An extremely faithful emulation of a vintage solid state compressor with added controls.
The Softube FET Compressor plug-in is not your run-of-the-mill modeled compressor. When creating FET Compressor, Softube set out to make the most accurate digital emulation of the most famous solid state compressor. Instead of modeling individual features and putting them together digitally they modeled the unit in its entirety: input and output stages, gain reduction feedback loops, bias differences of different transistors, etc.
Many modeled compressors are nothing more than futile attempts to get an off-the-shelf algorithm to match its hardware counterpart by tweaking a few parameters like the knee and attack/release times. But anyone who has worked with hardware compressors knows that there must be more to it.
The heritage of analog compressors very much showcases the history of electronics in the previous century. It's the deficiencies of the different designs and components that give each unit its unique character, and what started out as technical limitations have now become sought-after sounds. Simply approximating the most apparent features is not enough to capture this uniqueness. It takes a model of great complexity and accuracy to make a digital replica sound like the original with all settings and inputs. The engineers at Softube think their hard work has paid off, and feel you'll get the same positive response as Scott Spock, a producer/songwriter (a member of "The Matrix" Grammy-winning production team) who said, "I had a chance to thoroughly try out the FET Compressor and I have to say that I am thoroughly IMPRESSED."
Controls
Continuous Ratio
Unlike its hardware predecessor, the FET Compressor has a fully variable ratio. But if you prefer the old standard way (with fixed ratios), just click the labels and you're ready to go. This even includes the "All Buttons In" mode.
Parallel Compression
With the FET Compressor you can work with parallel compression from within the plug-in. Since the "Dry" signal also spent some time inside the algorithms, it's of course influenced by all that analog modeling mojo—like the subtle distortion from the input and output stages.
Super Fast Attack
The Super Fast Attack is faster than you can think of. Even faster than a single sample. And if that's not fast enough for you, use the lookahead to make it super-duper fast.
Attack: 20 microsecs - 0.8 ms
Release: 50 ms - about a second
Detector Controls
In addition to its hardware counterpart, Softube added a couple of other useful features:
External side chain support
Low and High-cut filters for the detector
Detector lookahead
And the ability to leave them in their off position
Enhanced Metering
Two modeled (and beautifully rendered) VU meters dance with the music, and a stereo peak meter lets you control the output signal.
