New Toneboosters Compressor :)

[DeathByGuitar]

This is gonna be a vastly different plugin a year from now, I think. Maybe even within a few months. Jeroen tends to add/change things quite a bit once a new plugin is released but I'm sure you TB heads are quite aware of that.

[todd_r]

There's an update out now - that was fast!

Compressor v4.1.0

Fixed a bug in the envelope follower causing too aggressive behavior for certain sampling rates and channel configurations

Added compressor mode control to allow selection between analytic, analog and warm compressor behavior

Wow that's a massive update straight after release...

[Ambiphile]

Hmm, i didn't like it when testing version 4.0, just downloading this updated version and will try again.

[Electric Mayhem]

I bought this after only a very brief trial of the demo.
For 19 Euros with the Bus Tools upgrade path, it was a no-brainer.
As someone has previously said: having seen how the V4 versions have evolved over time, this compressor will be different in a years time.

It would be very nice to be able to turn the real time scrolling output display on and off though

[djeroen]

Dev chiming in....

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

Just FYI: The initial release has only a very simple envelope follower - nothing to be impressed by... But you probably know the drill by now: you can expect significant improvements to show up in upcoming releases, based on feedback from the valuable community on kvr and other forums.

We have an initial all-new envelope follower that we're testing right now that sounds more transparent and musical so stay tuned

[Ambiphile]

After retesting with version 4.1

Wow, this seems totally different, must have been a really serious bug in 4.0. While i found that 4.0 was pumping alot and was eating up transients, sounding pretty "unmusical" overall, 4.1 is the opposite. Although it's probably not as transparent as a Kotelnikov GE, it's operating nicely now imo.

GUI: Well, Toneboosters make some of the best GUIs on the market for my taste. And this one is no exception. Great visual feedback and nice to look at.
CPU Load: Just about 1% in FL's bar on an i7-8086k, like the Pro-C2. Great.
The 3 modes: I have difficulties hearing any difference between them. When listening carefully with headphones i hear a little more low end in "warm" mode at least. Definately subtle changes, but probably nice to have.
Versatility: With the controls it offers you definately have a very wide range of compression effects you can achieve. From brutal drum bus slamming to subtle mastering glue there should be a setting for everything. It loses to Pro-C2 here still though, because of Mid/Side options and less mode choices. But then again, Pro-C2 is about 5 times the price.
Auto Makeup Gain: This is a bit strange. With some settings the compressed version is significantly louder than bypassed, on other settings it's quieter than bypassed. That makes comparing before/after more difficult. Could be improved.

Overall: Another awesome plugin from Toneboosters. For just 29€, the value for money on this is really hard to beat. I might still pass on this one though, because i already have a ton of great compressors in my toolbox.

[Obsolete462444]

Hi Jeroen,

will there be at some point a complete overhaul / new version of the Bus Tools and the Track Essentials bundles?

[fese]

I’m still not entirely sure why I don’t qualify for the upgrade price as I bought bus tools in 2018. Could be because I got the bundle at a reduced price as I owned some single plugins of the bus tools series before.

[Vortifex]

Edited

[MogwaiBoy]

Hi Jeroen,

will there be at some point a complete overhaul / new version of the Bus Tools and the Track Essentials bundles?

I don't think so. ToneBoosters have plucked individual plugins from the bundles, giving them significant updates and letting them stand on their own. I think that will just continue. Would be interesting to see a new Sibalance or Evoke. Imagine a new Sibalance that really gave Soothe a run for its money.

I've upgraded from BusTools and will give this a proper workout this weekend.

PS Jeroen you have the BEST GUI scaling in the industry, bar none. The way these V4's adapt to however you pull and stretch them, is pretty unreal.

[Ambiphile]

I with the new Toneboosters plugins would remember the GUI size for new instances. Whenever I open a new Barricade the GUI is inexplicably set to 93% and I have to change it every time. With this compressor it opens at 100% even though I selected 125% last time.

They have an option for that. Set your desired GUI settings, then go into menu and "save default settings". Then it'll load up with those settings next time. Beware though, this includes all settings in the plugin, not just GUI.

[fese]

I with the new Toneboosters plugins would remember the GUI size for new instances. Whenever I open a new Barricade the GUI is inexplicably set to 93% and I have to change it every time. With this compressor it opens at 100% even though I selected 125% last time.

Some DAWs can save default settings for a plugin. If not:
In the menu of the plugin there should be an option for “save default setting”.

[gentleclockdivider]

Let me start by saying something positive. I absolutely adore most Toneboosters plugins. Morphit, Sibalance and Reelbus v4 are used on virtually all my mixes in one form or another. I also often still resort to Bus Compressor v3.


However, this new compressor, Compressor V4 just doesn't do it for me.. at all. It is actually really tricky to set it up so that it reliably sounds good. There is something extremely unpleasant about it's dynamics action that just screams "Do not use me on complex program material!". The attack is extremely brutal and not at all musical, at almost any settings.. but especially noticeable with higher ratios and harder knees. The release is just bizarre if not set to completely linear. The adaptive release is also really strange and not at all what I'd expect such a release to be.

This is the exact opposite to what I'd call "musical dynamics processing". This is just plain weird and very difficult to setup so that the end results are better than the original incoming audio signal.

I'll give it a few more days of testing but initial impressions after a few hours are not good and it's not like I don't know how to operate a compressor.

EDIT: Just in case it wasn't clear, so far I've only tested it on the mixbus and various other bus duties like drumbus, main vocal subgroup, main synth subgroup etc.. so "complex" program material. It is entirely possible that this works a bit better on individual simple sounds like single drum hits etc.. but I'm not holding my hopes high for that either.

Exactly my thoughts as well , same goes for TB vcf which was an instant buy and don't like it at all .
I'm a big TB fan , but the last two plugins were imho below par

[Vortifex]

Edited

[AGIGA]

Quite a nice sounding compressor, as expected. Can't actually the tell the difference between the 3 new modes though, and the auto makeup gain way overcompensates like it does on Barricade. The minimum 50ms release kind of rules it out as a percussion smasher but I have the Arturia FET-76 for that. The Slider Assist function doesn't seem all that useful to me.

I wish the new Toneboosters plugins would remember the GUI size for new instances. Whenever I open a new Barricade the GUI is inexplicably set to 93% and I have to change it every time. With this compressor it opens at 100% even though I selected 125% last time.

The minimum release time of a Urei 1176LN Compressor is 50 ms (0.05 Seconds) and goes up to 1100 ms (1.1 Seconds).
Attack time is 20 microseconds (0.00002 Seconds) up to 800 microseconds (0.0008 Seconds).

Link to the manual:
https://media.uaudio.com/assetlibrary/1 ... manual.pdf