Product Reviews by KVR Members

Well, this is a nice little gem! A free, cross-platform, dirt-simple compressor that delivers a punchy sound that is great for enlivening instruments. I could see this getting a lot of play on drums, and also on things like pianos, that benefit from a strong attack and added sustain.

The interface is tasteful and appealing; a nice "aged" look that signals what to expect from it. And, of course, the two-dial compression solution - you drive it with the input and compensate with the output, 1176-style. Simple. Done. The VU meter gives you a nice, attractive readout of gain reduction too.

The compression character is nice and snappy, with a strong attack characteristic and long-ish attack, super-ideal for snares and adding ye olde "punch" to material. I'm lucky in that it just naturally gives off a kind of compression I tend to favour, so I think I'll be using it a lot in projects. As a composer-mixer-DIY guy, I tend to favour simple solutions for those times when I can't take an hour to dial in the perfect compression. It's nice when it just has it.

An almost-instant update just added a new feature, a "relaxed" button which allows for a more natural sound. So now you have two free compressors in one!

In a way, it reminds me a little bit of Molot, another wonderful free compressor that can drastically change your input signal. You just don't have to worry about any settings with this one - at all!

To sum up, I highly recommend, and I love that it's cross-platform. A big kudos to Klanghelm for offering this freebie, and considering this is just a "snapshot" of its bigger brother, I look very forward to checking out the full version (and at $20, it could be a real threat!).

Note: I was lucky enough to get in on the free-version deal when this was released in 2011. Sadly, the free version doesn't seem to exist anymore, and is now a slightly expensive plug-in. I will base my review off the free version mainly, but I did try out the full version when it was released.

Devil-Loc is an incredible, lo-fi drum compressor/distorter. This has become my go-to plug-in for dirty parallel compression on drums. It's really such a simple plug-in; a small tweak of the parameters and your drums (and basses) will be screaming in glorious agony. I'd say it's destined to be a classic, if it became more widely-known.

The controls are super-simple: basically "CRUSH" = compression, and "CRUNCH" = distortion. It reminds me of CamelPhat Free in many ways, right down to its "instantly sounds good" factor. I find the compressor sounds best below about the "7" mark. The compression gets a little unpredictable when cranked, kind of "ducky", but experimentation should be encouraged with this plug-in. A real selling point is the attack on the compression; it's very spiky, and delivers and instant punch to it that is ideal for drums, and can add real presence to bass lines.

The distortion is wonderful, warm and tube-y, and can really help tracks stand out and sound less "digital". Not much more to add, except to watch out when blending it with the compression.

I would've given this a "10", except for a couple of factors:

1. There is no output gain control/compensation, so this gets very loud, very easily.
   
   
2. The full version of this plug-in is rather expensive for what you get. The full version only adds a couple more parameters and is $129. I'd have a tough time recommending this to anyone apart from the most moneyed musician. But if you're inclined, you won't regret it!
   
3. I've found it to be a little buggy from time to time. I will report this to SoundToys.

But all in all, an amazing plug-in! And I'm sure those of us who were fortunate enough to get the free version will be wringing our hands for eternity as we reside over our warm, trashy parallel compression busses...

It's been a rocky road with me and Nebula. After years of passionate endorsement from other users, my jury is still out on this thing. I understand the developer is breaking new ground, but I have trouble regarding Nebula as anything other than an experiment in progress.

First off, the interface - despite its cool, retro look - is confusing, and worse, extremely sluggish, and tough to make precise settings. There is also a delay when changing banks and presets; just one of those things that ads up to a tedious experience. Lots of silly names don't help the user understand what model is what, but I understand this is a limitation in a world shackled with intellectual property, but most of them are simply indecipherable.

That being said, it's nice that the user has full control over the presets (programs), and can download and install programs at will. Although the sluggish, convoluted Nebula ethos is extended to the website, where it's very confusing to tell what section you're in, which one you should be in or where you get your standard presets from. Perhaps I haven't spent enough time on these sites, and the newer site is a vast improvement on the labyrinthian, punishing old site, so maybe it's just me. But I find it hard to tell what program or application is which, or which is an update. Oh well.

So sound-wise, this is where the big payoff should be, right? I personally think the user interface puts me off so much that maybe it colours my opinion, but I've never heard anything that blows me away. Some of the EQs definitely sound nice, if I can find a program that does what I want, but I've found the compressors to be very strange sounding; more like transient designers than the sacred equipment they're supposed to be exact clones of. Again, maybe I've just installed the wrong "programs", but I would point out that this doesn't really happen with any other effect I own, and is counterproductive to mixing.

Time-based effects don't fare much better, with choruses sounding like a single sine wave carving through your track. I just don't think this technology is ready, at this point.

And the latency is outrageous. I'm very used to high latencies, I'm not that picky, but adding a couple of these to a mix will make my DAW feel terribly unresponsive, and CPU builds up quickly. I just don't hear the crucial reward of stunning sound I'm supposed to hear for such a deadly performance hit.

Support is very good, the developer is a good guy and clearly believes in the product and wants to help, clearly doing his best. I always enjoy dealing with him.

I hate to be hard on a nice, independent developer, but this product just hasn't clicked with me. I've bought and stuck with it for the promise of the future, and we'll see where it goes. For now, it sits unused on my hard drive. Unfortunately, in the meantime, virtual analog technology is getting better and better, so I would like to see some serious optimizations in this product before I take another stab at it.

A venerable VST "classic", this aging, simple plug-in hides a complex architecture that competes with any compressor out there today. And the good news is that this compressor is included in one of Waves' few truly affordable bundles (Waves Musicians II), which suits its ease of use.

One of the best things about the Renaissance Compressor (RComp, for short) is its dead-simple interface. People often ask me what a good compressor to learn on is, and I'd have to put this one way out in front. I love how it uses vertical sliders to control levels, it's easier to "feel" like your compressing the audio when you pull down on the threshold slider, and you can easily see your peaks in the input VU meter, so you can essentially target your peaks visually! And the responsive VU meters for gain reduction and output gain make it super-easy to manually match your input level (there is no auto-gain compensation, but that's fine, it can be a crutch.)

Personally, I would love it if Waves would update the GUI a little bit; it's looking very 1998 these days, but its simple interface is paramount, IMHO.

If you crank your output too hard - never fear! Because there is an L1-style limiter on the output, plus internal 48-bit headroom, so you can ride this as hard as you want. It's a brilliant feature, and again, makes it ideal for beginners who may be less careful, or just for creative punishment.

If you do have this compressor, you owe it to yourself to read the manual. Despite the easy interface, there is a hell of a lot going on under the hood, such as:

The ARC is an auto-release control that is program-dependent (changes according to input) that is reminiscent of popular high-end vintage compressors. I always leave this on, as it works great, but you can switch it off and use manual settings as well. Like most auto-release compressors, the release slider sets the general release characteristic.

The Electro and Opto modes are very important, and are a reason why this compressor was so hailed when it came out. The Electro mode decreases release time the closer you get to no gain reduction, but ONLY if there is less than 3dB gain reduction! If there is 3dB or more, the release time increases. The Opto mode is basically the opposite and represents the real "vintage" vibe, recommended for drums.

If that weren't enough, there is a "Warm" setting that applies low frequency harmonics to the signal, but proportionate to the gain reduction! Unique and smart, especially for its time. Even at high settings, I find it quite subtle, but can be very effective in heating up instruments.

I find I tend to pull out this compressor for many jobs: taming peaky material and drums and bass a lot, and I find it's really good at insane "Compression/Sustainer"-style compression, as it's got that headroom with the limiter. There are certainly better compressors, but it's hard to find one as versatile, trustworthy and easy as this one. I've been using it for 10 years, and I still seem to find new tricks with it. Here's to 10 years more!

FreeG has been around for awhile now, and is still one of the very best freebies you can get (especially considering it's available in the largely freeware-challenged Mac format!) and is something I use every day in my mixes, including vocal riding!

I've always been a little reluctant to use fader automation on Cubase tracks because it can be such a pain to go back and re-edit, and sometimes you just want to be able to quickly lower the global track level, or completely bypass or delete your automation. Enter FreeG.

With FreeG I can do all the normal host fader/pan automation I want, and if I make a mistake, I can bypass or start over - or even insert another instance of FreeG - the possibilities are endless! FreeG offers a safe, new level of automation creativity that has really helped my mixes immeasurably.

FreeG also features detailed control over fader settings; chances are it's much smoother than your host's faders, with a real "studio" feel that can help you get your fades right.

Also you get a full RMS/Peak level meters. I don't use these features much as my host's are fine, but can be very useful for those who don't have them, or for a second opinion.

The GUI is detailed and fetching too, the graphics help lend "weight" to the controls, with no confusion over what's what. You can flip to the back for more control over ballistics too, for the tweakers.

I've never had a single problem with FreeG's automation. I'd be hard-pressed to find a more stable, CPU-light VST effect out there. You can literally have one on every track without worry, and automate the hell out of them. As for as FreeG + Cubase is concerned, it's a perfect match, and I urge all to check it out. It's a quality product at a bargain price (or lack of!).

So this is now a defunct product, as Prosoniq has quietly moved more into the background in pro audio development. I used to use this all the time, so I thought I'd drop a review for it.

Dynasone was Prosoniq's attempt at a fix-your-mix mastering solution. It's basically an all-in-one mastering toolbox for dummies, promising a more professional sheen on your tracks. In reality, it proves to usually sound aggressive and overly bright, requiring as much fine-tuning as it would take to use separate compressors, limiters, multiband compressors and exciters. That being said, it does offer all these things at once, and these are generally of high quality, especially for The Year 2000.

Where I found Dynasone eventually the most useful was as an insert on tracks. The bass synthesizer is a useful effect and the compressors control bass quite nicely. The exciter is good and smooth at moderate levels.

However, the big features of Dynasone, the AUTOMIX™ feature, doesn't really provide the transparent, polishing effects as advertised. AUTOMIX™ essentially rides the faders of the multiband compressor, with audible results. I found Dynasone sounded best when this was turned off, which basically turns it into a fairly standard mastering chain. And when you consider Dynasone's controls were small and finicky for the days when 640x480 were standard resolutions, it's getting downright hard to read these days.

It's too bad; I bought this with high hopes, and maybe some further development jazzing up the algorithms could've saved this plugin, but instead it'll fade out as a rarely-used afterthought, like most of Prosoniq's VST line. If you still have it, it may be worth a re-visit for balancing individual tracks.

It's hard to believe, but there was a time when this was the ultimate cutting edge of plug-in reverb, an eagerly anticipated contribution from Waves to the then very limited reverb market. Since then, there has been a big move towards ultra-detailed (attempted) recreations of studio stalwarts like the Lexicon and EMT Plate reverbs, with increasingly pleasing results that have mostly left RenVerb in the dust.

However, the tables have turned, and what was once considered the highest CPU-soaking plug-in (people used to use RenVerb to do DAW CPU shootouts), it is now almost negligible on any modern machine; you can run as many as you like, making this an ideal tracking reverb that you could always swap out for something fancier during final mixing, if you like.

Then again, there are some good algorithms on here, and the interface is very easy to use and understand. Most users needn't go much further then the large choice of presets, tweaking only the "Time" variable to taste, but picky professionals will find all the requisite tools here; damping, EQ, pre-delay, early refelection levels, etc. The "Hall 2" and "plate 1" algorithms are epsecially good, but things like the Gated and Room are less than satisfactory.

Still, anyone who owns a Waves bundle will find this a helpful tool for quick mixing and may even decide to just leave it on once they fine-tune it a bit. It's a classic that I keep turning to, but I do look forward to Waves making it's entry into the proper boutique reverb market!

I'm quite surprised there aren't more reviews of this yet; I'm a little honoured to be the first, as I feel this is arguably one of the best software compressors available right now.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when FabFilter announced they had released a compressor. Now at this point I already had my fair share of compressors, but I was curious to see what a company with a reputation for ultra-high quality plug-ins would put out, so I downloaded the demo and got to it.

First, the GUI is striking both in its beauty and simplicity (much like their other offerings!): the colour choices complement each other and provide plenty of contrast, and the over-sized dials beckon to be tweaked. But what is really interesting here is the variety of ways the user can witness realtime feedback of the compression transfer curve, peak reduction and sidechaining. While we've all seen the transfer curve before, and I can think of one or two older plugins that attempt to show the effect on the peaks via a waveform display, I had never seen a display that shows the compressor "dipping down" over the peaks, showing you when and how it's compressing; you will see little dips on the top flatline when gain reduction occurs, and if you increase the attack, you can see how the GR happens more slowly, i.e. the dip indents to the right. This makes it valuable both for experienced tweakers and beginners, who may benefit from the extra visual representation (compression is often one of the hardest concepts to learn!).

Next I noticed an "Expert" button; click this, and amazingly the whole waveform display animates and slides "underneath" the transfer curve, revealing sidechaining options and sliders for the pass filter. Again: clear and clever graphical representation, with plenty of options, which we'll get back to.

The larger knobs above are all familiar paramaters: Attack; Release; Threshold; Ration, etc; plus a soft/hard knee switch, three types of compression characteristics and even a dry/wet knob, which I love. With all these options, I couldn't wait to hear it, so let's go!

Even with the default setting, I notice a pleasing response on my drum loop; the transients are punching through, the decay has been extended a bit and the peaks are under control. The more I experiment with more dramatic ratios and settings, the more I like it; this unit reaks of quality, and I know I'm getting hooked by the second! I try the different characteristics, and I can hear differences between them ("Classic" seems to have a softer attack, for instance), but I can't decide which I like best! Everyone wins!

And with the Dry/Wet knob, you can smash the hell out of the signal, but use the mix knob to dial the dry signal back in, New York-style! I found driving the input wasn't that great for this, relying on the threshold and ratio gave better crushed results. ;)

(Another great note about the interface: when you pause over any element, a rather adorable little word ballon will appear and explain the object in question; again, extremely useful, especially for beginners and people looking for further explanation of the Pro-C ethos.)

I then poked around with the presets, of which there are many - categorized by style (nice!) - and I even noticed "bM" after most of the presets; I wondered: is that our "bManic"!?! Sure enough, it was. He was a beta-tester and preset-maker, and could explain why this plugin felt like it was made for the KVR crowd; I really felt like someone was listening to me (like that time you were at the AC/DC show, and you felt like they were playing for YOU..yeah, you KNOW what I'm talkin' about!), and that's reflected in Pro-C; it's made by a discerning small company for the discerning few (although I think everyone should have one, of course!). My point is: the presets are excellent starting points, and very useful for slobs like me who don't spend a lot of time with things like M/S processing; and the presets help demonstrate the strengths of FabFilter's design.

The Help file is perfectly well-written and laid out, I'm glad they used a cfm-style Help, I prefer that to launching a page. Not that I've had to use the Help File much, if at all; the interface is all there, and having direct access to bManic and the developers makes it almost uncessary. But it's there for those who need it.

Support has been friendly and excellent. I submitted a request for A/B, and not only was it met with enthusiasm, it's there now in the 1.1 release, along with (!) Undo/Redo. Amazing.

Now, this compressor is not cheap. At $199, it's near the top of VST compressors, but I must be clear that it's near the top in terms of sound, quality, GUI & support. This is a full package, the "real deal"; and I did not hesitate to pull out my credit card for this. I would warn anyone who is serious about compressors to check this out immediately; one my proudest purchases. :D

So just when you thought you had enough transient designers, along comes this sensibly-named plug-in. Boasting perhaps the most easily understood interface for a transient designer, there is little to explain here. The first version had two dials: Attack and Release; but after a request (OK, it was my request!), they added an output gain dial, which makes it useful for matching the gain and hearing what the plug-in is doing to your signal. The 1.0 version had quite a gain-boost to it, so this is very welcome, and doesn't ruin the simplicity of the plug-in.

The GUI is pleasing, remeniscent of hardware, and I particularly love the VU meters; useful for guaging before and after levels, and again, keeps the "hardware" aesthetic going. The VU meters can be switched off also, making the GUI only a few hundred pixels wide, for those who can't be bothered with metering.

I was a little wary of the price at first, as there are several top-notch transient designer-type programs already available for free or little money. But I found that not only was this the easiest to use of all of them, with no distracting parameters, it delivered probably the most pleasing transient response as well. Drum busses instantly perked up and spanked their way out of the mix, and I could even place this on an entire mix if needed. The release does a great job of smoothing out or shrinking the length of the transients, and you can get a really neat gate-like sound from this, if you're looking for more of a special effect.

Some people may be looking for more detailed control over their transient shaping, but for guys like me who just want to get that over-processed drum kit back into the mix with minimum fuss, or pine for the one-knob magic of hardware units, this is definitely one for the books. I will be picking this up shortly, and look forward to more from this company!

Like neilpullen, I must say at the outset that the Precision EQ experience is very similar to the Vintage EQ experience: if you like Vintage EQ, you'll like Precision EQ; the workflow is identical, and they look and feel quite similar.

Like Vintage EQ, Precision EQ offers 7 bands, with 7 filter-types, each switchable with Gain, frequency and Q-width available. The EQ graph is draggable with a spectrum analyzer, so this EQ pleases those who like to use their ears, enter digits, drag nodes or use their eyes to zero in on problem frequencies. Again, KeyToSound seem to be shooting for an all-pleasing EQ here.

The sound is very clean and transparent. I found I could bring out things like the tines on electric piano passages without disturbing the track or rendering it coarse and edgey. Likewise with a mix, and there is plenty of flexibility to do things like the cut & boost trick, while maintaining a clean signal.

And the wonderful KeyToSound low-CPU is in effect here again! Not only do you have a clean, master-ready EQ here, you have an EQ that uses such little CPU that you can use it as a track EQ, on however many tracks you like! I know I do. :D

Again, no presets, but there is a preset system, and knowing KeyToSound, I'll bet some preset-sharing will turn up online at some point; the possibility is there, and internal file-systems are always a bonus with plug-ins, giving you that second layer of preset-security.

And all this for $59? It's a no-brainer. Clean, efficient and with some of the best support in the business, you won't regret picking this up. With the drive to model analog gear often pushing up the processing demands of software EQ's, it's refreshing to find rare treasures like these that combine maximum sound with maximum performance, stability and price. Way to go, KeyToSound! A convert is born.