Native Instruments Vintage Compressors
NI has teamed up with Softube to capture the souls of three legends of compression. Mike Hillier is on the level.
Price: £199.00
Manufacturer: Native Instruments
Website: http://www.native-instruments.com
Native Instruments is building up a complete range of instruments and effects, to the extent that a copy of the Komplete bundle will provide you with just about everything you need to record, mix and master to a pro standard. The company’s instrument selection is already renowned, with synths such as Massive and Absynth setting the standard that many others are judged by, while Kontakt is arguably the king of samplers. On the effects side, however, the company has until recently been reliant on Guitar Rig, which although powerful, focuses more on processing guitars and synths than everyday mixing tasks. The Vintage Compressor bundle, developed with Softube, goes some way to remedying this, providing emulations of three classic compressors ready for all manner of mix tasks.
Three of the best
The three compressors emulated in the Vintage Compressor bundle are the Urei 1176, Teletronix LA-2A and dbx 160. You’re probably familiar with the 1176 and LA-2A already: emulations of these are commonplace, while the hardware versions (or variants) are in almost every moderate-size studio. The dbx 160 is also commonly seen in studios, but emulations, while not unheard of, are not as ubiquitous as the other two.
The reason that these three have no doubt been chosen – in preference to the hundreds of other popular vintage compressors – is that they each use a different form of compression circuit topology. This means that as a bundle you get three very different compressors, each with its own unique character, which you can use to shape your mixes in very different ways.
We three kings
The VC 76 is modelled on the FET compression characteristics of the Urei 1176 compressor/limiter. If you’ve not experienced one of these compressors before you’re in for a treat – the ’76 is a studio workhorse and one of the first tools we’ll turn to when tracking or mixing in an unfamiliar environment.
The VC 76 takes its lead from a Blackface 1176, but unlike the original, the VC 76 has a slider instead of the four push-button Ratio controls. The slider includes settings for 1:1 ratio (No Buttons mode) and the well-known All Buttons mode. This change makes a lot of sense, as without the familiar clunk the virtual buttons are anachronistic, and since you can’t click on all four at once you have to know a trick (usually [Shift]-click) to get the emulations into All Buttons mode. A slider makes far more sense in the virtual world.
No Buttons mode is great for giving a taste of the 1176’s character to a signal without reducing the dynamic range, and we can see it being used as a sound-design technique on all manner of sounds, from vocals to synths and even the master buss in place of other saturation effects.
The VC 2A emulates the electro-optical compression and tube drive of the LA-2A limiting amplifier. While the VC 76 is a fast, punchy compressor, the VC 2A has a slower, smoother, more natural compression characteristic, which explains why emulations of these two in particular are so common as they complement each other so well.
In Compress mode on vocals the VC 2A sounds wonderful. Finding the right settings is incredibly easy, since there are only two parameters to play around with. Switching to Limit mode and placing the VC 2A after a VC 76 gave us even greater control over our vocal, with the VC 76 at 4:1 ratio keeping transients under control while the VC 2A gave a silky smoothness to the overall tone.
Finally, the VC 160 emulates the VCA compression characteristics of the dbx 160. The VC 160 has a more traditional layout, with controls for threshold, ratio and make-up gain. However, like the VC 2A the attack and release settings are controlled automatically. Unlike the VC 2A, though, the VC 160 is far from slow and silky-smooth, displaying fast, distinctive compression characteristics.
On the side
The Vintage bundle provides great-sounding emulations of three choice compressors. Unlike the originals, however, NI has added a sidechain input and Wet/Dry slider to each one, expanding their potential beyond the hardware originals. The downside is that the three compressors are not available as plug-ins but as modules within Guitar Rig. This is an extra hassle when reaching for a compressor and makes it harder to assign parameters to control surfaces. MTM
VERDICT
WHY BUY
Three distinctive compressors
Additional sidechain mode
Great-sounding emulations
WALK ON BY
Works from within Guitar Rig
-Alternative emulations available
The Vintage Compressors sound incredible and have options for processing every sound we can think of. However, the restriction to Guitar Rig is off-putting.
★★★★★★★
Score: 7
This review first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 102
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