A25 has been modeled after a beautiful stereo compressor, with a few “modern” add-ons:
– Sample aligned Dry-Wet control.
– Mid-Side balance control of action of the compressor (sets where the processing is done between Mid and Side components of the stereo field).
– True Auto-Gain, for easy level-matched comparison.
– Through-clipboard preset management system (copy and paste between instances).
It is also the first product we designed with a new vectorial interface, first step towards complete resizeability.
We put quite some efforts to accurately model all aspects of the unit, from transformers to compression to filters.
Released as as VST/AU/AAX for Windows and Mac OSX 32 and 64 bit systems and also coming as AAX-DSP for Avid HDX and Venue live consoles!
Pre-buy offer 29.99$ (regular 49.99$) in the Webshop.
Download a set of presets for mastering here. Each preset contains the rough peaking gain reduction achieved, in its name. Once loaded, set Threshold to the right value to get roughly the same compression on the meters.
Download a set of presets for drums here.
FEATURES.
Threshold knob: increase its value to decrease compression threshold’s value (and, so, increase sensitivity of the compressor).
Attack knob: sets the attack speed of the action of the compressor. Faster for a strong compression, slower to get some peak pass-through the compressor. Somewhere in the middle for the most “snap”.
Ratio knob: sets how strongly the compressor reacts to incoming signal. Goes down to 1:1, meaning no compression at all.
Release knob: sets the release speed of the action of the compressor, time needed to recover after the signal goes down and the compressor stops detecting levels above threshold.
Link knob and selector: sets the mode and the amount of stereo link between channels (when working on a stereo source). The selector controls what part of the signal is shared between the stereo channels. Flat is the normal behaviour (whole signal), while high, band and low are different frequency ranges of interaction. Set Link to max and Filter to flat, then experiment with selections and Link amount. Set Link to 0 for complete independency of the action of compression on the stereo channels.
Knee selector: sets the shape of the compression curve. Soft is smoother and with a more “round” sound. Hard is abrupt and with a stronger sound.
Sidechain selector: sets frequency dependence of the detection. Flat is a standard reaction while Loud and Med set two different frequency curves more suitable to complex sources like a stereo mix.
Mode selector: This control lets us actually pick between a couple of different compressors. Feed Forward (FF) mode has the detector circuit connected to the input signal. A more modern, stronger sound. Feed Back (FB) mode is vintage style: the detector is connected to the output of the compressor, for a smoother and less decise action.
Volume knob: a simple gain stage after the compressor (but before the Mid/Side and Mix knobs, see below). Necessary to compensate to average level changes introduced by compression settings.
Bypass switch: bypasses the effect entirely.
AutoGain switch: engages an extremely useful true auto gain feature. The Volume knob is automatically controlled to always match input and output levels. Extremely useful for fair, level matched comparisons. Keep it engaged for an easier use of the Mid/Side and Dry/Wet knobs (see below).
Mid/Side knob: a simple encode-decode Mid/Side matrix. The knob stes a balance between Mid and Side components of the stereo signal. Set it to 0.5 for a neutral action.
Dry/Wet knob: controls a sample-aligned mix between the incoming signal (Dry) and the output of the compressor (Wet). Set it to full Wet, setup the compression, then rotate to Dry to adjust the amount of compression to taste.
Load button: Loads a complete preset from the file system. Presets are managed as clear text, through clipboard, for an easy and effective management through file-system, forums, inter-instance, etc.
Save button: saves a complete preset to the file system.
Copy button: copies the whole preset to system’s clipboard. Extremely useful for copying-pasting between instances in the project and to share clear-text presets in forums or by email. Copy the whole text from the message and press paste on plugin’s interface (see below).
Paste button: pastes the whole preset to the plugin if a valid preset is in system’s clipboard.
A beta version of the Apple-silicon-native VST3, AU and AAX versions is available for testing:
A25 – Beta/Demo – VST3/AU Apple-silicon-native
A25 – Beta/Demo – AAX Apple-silicon-native
(To install: ensure your workstation is online while you insert the first instance. If you don’t own a license, it will run in demo mode, requires the workstation to be online every time you add a first instance in a project or re-open a project).