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Minimal Audio releases Fuse Compressor, a dynamic sculpting effect for macOS and Windows

Minimal Audio Releases Fuse Compressor

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By // Updated on News

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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About Author

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James is a musician and writer from Scotland. An avid synth fan, sound designer, and coffee drinker. Sometimes found wandering around Europe with an MPC in hand.

372 Comments

    • Matt james

       on

      Is learning EQ simple, never you go by ear tweak knobs and go by what sounds good…but compressors go in and out combining the balance of the two… its not one or the other…its how each go together, that takes time to learn.

      Reply

    • Idalberto

       on

      For me it was Automation. Besides that it is beautiful, and very easy to do, you never destroy the dynamics of the sounds, it balances each sound very well. I love to automate

      Reply

    • Hell'ektrix

       on

      Personnally it’s all about EQing.
      And many more… (compression/multiband, spectral balance, phase/sound cancellation, mono/stereo….)
      Thanks BPB and Minimal Audio for the gift ;)

      Reply

  14. Michael

     on

    For me the whole thing between balancing the overall volume AND the volume of specific frequencies (eqing) needs development.

    Reply

  22. Woendiexp

     on

    The hardest i learn was the parallel reverb . In the past, i usually add the reverb to the same channel and get a bunch of “underwater ” track.

    Reply

  23. ilias

     on

    what has taken the longest, for me, but i seem to get there, has been mixing by not doing anything. meaning choosing mixing systems and components that don’t introduce problems to the material, and then affecting the material extremely eclectically only when smth bothers me.

    Reply

  30. Gordon D Frew

     on

    Compression like most others, I sort of get most of EQing but I’m still learning and strive to learn more everyday. I watch videos and read many articles almost every week just looking and to see what i can translate into my music

    Reply

  31. Reece Daniels

     on

    The most difficult part about mixing for me, is learning to balance my “technical” approach with my “emotional” approach.

    You can have the perfect sounding mix sonically, but if it doesn’t have the emotion and feeling behind it, what’s the point?

    Reply

  35. Marco

     on

    The hardest mixing concept for me to learn was compression. I used to add so many FX to try and fix the problem of inconsistent and non-compressed vocals. Terms like ratio, threshold, and release confused me greatly as a kid, and I never really researched them.

    Instead, I would throw on a random preset from the stock compressor in the DAW I was using, called ACID PRO. It wasn’t until I started using one of the free compressors recommended on this website that I actually started reading and watching videos about compression and what exactly it is. Funny enough, when I got these terms down and put them into practice, I started to realize that I didn’t need all those over-the-top effects.

    Thank you so much for this content, this blog is seriously awesome and has helped me lots in my journey as a musician and audio engineer.

    Reply

  43. Will

     on

    Leveling. I tend to make everything the same volume, and use panning and EQ to separate mix elements. When I listen to a successful song, I often notice that the background elements are quieter, and the bass is louder.

    Reply

  44. Phooey

     on

    The hardest mixing technique to learn for me was to make chocolate mousse. When adding melted chocolate to whipped cream, you want to do it before the chocolate hardens but you don’t want it so hot that it melts the whipped cream. Very tricky.

    Reply

  57. Ryan

     on

    EQing sounds to make them cohesive within the overall mix and Tonal balance of all sounds together to make sure all frequencies ranges are covered in the final mix

    Reply

  66. sidex

     on

    EQ and compression, especially real bass (guitar bass) compression always ringing when reach note A – B I don’t know how to solve that

    Reply

  71. Jon B

     on

    Stereo imaging/sound stage, and all that comes with it. It can be quite easy with songs that have only a few elements, but when tons of stuff is happening it becomes exponentially more difficult. Setting reverbs, panning, automation, levels and very subtle EQ and compression moves become so much more important to get right.

    Reply

  83. John B.

     on

    Sidechain compression. I still struggle with this. Mid/side is tough too, but I’m getting there (slowly)

    Reply

  87. TOCHi

     on

    My problem (and still going) was Reverb, getting things sounded in the right perspective is a different matter for me after doing the EQ

    Reply

  95. afarzts

     on

    For me, reverb is the hardest, I often encounter that if I reverb too much, the reverb will eat up the dry sound, and if I reverb too little, the sound will sound dry. Side-chain reverb is also difficult to solve this problem. I’ve tried a lot of reverb plugins and looked through a lot of reverb tutorials, but I’ve never been able to solve this problem and it’s been bothering me for a long time. And I often consider EQ to correct the timbre of reverberation or use compressors to control the dynamics of reverb, but I do not have confidence in these operations, I always doubt myself.

    Reply

  96. Suraj Singh

     on

    i also use and like minimal audio’s Rift Filter Lite & Rift Feedback Lite these plugins are amazing

    Reply

  102. Adam Zero

     on

    Side chain, because while it applies for certain modern genres, The Beatles & Sly and the Family Stone didn’t side chain. So it’s not a universal thing & knowing when to apply it can be tough.

    Reply

  108. Antoine B

     on

    Making sounds feel “analog” with a crazy combination of EQ compression saturation and reverb … so they’re not so digitally clean and fit nicely with each other in the mix …

    Reply

    • Monty

       on

      Personally it was making sure everything has room (EQ and stereo) and works with each other nicely (leveling). Not everything is the center of attention, so it was hard to find how to make room for what is.

      Reply

  111. Chris S.

     on

    I think compression took me the longest to wrap my head around. This looks like a really great plugin to make this process much easier and effective. I think they did an awesome job with the UI and the visual feedback to make it really easy to understand both upwards and downwards compression.

    Reply

  115. RR

     on

    Multiband compression has definitely been trickiest. Something always sounds a little off, so I try to avoid it as much as possible.

    Reply

  123. Kofi

     on

    Hardest mixing topic for me would be setting the relase for compressors and using things like multiband compressors and dynamic EQ

    Reply

  134. Ajaunte Johnson

     on

    Balance. I’d say that was the hardest to really nail down. I would get in the habit of wanted everything to be playing loudly at the same time. I didn’t think about how the lead is the important thing at the time, or a synth. Once I understood that, my music started sounding more like a full composition rather than a bunch of sounds thrown together, all fighting for attention.

    Reply

  143. Osidas

     on

    Compression by far. Still learning it at the moment.

    By the way, you are stating that you have one copy to give away but also pick three winners… probably a copy/paste mistake from another giveaway?

    Thanks for the Giveaway!

    Reply

  154. Pouty

     on

    The most difficult mixing technique to learn for me has been phase correction. Recording at home has led to some difficult mixing experiences that have taught me a great deal about phase and the stereo field, but I still feel like I have a lot more to learn. Checking mixes in mono has been a boon to getting a clear, full sound that translates well in stereo. Even so, there are oddities that always stand out in different listening environments, whether via headphones or unfamiliar speakers. There are many factors that lend tonal qualities to a space and phase can really bring some of those out or mask them altogether.

    Reply

  155. Patrick Osterday

     on

    Compression – I know many answered the same. Takes time to learn to hear the nuances of compression and the effects it can have on a track or mix.

    Reply

  162. Mike Chursin

     on

    Finally someone released multi-band of my dream.

    And I struggle the most with a compression I guess.

    So, that would be very useful.

    Reply

  167. Ricardo

     on

    Honestly, the hardest part was common sense.
    I had no trouble learning new techniques, but the biggest barrier has always been learning when to use them.

    Reply

  168. BrandNewSam

     on

    Automation is still a pain for me!! Learning to do nifty little filtersweeps is one thing but when you dive into modulating multiple parameters at once things get tricky 😅

    Reply

  174. MultipliedCow

     on

    Frankly, most of it. I’m a multi-instrumentalist, not an engineer. If I could one-on-one with someone, I’d learn a LOT more than school, webinars, YouTube videos, and blogs could teach. Kinda overwhelming and difficult to figure out when you’re autistic with ADHD.

    Reply

  176. alp

     on

    The first challenge was getting to know the different compressors, then using the delay and mixing the vocals.

    Reply

  188. Shannon McDowell

     on

    It took me quite a while to learn how not to over-compress my audio. Mixing the low end can still be tricky for bass heavy tracks.

    Reply

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