The_Compressor is a dynamics compressor created by Phil Speiser and it is available for FREE.
I should probably stop looking at dynamics plugins sometime soon. I recently made the mistake of testing Cenozoix by TB-Tech and that one’s become a constant obsession.
If you aren’t a compressor junkie like yours truly, then something a little easier to use might be in order. Phil Speiser made waves last year with the release of his free The_Build effects generator.
He’s back again with an effect focused solely on dynamics control.
To call The_Compressor just a simple compressor is doing an injustice to its functionality, however. There is a lot more going on underneath the hood than simple dynamics control.
Sure, you can set the knee, attack, release, and ratio as you would on any compressor in the wild. It dives a bit further into that AI stuff and might just be a solid alternative to Sonible’s smart:comp for the more budget-conscious.
The real draw to The_Compressor is magic mode. This mode allows you to select what sort of material you’re compressing, the compression style, and whether or not it should dim the input before applying dynamic control.
After that, you’ve got something dialed in that should feasibly sound perfect for the material. Now, with these AI plugins, I always have to give it a fair shake in the context of a mix.
Thankfully, I still have stems left over from a recent project that I was able to put to full use. The end results were favorable, making the same sort of moves I might have painstakingly come to after many a soul-searching moment of listening to everything over and over again ad nauseam.
With the good, there is a bit of bad, as this is fairly resource-intensive from my testing. Nothing alarming, mind you, but I’d likely keep this to busses rather than slapping it across every channel of a mix.
The_Compressor is free to download, but you’ll need to contend with Mr Speiser’s own control software to go through the installation and activation process. This was fairly painless and worked just fine on both my Windows and Mac machines. For the cost of nothing, it’s definitely worth a look.
If you prefer traditional, analog-inspired compressors, check out our free BPB Dirty LA plugin.
Download: The_Compressor (FREE)
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Last Updated on March 13, 2024 by Tomislav Zlatic.
