KVR Audio

citizenchunk · Post by **citizenchunk** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 7:09 pm

(Just when you thought there couldn't possibly be any more compressor plugins out there ...)

We are proud to announce the Vanilla Compressor, the first plugin from a brand new software developer, ChunkWare Music Software.
http://www.chunkware.com

The Vanilla Compressor is a simple, straight-forward, stereo compressor plugin for the VST plugin platform. With familiar user parameters and operation, the Vanilla Compressor is meant to be a general purpose track or buss compressor. There isn't anything particularly novel about it (hence the name), but we hope that you will appreciate its sound quality enough to give it a home in your arsenal of dynamics plugins. Perhaps you might reach for it from time to time; perhaps it will become your favorite, "go-to" compressor. We hope so ...

A quick run-down of features:
- Typical compressor parameters: threshold, ratio, etc.
- Variable "soft-knee"
- Auto make-up gain
- 4 release shapes w/ 2 auto-release algorithms
- sidechain EQ w/ selectable low/high/band pass filter & selectable cutoff frequency
- sidechain listen mode
- 64bit floating-point internal precision
- Works with all sample rates

*** PLEASE NOTE ***

This plugin is still in the ALPHA stage of development. As such, it does not yet have its own GUI, so it will use your host application's default GUI. We apologize for this, and hope to rectify the situation in the near future.

If you are artistically inclined, and would like to submit a GUI design, it would be greatly appreciated. If your design is chosen, you will be compensated with plugin licenses, as well as a little bread. (That's money, man.)

Please use with caution: this plugin has only been tested with Wavelab, so performance may vary with host. (Especially the default interaction.) Also, it is NOT at all optimized, and might not be denormal-safe, so watch your CPU meter. Please email us your performance results (or post here).

This plugin will remain FREE until it is finally released. The final price of the plugin has yet to be determined. But rest assured, it will be VERY affordable.

We apologize for the website. It's absolutely horrible, but it will have to do for now.

So, enjoy! And please, PLEASE, give us your feedback.

for Vanilla download:
http://www.chunkware.com/vanilla/

snooky · Post by **snooky** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 7:11 pm

O´boy!

I thought it was CRUNK-Ware

citizenchunk · Post by **citizenchunk** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 7:20 pm

well... we do "keep it crunk!"

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 8:09 pm

If you're looking for a GUI then Jorgen of Nbeat is your man. Check out his website for some examples. The guy is an artist!

http://www.northernbeat.com/

citizenchunk · Post by **citizenchunk** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:27 am

his stuff looks ok. is he willing to work for peanuts?

i forgot to mention something in the initial post: this plugin has been over a year in the making. i've been studying compressors, sidechain circuits and various envelope detectors for a long time now, working on various plugins (which will be released in the future, when they are ready). i wouldn't say that this plugin is the "culmination" of all that research--but it does benefit from everything that i have learned.

i know it seems these days like someone releases a new compressor plugin every week. we are virtually swimming in compressor plugins, much like a year or so ago when we were swimming in convolution reverbs. it's what is hot right now, and a lot of developers are just following the trend. i thought that i would state up front that ChunkWare is not jumping on the proverbial bandwagon. it took a long time to get to the point of releasing a plugin (and only an alpha, at that), but that time was spent refining and perfecting the algorithms, which is why we appear to be following the trend. hopefully, not everyone is burnt out on compressors by now.

that being said ... does anyone have some feedback on the Vanilla Compressor? love it? hate it? love it? love it some more? your feedback is "gooder than gold."

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 1:16 am

No need to apologize for the website. I much prefer this design to some of the overblown visual diarrhea you see around on some websites.

Haven't tried the plug-in yet-- sorry!

Greg

Robert Randolph · Post by **Robert Randolph** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 1:26 am

Hrm... it doesnt seem to be what I like (dirty crazy strong compression) ... Ill keep going at it, the controls a very different it seems.

It's certainly quite smooth though..

VanLichten · Post by **VanLichten** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 8:34 am

Nice to see another compressor - downloading now...

While there are a lot of vst compressors, not much are really decent IMO, the only really good ones IMO are Golden Compressor (Sound, features) and the Sinusweb stuff (Usability, loudness, no colour) and the digital fishphones stuff (colour)- so have no fear developing compressors...

Kind Regards, Richard

chagzuki · Post by **chagzuki** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:09 am

Sounds nice on drums. Over a mix I'm having trouble getting a smooth sound.

Please put release values in ms!!
And also have the sidechain filter go down to about 70 or 80Hz instead of 100.

rawcan · Post by **rawcan** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:15 am

Hi citizenchunk,

I had a quick go at it with kick and snare and so far I like it. I will check it more in depth as it's good sounding and different from what I already have.

One thing though(well it's alpha): The auto gain is doing way too much. It's not bringing up the level to where it was before but it gives way too high levels. I had to lower the volume several times after adjusting the threshold.
Man if this is only an alpha version I'm very interested to see it mature.

Good luck, rawcan

punkrockdude · Post by **punkrockdude** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:28 am

I got it to work really great on bass guitar.
I will continue to try out other instruments

punkrockdude · Post by **punkrockdude** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:30 am

Oh, just tried it on a kick drum (which has has differences like 15dB in peaks) and it works amazing. Before, I had to use serial compressors to get it to sound good.

Oh oh, I will absolutely continue trying this one out.

mauseoleum · Post by **mauseoleum** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:41 am

wholemix test only impression:

a) threshold/ratio/makeup controls interact in most illogical manner. this should be adressed.

b) sc hipass filter should go down to 50hz or even a bit lower - sort of *quasi ignore dc* ???

c) arc mode2 sounded good to me, could be a bit more pumpy? personal taste.

my box survived the alpha.

why not change the name to *coconut compressor* ?

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:47 am

Nice so far. Tried briefly on some drum buss and on some individual guitar tracks, seems to be as if good results would be possible.

Would love to see a gain reduction (or peaking) LED on a graphic UI, to adjust threshold more properly.

Sidechain listening (even if it's no true sidechain) is a nice thing.

Performance hit seems to be reasonable.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:56 am

mauseoleum wrote: b) sc hipass filter should go down to 50hz or even a bit lower - sort of *quasi ignore dc* ???

Seconded.

NEW! ChunkWare Vanilla Compressor - FREE ALPHA - please try