Rue Blose has released Oppressor, a free multiband and spectral sidechain compressor for macOS and Windows.
This free compressor was designed specifically to help you create space between competing sounds without turning down the entire target track. You can place it on the sound you want to move out of the way, then route the more important track into its external sidechain input.
A typical example would be making room for a kick inside an 808 bassline. Oppressor detects the frequencies present in the kick and reduces only the overlapping bass frequencies, rather than applying the broad pumping effect of conventional sidechain compression.
This puts it in similar territory to Trackspacer and the free tools covered in our recent Trackspacer alternatives article, although Oppressor offers two different processing engines and a great deal of control.
Multiband mode uses 32 dynamic bell filters distributed from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with additional concentration through the mids and highs. The filters operate as a serial peaking-filter cascade, so the plugin adds no latency and passes audio bit-for-bit when no gain reduction occurs.
Spectral mode uses STFT processing for narrower cuts. You can adjust the depth, sharpness, and selectivity, with FFT sizes ranging from 1024 to 8192 samples. Unlike the multiband engine, this mode introduces latency, which Oppressor reports to the host for compensation.
There’s also the Internal Sidechain option, which makes the plugin react to its own input, effectively turning it into a dynamic EQ, de-esser, or harshness suppressor.
Other handy features include Delta monitoring, which solos the removed audio, while Listen lets you hear the filtered detector signal. A/R Tilt changes the attack and release behavior across the spectrum, giving low frequencies a slower response and making the high end react faster.
Oppressor also provides independent Left/Right and Mid/Side operation, adjustable channel linking and balance, plus a sidechain EQ with draggable low-cut and high-cut filters. Filter slopes extend from 6 to 72 dB per octave.
This is solo developer Rue Blose’s first plugin, and the product page warns that bugs may still exist and invites users to report any they find.
Windows 10/11 users receive VST3 and standalone versions. The universal macOS build provides VST3, AU, and standalone formats for Intel and Apple Silicon, supporting macOS 10.13 or newer on Intel and macOS 11 or newer on Apple Silicon.
Enter $0 on Gumroad to download Oppressor for free, or choose a higher amount to support development. Gumroad requests your email address, full name, and country during checkout.
Download: Oppressor (FREE / Pay What You Want)
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