MC ONE Free is a freeware compressor effect which was developed and released by Hornplans, currently available only as a 32-bit VST plugin for Windows based host applications.
A commercial version of the plugin is planned for release in May, however we can already download the feature-limited but fully functional free version. The “Pro” version will include more than a few additional features, such as “unlocked” attack and release controls, a compression ratio control, a mix control for easy parallel compression, a side-chain input and a 3-band equalizer.
See also: Freeware Compressor VST/AU Plugins!
MC ONE Free is a fairly basic stereo compressor effect which is optimized for use on the 2-bus (although it can also be used in different scenarios). The free version of the plugin features a gain reduction meter, threshold, output and stereo level controls, and attack/release controls with three preset settings (fast, mid, slow). As you can see, MC ONE Free has a rather limited feature set, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, presuming that the compression algorithm does its job properly and the controls are well calibrated (one of my favorite compressor plugins to date is the super-simple DC1A plugin by Klanghelm).
According to the info provided by the developer, many hours of coding and testing went into making MC ONE sound as good as some of the popular commercial compressor plugins. I’m yet to give this one a proper test in my main DAW and check if it really works that well, however I’ve noticed some positive reactions from other users online. Either way, what I’ve seen so far looks rather promising and I’m looking forward to testing the plugin on different types of source material.
Perhaps the biggest drawback which I’m noticing at the moment is the fact that the plugin is available for 32-bit Windows host applications only (it was most probably developed with SynthMaker, although I’m not 100% sure about that). Having recently moved my main DAW to a 64-bit system, I won’t have much use for MC ONE Free even if turns out to be a good compressor plugin.
Download
MC One Free is available for free download via Hornplans (2.6 MB download size, DDL file, 32-bit VST plugin format for Windows).
