Multiband Compressor Search

HKC

Logician
After years of using, and loving, the TC MX5 mastering and multiband compressor I have to accept the fact that Powercore is dying. That leaves me with a problem because I have tried some of the competition and I haven't really found anything that works as well as that one. I will not go into which I liked and which I didn't because I am not sure that all of them was given a proper chance :)
My question is what do you guys use. I'm looking for a topnotch replacement but I'm not necessarily after just possibilities and options. It has to sound good just being in the chain (like the MX5 which in default mode worked just like a very good limiter with many possible adjustments).
 
Quite limited in its multibandedness (?) but nonetheless something I'd advise you to get a demo of ids the PSP Vintagewarmer. It fits the bill of adding something special just be being in the chain, but also when 2 band compression is what you want, this also has some great subtle and not so subtle settings.
 
Waves Linear Phase Multiband, C4, C6 and particularly the L 3-16 would be my recommendations. The L 3-16 has been my go to limiter since it came out. The UAD precision Multiband is also worth looking at, especially if you have their hardware.

kind regards

Mark
 
I already have Vintagewarmer but I think it may be a little too simple for my needs. I was expecting the UAD thing to come up and I may very well go for that one. Somehow the Waves stuff strangely don't appeal to me. Maybe it's just because everybody seem to cracked versions of it but I don't know.
For the record I don't have any cracks installed...
 
I already have Vintagewarmer but I think it may be a little too simple for my needs. I was expecting the UAD thing to come up and I may very well go for that one.

Yes, I thought the VW might be two simple, but I never tire of mentioning it as I love it so much.

There is also the Sonalkisi CQ1, I think you can get a demo version. I have it but never really investigated it I have to admit.

I did used to use the UAD but decided to get rid of all my UAD plugs, I hated being tied in to the hardware.

BTW, out of curiosity, what do you find lacking with the on board Logic multipressor?
 
There is also the Sonalkisi CQ1, I think you can get a demo version. I have it but never really investigated it I have to admit.

Very good tip Pete, I too haven't used the CQ 1 as much as I should, both it and the Sonalksis DQ 1 are also well worth looking at.


kind regards

Mark
 
Hmm I actually also have that one:) Maybe I should try it out.....
Having checked the Waves C6 I think that maybe I like the Waves stuff a little more than I thought:) It's not that expensive I find, cheaper than the UAD one which I may get at some point anyway but not until they have their next bundle discount.
 
The Waves C6 is very nice but still not 64 bit. It's so strange how the expensive companies take forever to do those upgrades.
 
Now I have spent quite some time with Sonalksis DQ1, Waves C6 and UAD Precision Multiband and I seem to like the latter the best. They all sound fine but Sonalksis and Waves has no input gain so a "gain" would have to be inserted every time mixes are low. No big deal, but a deal. Sonalksis in general is a bit short on features I find but is still way better sounding than the native Logic multi band.
The UAD is very nice I think but of course also still 32 bit but they have made a promise at X-mas that they will come out with 64 bit versions:)
The annoying thing is that I still like the direct effect of the MX5 better but the UAD (and the Waves also) are much more advanced and after twiddling a little bit I found that the MX5 could be reproduced very easily on both. This is where the insignificant input gain comes into the picture, one has and one doesn't....
I'm not crazy about having huge channel strips, to many things may slip by unchecked and my ears are not always 100% dedicated to what I do no matter how hard I try :)
 
Back
Top