Free compressors: hidden gems

[Giova942]

What happened to the developer of those great Antress plugins?

I read somewhere that he went out of business because he was having health problems. Did he die?

[codec_spurt]

I spent most the weekend going through the internet archive downloading everything I could find by Antress. I managed to find some of those plus some others as well.

First time I've seen the ModernVCME. Good work.
 

It's a decent unit. Pretty stable.

Here are two variations of it in the select rack at the Blue Studio in SARM:



http://sarmmusicvillage.com/studios/bluestudio/


The colour Blue is kinda 'iconic' to say the least when it comes to Sarm!

http://artofztt.com/?p=8

What happened to the developer of those great Antress plugins?

I read somewhere that he went out of business because he was having health problems. Did he die?

Where did you hear that? Just sounds like a rumour.

The more likely explanation is that he got fed up with all the bad attention and/or just went and developed his skills in other areas.

Very few people will have experience with all the units he modeled, at least to the extent where they would be familiar with them. Probably quite a few people have good experience with one or two of the more popular units though. The jury is out as to whether they are 'emulations' (not really), or whether they are 'good enough' (a lot of people are happy with them anyway).


If nothing else, he seemed to have an eye for all the best studio gear that most people consider classics today. But then again, he could have picked this knowledge up by perusing a high-end vintage gear re-seller.

If you look at the Sarm Blue studio screenshot, he models at least half the gear in those racks (1176, LA-2A, Tubetech, Neve EQs).

Antress is an enigma. Certainly guilty of a little 'sharp practice'. But someone who nonetheless brought these classic units to light for many ignorant VST users, who, most likely, will never be able to afford the real units, but might be able to afford some of the lower end ones (1176 - £200 unit - maybe not the £2000 unit so much). Even if they don't sound the same, they still have a bit of mojo and work well (when they work and don't crash your DAW). And all told, he certainly imparted a little extra kudos to companies who issued him with C&D notices.

I don't make light of his 'little' transgressions. There is no excuse for it really apart from cultural differences. But that's not an argument. And neither is the fact he made no money from the plugins, or those that use them like me, make no money from their music. It's a hard world and right is right and wrong is wrong. Morals and ethics deal in absolutes. Then again, where do you draw the line?

I use his plugins now and again. And I don't feel too dirty afterwards.

I put up this post and shared my 'top-10' of his classic compressors as much for those searching for the working versions to finish old projects, and just because I was bored on a dreary Friday/Saturday/Sunday.

For one last time: these plugins are over 10 years old. They crash a lot of hosts. They use up a lot of resources. It's probably time to move on. But for legacy work or just future 'backward compatibility', these plugins of his I shared should be the best and most stable working versions. I have several versions of most of them. And I'd be lying if I said I tested each one out.

Antress was very flawed, for sure, but I tend to think he did not have bad intent. That's the context I view him and his plugins in anyway, fwiw. Plus they've led me on to buy other units from other developers like the PSP FETpressor - an excellent 1176 'clone' -

http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/dyn ... etpressor/

Having said that, the Antress version is still very usable and a lot of fun.

I'm also now going to buy a 1176 as a hardware unit, and I have a good visual representation of what that entails. How it sounds is another matter. We make visual maps in our brains for understanding and abstracting down concepts. It's why GUI design is so important (both UX and UI).

It's true, I'm a GUI whore, and you probably are too. But that is not the sole reason I love the Antress plugins so much (old now and leave a lot lacking compared to many 'Modern' designs [ahem]).

They do sound good (when they work). And I imagine very few of us will ever get to experience a, say, Tubetech, in real life, not down to its particular specific idiosyncrasies anyway. And that's ok. Life is short. We get to taste from a wide palette these days (even if said palette is somewhat more shallower compared to...).

Use them, don't use them. Who cares. I'd be happy though if at least one person got to finish an old project because they found a working version in my upload. I know there was one or two that had problems with the Distressor plugin. That should work for them now with this version.

[codec_spurt]

Talking of SARM. Some may find this relevant to the thread. Certainly poignant.

https://www.failedmuso.com/my-farewell-to-sarm/

My emotions were a bit all over the place, really. I had just been inside this desperately important building, the unachieved pinnacle of my musical ambition and the realisation that I’d never, ever get to fulfil that ambition hit me. I’m sure we’ve all had that moment where we realise that one of our dreams will never, ever happen because the subject, the focus of that dream no longer exists. It’s hard to take. I mean, realistically, I was probably never going to achieve it because I am bereft of the talent and funding to justify and afford a session there, but whilst the studio existed, there was always a chance, no matter how remote. But not anymore.


...


https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/345 ... 820550898/

Some are born to move the world
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we'd like to be

Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee, bell tolls for
For you, the blind who once could see
Bell tolls for thee, bell tolls for thee

[codec_spurt]

Another shot of the the Tubetech in SARM Red studio:




Above it, a 1176.


Boy, those NS-10's look battered to f**k!


Antress ModernVCME:



https://rekkerd.org/antress-releases-vc ... s-to-v375/

[The Noodlist]

Antress ModernVCME:


https://rekkerd.org/antress-releases-vc ... s-to-v375/

Managed to snag the Presonus Tube P1B Compressor - Fat Channel Plug-in, it was recently given away for free, I prefer the Antress.



SARM relocated http://sarmmusicvillage.com/

The team will relocate to a new “music village” just around the corner on Ladbroke Grove. Trevor will open Sarm South in Lymington on the southern English coast, and Sarm West in Los Angeles’ Bel-Air will remain.

I can't see them being out of pocket, downsizing and moving with the times.

prime London real estate

[codec_spurt]

Antress ModernVCME:


https://rekkerd.org/antress-releases-vc ... s-to-v375/

Managed to snag the Presonus Tube P1B Compressor - Fat Channel Plug-in, it was recently given away for free, I prefer the Antress.



SARM relocated http://sarmmusicvillage.com/

The team will relocate to a new “music village” just around the corner on Ladbroke Grove. Trevor will open Sarm South in Lymington on the southern English coast, and Sarm West in Los Angeles’ Bel-Air will remain.

I can't see them being out of pocket, downsizing and moving with the times.

prime London real estate

80 f**king quid!

I don't f**king think so Presonus! I love you and all that, but...

They pulled this trick before with some other plugs and I felt as if I missed out. Thanks for that Presonus = you really know how to market your wares!

f**k 'em. Great DAW, useless company when it comes to support or vision. I do love Studio One though!

Good job on snagging the free Tubetech ripoff! I'm jelly!

Glad you like the Antress one too!

Yeah, SARM kind of had it coming, to be sure. They rode that crest of a wave and they crashed it on the beach!

The whole trip there with Chris Blackwell (Island Records) who sold it to Trevor Horn (ZTT) was just something else. I suggest if you are interested in any of this then check out the exceptional Failed Muso blog: https://www.failedmuso.com/category/articles/

Paul Morley who was a co-founder and involved with Factory records to an extent earlier on in the game is also of note. Check out Anne Dudley and Art of Noise. Oh, and hopefuly you might be in to a bit of Frankie goes to Hollywood as well.

The guy that runs the Failed muso site probably has an account on KVR. Maybe he will make himself known. He has a total hard on for the Fairlight system and also Adam and the Ants, and if he sticks his head above the parapet then maybe we can talk about the time the CEO of Fairlight Systems took us in to Matrix Studios to work with Marco (from Adam and the Ants). Not proud of it. But there you go!

It's a great site he has there. A real treasure trove. I found it after searching for the Behringer MS-101 (got it in a box by my bed right now and might even open it up a bit later). I also found this video which is very interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scmYG1Pv1_Q

The producer in that video ended up running a knocking shop in the same town as they produced that record, which only made me hold him in higher esteem for some reason.

Anyway, if you're reading this, Failed Muso, your eulogies to both Muff Wigler and Hollow Sun brought a real tear to my eye. Beautiful hand crafted words, from the heart...

If it's any consolation, I read them while a procession made their way down our sleepy road in a very beautiful rural part of England - people going to a funeral. Hundreds of them. More black people than I have ever seen in my life outside of London. And for some reason they all wore something RED.

I read your words of friends passed, so heartfelt and so beautifully expressed, while I watched this strange entourage make their way.

I tried to listen to The Power Of Love, but it was just too much. I started crying after the first 8 bars. Maybe some other time eh?

Anyway, if you're on KVR, hit me up, and I'll tell you all about XEO and the Fairlight, Adam and the Ants. Paul Oakenfold. And how he now rides Bush planes around the unexplored parts of America, while doing a bit of top secret work for the CIA and security services, when he's not ghost-writing top international film hits.

Truth may be stranger than fiction.

But there's still no way I'm paying f**king 80 quid for a Tubetech knock-off.

Soz.

[The Noodlist]

They pulled this trick before with some other plugs and I felt as if I missed out. Thanks for that Presonus = you really know how to market your wares!

f**k 'em. Great DAW, useless company when it comes to support or vision. I do love Studio One though!

Good job on snagging the free Tubetech ripoff! I'm jelly!

Glad you like the Antress one too!

Yeah, I also missed the previous plug-in giveaway, long time S1 users as well. They ought have been deposited in the user accounts, regardless.

[jochicago]

Yeah, I also missed the previous plug-in giveaway

I've been quietly following this
https://www.reddit.com/r/AudioProductionDeals/

Whoever runs it does a great job. That's how I became aware of S1's recent free compressor, and also there's this free bass instrument right now:
https://www.e-instruments.com/ebass-promo/

[NeonNightflyer]

Yeah, I also missed the previous plug-in giveaway

I've been quietly following this
https://www.reddit.com/r/AudioProductionDeals/

Whoever runs it does a great job.

Batwaffel is doing God's work.

[stillshaded]

I've never been able to find a replacement for this ancient vst..

http://www.dontcrack.com/freeware/downl ... tware/H2O/


It just does a dirty over-compressed sound so well. Kind of crazy actually.

[codec_spurt]

I've never been able to find a replacement for this ancient vst..

http://www.dontcrack.com/freeware/downl ... tware/H2O/


It just does a dirty over-compressed sound so well. Kind of crazy actually.

I've never been able to give money to Antti for

http://www.dontcrack.com/freeware/downl ... re/ASynth/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHMxi1vvHjw

I mean, I wasn't going to give him that much, just maybe a tenner or twenty perhaps, but still... (in currency of his choosing).

ASynth is a masterpiece of VST design. It's old now. It's probably the best example of the form from way back and is useful for many purposes not least the consistency in design.

But he never answers my emails. Maybe I should try PM'ing him here at KVR.

I just want to get rid of that god damn nag screen. Oh, and I heard that the plugin runs more efficient, code wise, if you pay.

Take my money!


But yeah, Smartelectronix - Kings of the Game!

http://www.smartelectronix.com/

I believe it was Antti as well who coded the exceptional Dominator plugin that Computer Music used to give away. Another genius.

[Obsolete236871]

Yes, ASynth is absolutely great. Used to be my favorite synth and would probably still be in my top 5 if there was a 64 bit version.

[stillshaded]

Hell yea.. A synth really sounds just as good as newer virtual analogs. It's been a while since I used it, but I really think it does.

[Turello]

I always have problems with SynthMaker plugins (AMD & Intel machines)...

[Teksonik]

I managed to donate for ASynth back in the day and it still has an awesome sounding Filter but I no longer have it installed. Some of Antti's filters made it into the Windows version of Alchemy.