August 2011 | AudioNewsRoom

Dave Gamble, owner of DMG Audio, has drawn on years of experience at Novation, Sonalksis, Brainworx and Focusrite, to come up with the vision and creation of Compassion - a highly flexible and configurable dynamics processor plugin, that fits into most DAW's in VST, RTAS and AU format.
On the website, DMG state that their aim in creating Compassion was to make a plugin that was 'a model of dynamic processing that included all the different schools of design', so that you didn't have to have several different compression plugins for different uses, but could go to Compassion for it all. At the same time, it was to be simple to approach and intuitive to use.

Overview

Upon opening the plugin, there is a good-looking and straightforward GUI in the same colour scheme as DMG's first plugin (Equality) The parameter controls are as you would see in any compressor: threshold, ratio, attack, release and makeup gain. These are the basics for any compressor - how much you want to squash the signal volume, how quickly, and how fast to 'un-squash' it. The attack and release start at a ridiculously fast 0ms, and work up. There's also auto-release, and auto-makeup gain buttons, enabling quick level setting depending on what audio you have passing through.

A large section of the plugin is taken up by a graphic display that scrolls the audio waveform as it passes through the plugin. As you go to work on the compression, the visual clearly displays what part of the audio is being affected, and how much compression is happening. For someone starting to get their head around the concept of compression, this is an extremely useful tool. It's also possible to directly grab the waveform and alter the amount of compression just by moving the mouse up and down.

A preset menu contains 15 presets with no fuss titles: main buss, heavy drum compression, bass squash etc. I would have loved a few more presets utilizing some of the other aspects of Compassion (more on that later). Within the same section is another menu entitled 'Mods'. The mods are killer - instead of being straight presets, they are 'character' additions to whatever compression you dial in. They are presets of parameters that affect the colour of the sound, not the compression, and are intended to emulate, in the opinion of the creator, the characteristics of any classic hardware compressor you can think of. So in practice, you dial in your compression, then select the 'mod' from a selection of 30, with names like Opto, FET, classic british style, etc. It's a really great way to compare different flavours of compression from over the years.

There's a dry/wet mix knob - which I found useful to easily recreate the NYC parallel compressed sound, without any setup. There's a sidechain button, to let the plugin know to look for external audio to trigger the compression. This isn't standard on many compressors, and is a welcome addition - I find sidechaining extremely useful in many situations. At the top of the plugin is also a menu bar that contains an A/B comparison menu that actually goes up to H, providing 8 different settings that you can save, then audition through.

More than modelling

Gamble writes that although Compassion started as a modeling compressor, it quickly became more than that, and with the addition of the Advanced settings, there lie the extended capabilities of Gate/expansion, upward compression, transient design, deep sidechaining, clip limiting, and shaping of attack and release curves. So in the menu bar is another button that opens a lower window containing all the (80+) parameters for more advanced options that enable all these different dynamic processing elements.

In this advanced window you'll find:

- Two EQ's (one sidechain, one main)
- Deeper parameters for Threshold, Ratio, attack, release, and auto release (such as envelope shapes, for attack and release)
-Transient design and clip limiting.

There's too much here to go into all of it. But I'll dip into a couple of them, to give you an idea of the depth of the capabilities of this plugin.

One EQ is for the sidechain. You can get really specific on what frequencies you want to trigger the compression. So for example you could EQ out the mid and top frequencies on an incoming drum mix signal, meaning that the main trigger for the sidechain would only be the kick drum, instead of kick, snare and hihat.
The other EQ is for the main mix, input and output, which provides more flexibility in the kind of sound that you create - (you could isolate a certain frequency range in the dry mix; add it to the wet mix and boost a certain area of the sound.)

The transient designer and clip limiter are sections that I really liked. Once compression's been applied to sound, you sometimes find that you've lost some of the edge and snappiness of the sound. This is especially true of percussive rhythmic audio. The transient designer here enables you to bring back some of the attack of the sound, enabling a more aggressive, driving sound to the audio material. I found this particular transient designer really useful, not only bringing back the snap on the snare and the click on the kick, but going beyond and enabling deep transformation of sounds. The parameters on the transient designer include attack level, sustain level, attack and sustain envelope speed, and envelope follower. Here's a quick clip of different settings on the transient designer on a simple drum loop:

And here's a track I wrote, using Compassion plugin on several tracks, and on the main buss.

Conclusion

This really is an excellent dynamics plugin. There's way more to this plugin than I could cover in this article. DMG has done a great job at giving the choice between using Compassion as a basic compressor, and diving into the plugin as a really controllable dynamics processor. I learned a lot about dynamics processing just from playing round with different parameters and listening. This plugin is a fantastic addition for anyone to stock up their dynamic processing plugin collection with. It is possible to tweak sound clinically and with subtlety, and yet also be able to really sculpt and design the sound you want with the material you have. The only thought I had was it would be great if there were a larger supply of presets/mods to tweak for those on a time crunch.

Price
149 British Pounds (roughly $245 in today's delightful economy...)

... I learned a lot about dynamics processing just from playing round with different parameters and listening...

Product page

PROS

Extremely flexible dynamics processing
Very low CPU
Use it simply or spend hours controlling

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If you're looking for a one button compressor, a la Waves OneKnob, this is not for you. If you're looking for a deep do-all dynamics processor, you won't do much better than this.

CONS

The only weakness is the menu/preset system, which sometimes doesn't seem to reset properly if you change presets.
It'd be great if there were more presets, and mods ( maybe even a forum for users to add theirs?)

Native Instruments has partnered with Swedish modeling wizards Softube to release Vintage Compressors. Their VC76, VC2A, and VC160 are based on 3 studio classics, the Universal Audio 1176, Teletronix LA2A, and DBX 160. Softube has a very successful track record of high-end hardware modeling which has garnered endorsements from the original designers of gems like the Trident A Range EQ and Tube Tech CL1B, so I was excited to be able to dig in to these effects, and I'm pleased with the results.

In addition to faithful emulations of the original features, all models include an expert panel (accessible via a disclosure triangle on the right edge) that reveals a Dry Level fader, a Side Chain button, and, on the VC2A and VC160, a Low Cut Filter on the detector circuit. These additions are welcome improvements on the originals, and extend the functionality quite a bit. The Dry Level allows for simple parallel compression without having to go through any additional bussing. Note that Output can still add gain to the signal, even when Dry is at %100, so pay attention to the interaction between these two controls. The Low Cut is very handy for things like preventing a robust kick from triggering the gain reduction on a drum loop while controlling wild crash cymbals nicely.

I will provide descriptions of each compressor, followed by several example clips. All clips have been normalized to distill the plugin effects from the changes in volume.

VC2A
The LA2A is an electro-optical tube compressor. This design tends to have a slow response and impart general warmth to the signal. The VC2A behaves accordingly. It is the simplest of the bunch, with just gain reduction and output knobs, and also highest on the immediate gratification scale. Set the gain reduction, raise the output to taste, and you're good to go. One of the best uses is on vocals. This clip is dry, then through the VC2A.

Notice how the compressed signal is fuller. The VC2A evens out the 2 phrases and brings out the body in the voice.

The manual suggests using the VC2A on guitar, bass, and vocals. Notably missing are drums, presumably due to the slower response and lack of precise control. However, I really like how the VC2A sounds on a stereo drum submix. It can add a subtle big room sound. Sometimes it was useful to have something faster (like the VC76) in front of it for tight transient control, and then to use the VC2A to fatten things up.

VC160
The VC160 is especially adept at accentuating the attack of sounds while generally tightening the decay. As such it is well suited to individual drum sounds or percussive bass. It can act like a transient shaper with automatic envelopes that just happen to work well in a lot of music. However, it's possible to go too far and choke the life out of some material, so use with care.

The following clip is a slap bass loop dry, then through the VC160. Because of the tightening of the decay portion of the notes, it can sound like a bit of the low end is removed. This is not always bad, as it can help parts fit in a mix or remove tubbiness.

VC76
The VC 76 has the most control of the bunch. It can be a lot more surgical and powerful, but it's also the easiest to abuse, so don't get frustrated if the results aren't quite as immediate as with the other two. However, it's still pretty tough to get a bad sound out of it if you spend a few minutes getting it dialed. Universal Audio lists the attack/release times of the original 1176 as follows:
Attack: 20 microseconds to 800 microseconds
Release: 50 milliseconds to 1.1 seconds
Even at the slowest setting, the attack is VERY fast compared to a lot of other compressors, so adjust your use accordingly. Adding a bit of dry level can help if you lose too much transient information. Also note that he Attack and Release are "backward", just like the original, i.e. 1 (CCW) is the slowest, and 7 (CW) is the fastest. I found Attack=3 and Release=5 to be good starting points for most applications.

This clip demonstrates how the VC76 can add snap and girth to a bouncy acid line (courtesy Audiorealism ABL2), then how the VC160 can tighten the decay. The clip is dry, VC76, dry, then VC160.

In the next clip I use all three compressors to contrast their tendencies. The progression is dry, VC76, dry, VC160, dry, then VC2A.

Observe how the VC76 can absolutely manhandle the drums. Of course it doesn't have to be this extreme, but I like it. The VC160 treatment is more subtle, just stiffening it up a bit. Lastly the VC2A adds some gentle room to the loop.

But wait, Guitar Rig?
My biggest criticism of Vintage Compressors is that they run inside Guitar Rig Player, the Guitar Rig GUI that NI has started to use for other products such as the Traktor's 12, Reflektor, and Rammfire. The main problem is that Guitar Rig takes up a ton of screen real estate, and can be cumbersome on a smaller laptop screen. It adds unnecessary complication, and there are some setup tweaks (enable L/R channels, disable limiter and gate, make sure input/output gain are at unity) that you need to keep in mind. However, there are simple workarounds (create templates with default settings, minimize elements of Guitar Rig), and a few silver linings that I'm starting to like quite a bit.

Running inside Guitar Rig complicates saving presets, though it does allow for new options. I like to keep my presets organized in folders. In Logic, I now have to create several extra folders in order to keep my presets separated by compressor, e.g. guitar rig/compressors/VC76. On the other hand, I can group presets by role, and mix and match between the 3 compressors, e.g. guitar rig/compressors/bass (and have all my VC76, VC160, and VC2A for bass in the same folder).

One of the nice things about the Guitar Rig interface is that it allows me to have all 3 compressors in 1 instance of GR. I can then easily switch between or combine to find best results. Most of all, if you have Guitar Rig Pro 4, you can quickly create complex effects chains with other Guitar Rig effects. Highly recommended!

While I would prefer to be able to run each plugin without the Guitar Rig shell, I'm more than placated by the additional creative options that this arrangement creates.

Tips and Tricks
Precise adjustments can be tricky with the front dials, but by switching to Controls View in Logic (wherein the GUI is replaced by numbered faders) you can make more precise numerical adjustments.

If you need to get clinical about comparing compressed vs. dry, it's helpful to use a gain plugin in front of Guitar Rig when the compressor is bypassed in order to make sure your dry signal has the same peak level as the compressed signal. This way you can be sure that the compressor isn't just making things louder. On the other hand, sometimes life is too short for A/B comparisons, so just go with what works for your mix.

All models allow a 1:1 ratio (or 0 gain reduction on the VC2A, effectively the same thing) so you can use just their color or distortion characteristics. I like to run synths through Moogerfooger pedals with the Mix=0 (i.e. dry) with the drive cranked. Using these plugins in this manner provided me with a more convenient way to achieve similar results.

Here is an example of this technique. First the ABL loop dry, then through the VC76, VC160, and VC2A. The VC2A can get especially ballsy.

The cumulative effect of using these tools across many elements of a mix is where they really shine, even when the individual effects are used subtly.

The meters (like VU meters) are sluggish, and the program dependent compression contours take some tweaking, so use your ears not your eyes to dial the mix.

I use Novation's Automap Pro on most of my AU plugins. For some reason the automapped versions did not show he side chain selection menu in Logic on my Mac Pro, though it was available on my Macbook Pro. (To be clear, I'm referring to Logic's internal side chain selection drop down in the upper right corner of the GUI, not the side chain button in the Vintage Compressors). I don't know if this problem is due to Logic, Guitar Rig, Automap, or pilot error, but I've read that others have had trouble with sidechain operation so I thought it would be worth mentioning.

Conclusion
Native instruments and Softube have done well. Up until recently some of the best vintage emulations required hardware acceleration, and/or were fairly spendy. They've provided solid versions of these 3 iconic studio tools in the native format at a reasonable price. Vintage Compressors have found a place in my go-to arsenal for dynamics control.
As soon as UA can catch up with back orders, I'll have a 6176 and UAD card. I look forward to comparing the hardware, UAD versions, and the NI versions. In the meantime I'm quite satisfied with these options.

Price
229$/199 euro

...solid versions of these 3 iconic studio tools in the native format at a reasonable price...

Product page

PROS

Sound great, good value
Proven studio workhorses provide strong character to offset more clinical modern DAW dynamics control
Easy to get good sounds very quickly
Low CPU drain
Expert Panel brings classics into modern production styles

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