Minimal Audio has been very busy lately, and here they are with another brand new release, Fuse Compressor.
Fuse Compressor is a dynamic sculpting effect that provides up to six bands of dual compression. Dual compression means that each band allows you to apply downward and upward compression, set downward and upward thresholds, and use them to squeeze your dynamic range with precision.
In typical Minimal Audio fashion, the aim of the Fuse Compressor isn’t just to provide an excellent multi-band processing tool but also to simplify the concept in the application.
Applying common effects, like OTT compression in electronic music, is often a convoluted and time-consuming process. However, Fuse Compressor, with its intuitive interface, allows you to macro control all bands simultaneously, which will be a real timesaver.
Of course, it’s not just about the time you save; it’s about staying in your creative flow (at the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy). Tweaking parameters is fun when you’re in exploration mode, but it kills enthusiasm when it becomes tedious to do simple things.
The intuitive interface relies on meaningful visual feedback and simple yet flexible controls.
You can select up to six bands at once, and you’ll see everything going on with each band on the main graph section of the GUI. The plugin has a handy Responsive Gain Display that indicates real-time gain scaling for each band.
Valuable visual feedback continues with two spectrograms displaying the input and output signals. Having real-time feedback that clearly identifies the impact of the plugin and the difference from one setting to the next makes it easier to make the right creative choices faster.
One of the main benefits of the Fuse Compressor’s macro controls is the ability to adjust attack and release times across all bands using the Adaptive Time function.
With Adaptive Time, positive settings mean higher frequency bands respond faster, and lower ones respond slower. This approach allows you to alter the character of the compression without the need to set parameters per band.
Next to the Adaptive Time section, you have controls to adjust the Threshold and Ratio for Downward and Upward compression on all bands simultaneously. If you want to adjust all bands simultaneously without being quite so blunt, you can take more of a fine-tuning approach using the Tilt knob.
The spectral Tilt function slopes the bands by tilting the intensity of the compression towards higher or lower frequencies.
You can make individual adjustments per band, so you aren’t limited and can be as surgical as you like. But the macro controls enhance the overall workflow significantly and do most of the work in getting where you want to be or very close to it.
The plugin has a range of presets for processing drums, leads, pads, etc.
Fuse Compressor also offers Mid-Side Mode, Channel Link, and a Wet/Dry slider for a parallel compression effect.
If you haven’t tried Minimal Audio plugins yet, check out Morph EQ and Rift, too.
You can hear examples of the Fuse Compressor in use in the walkthrough video. Still, as good as it sounds, the thing I love most is Minimal Audio’s continued quest to eliminate distractions to creativity.
Fuse Compressor is available in AU, VST, VST3, and AAX formats for macOS and Windows.
Buy: Fuse Compressor by Minimal Audio ($49)
The Giveaway
Minimal Audio kindly offers one FREE copy of Fuse Compressor for one lucky BPB reader.
To enter the giveaway, please answer the following question in the comments section below: What mixing technique was the hardest for you to learn?
We will randomly pick three comments and announce the lucky winners on this page on August 1st, 2023.
Good luck, everyone, and a big THANK YOU to Minimal Audio for sponsoring the giveaway!
The winner is SBTT. Congratulations (please check your inbox to receive the prize).
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