (with an input follower or two, or three, or four, yay! which are modulatable too, yummy! Want program dependent compression, mmm?), extreme envelope for attack/release, vast lookahead + oversampling = no errors, AGC. Colors and detection types are a bonus.

Gripthegrip · Post by **Gripthegrip** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 9:59 am

Logics own

mutantdog · Post by **mutantdog** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 10:45 am

TDR Kotelnikov GE for transparency (bus/master).
u-he Presswerk for character (bus/master).
Ableton Compressor (standard) for fast and simple (track).

legendCNCD · Post by **legendCNCD** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 1:10 pm

Distorted Horizon wrote: Sun Feb 03, 2019 5:20 pm
MasterTuner wrote: Sun Feb 03, 2019 3:12 pm the best compressor
No such thing

Yeah, it really depends what one wants to do in the situation needing a compressor. Have few good ones available, choose your weapon for the task.

andymcbain · Post by **andymcbain** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 1:37 pm

While you may not want to use it on everything, Kotelnikov is certainly one of the most transparent sounding compressors I've used - and that seems to be the consensus of many other people too. Try the free version and see what you think.

BERFAB · Post by **BERFAB** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 2:02 pm

If you already have Ozone 8 or Neutron, then go with that. O8 has an excellent set of tools.

If you are just starting out and don't have these, I would suggest that you use whatever tools are built into your DAW first. Most DAWs today have real quality tools, and compressors are usually at the top of the list. Use those and learn how they work and how you work with them. Then look to the 3rd party tools to give you what you think might be missing from what you already have.

trmupstage · Post by **trmupstage** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 5:28 pm

... long winded...
Personally, I would not get caught up in what's best. There is no "best" anything. It's all preferences and even that is based on specific source material. I have so many compressors and I don't touch most of them. You might get better answers with a question like:
"what compressor do you use on vocals?
I use three. Softube FET (4:1) medium attack and fastest release (4-6dB at peaks) going into Softube CL-1B (4:1) A:2 oclock R:2 oclock (3dB on peaks) then I follow it up with a Waves MV2 to bring up the low level stuff. You also have to deess, which is another form of compression. Seems like a lot of compression, but note that each is only doing a little. The FET style compressor just handles the transient peaks with a quick release so it doesn't color the sound too much. The smoothness comes from the CL-1B (opto) compressor. The MV2 is a totally different beast and is used to bring out the subtle details by bringing up the low level fader.

I don't think any "one" compressor is going to do everything. I tend to like ones that are simple to setup. I need to work quick and twiddling knobs for hours to get a good sound is not happening anymore. I used to love geeking out with insanely complex tools. Not anymore. I want to get stuff done the quickest way possible.

Compressors I use a lot:
Softube CL-1B (clean and smooth)
Softube FET (very 1176ish, catch peaks)
Wave MV2 (great at evening out - use as last plugin on vocal and bass)
Klanghelm MJUC (adds thickness to thinner sounds like mandolin)
Brainworx SSLE Console comp (on all my drums for that snappy SSL thing)
Softube TLA100A (nice on piano med attack and release) smooth and fairly transparent
Cytomic The Glue (drum buss and occasionally on master buss)
TDL Kotelnikov (transparent - master buss)
BX Opto (another flavor similar to the CL-1B) (Used on bass often)

A lot of this is also going to be based on the genre and the mics something was recorded with. Everything is so subjective. Play with free compressors and really get to know them. After you find what they do well and don't do well, expand. Don't get caught up in having to have a ton of different plugin compressors. One of each of the main types is more than fine. FET, Opto, VCA, VariMu. Tons of great recording were made in the past with only 1176 FET type compressors or a LA2a (opto). If you get to know how they work, you can make anything work. It's the cook, not the spoon. Anyone who thinks that one more plugin is going to make them a better mix engineer is kidding themselves. Mix a few hundred songs and you will naturally get better, even with minimal tools. Compare against great mixes. try to figure out how they got that sound you like.

So you know who I am and what my mixes sound like. I mixed this:

Urb Sergeant · Post by **Urb Sergeant** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 7:27 pm

IMO Sonimus Tuco is the best allround compressor that does an above average job on everything (from vocals, keys, drums with pokey transients to the mixbuss).

I wouldn't say it's the best compressor for every specialized need, but if I had to choose only one this one would be it.

Pair it with a clean eq such as CraveDSP and you're good to go.

poshook · Post by **poshook** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 9:08 pm

Best compressor plugin does not exist. Spend your time more effectively and learn how to use different compressors instead of making such a non-sense thread on kvraudio

hivkorn · Post by **hivkorn** » Mon Feb 04, 2019 9:12 pm

the best one is the one we like and used...
I recently tested Pro C2 and Unfiltered Audio Zip , they are both very good but not the same.

Your opinion on the best Compressor (Klanghelm DC8C, Pro-C, Ozone8, H-Comp) ?