compressorbank vs waves compressor

[blake eat world]

anyone a/b'ed? cause i swear the compressor bank demo is amazing, but i've heard good things about waves compressors.

i used compressor banks limiter to get my level up on this tune and it seemed to do it rather transparently. granted i didn't nail it to the top though. btw feel free to post audio samples, it seems like people like to talk a lot about how good things are but an audio representation goes a long way.

www.clarityrecords.com/audio/ciliate.mp3 (http://www.clarityrecords.com/audio/ciliate.mp3)

[knewbee]

I like both, but for different things. CompressorBank is great on individual instruments, really nice "personality". The Waves Comp is much more transparent, especially on stereo tracks. Has anyone else found that the CompressorBank in stereo really narrows a stereo image...?

[blake eat world]

hmmm, i never thought about what it was doing to my stereo image. are there waves demos?

[Bubblegum]

I must say that I don't find the stereo image suffer at all with the MCDSP plugs.

Now I have got used to manipulating them, I have started using MCDSP almost exclusively lately with superb results. Once you get into these compressors (and the filters) your mixes will sound inspirational (assuming the tracks are well recorded).

I like the WAVES, but if I had to choose one or the other it would be MCDSP.

BUT FOR MULTIBAND.....on the whole mix, it has to be WAVES C4 over the MC2000.

I'm lucky, I have both. http://duc.digidesign.com/ubb/images/icons/cool.gif

[krhaarmeyer]

What are you guys doing to the Compressor Bank (fiddling, etc..) to get the sound you are looking for? I find the Renn Compressor a little earier to use?

Some pointers on the compressor bank would be helpful.
Thanks.
Keith

[Joseph Grimm]

Blake --
I've got both, and I use them both. My take is this -- the Waves (ren comp) interface is slightly (very slightly) more intuitive. But CompressorBank is more efficient, saving DSP for other plugs. soundwise, they seem to be equals. Everything McDSP makes, it seems, is kickass. I wonder what their analog strip will be like???

ps -- remember the emo-list? oh how embarrassing! hehe..

xo joe

[blake eat world]

i just recently ab'ed a mix once with compressor bank on program leveler pumped to liking, and the same mix with the L1 maximizer pumped to liking. and the compbank mix sounded thicker and almost analog like, it was amazing the difference i heard. that mcdsp guy seems to write really good code. i mean filterbank sounds like a big console eq.

[lwilliam]

Are you talking about the C1 or the Renaissance Comp? I have both plus the CompressorBank.

It just seems that lately I've been using the CompBank as my first choice. I can always get it to sound REALLY good - really easily. I usually start with one of the presets (Drum1, DrumThwack, "L eh, two" (or similar), or "Old Smoothie" as my first choices. Then I tweak from there.

The C1 is probably a little more transparent and the RenComp can probably get closer to the CompBank in overall sound, but I think the CompBank is a little more DSP efficient than the RenComp.

If cost is a big issue, then the Renaissance Bundle or NPP is a better deal for about the same price.

But...the CB looks so cool! Very retro... http://duc.digidesign.com/ubb/images/icons/smile.gif

Download the demo and play with it yourself.


------------------
LW

[Bubblegum]

Further to my earlier note that the C4 is better than MC200 on the whole mix.....

Forget that, MC2000 takes longer to set up, but I now have found that sweet spot with the MC2000, it is better. The C4 is good for "Radio" type mixes, but makes the whole thing sound less dynamic.

Also the Fairchild presets on the CB2 sound excellent on a whole mix, especially when used with the filterbank (you can even get it sounding close to the Pultec EQ). It is a good simulation of about $50,000 of vintage mastering gear (and in Stereo!!!).

The best plugins of any kind are without doubt MCDSP. If Colin Mcdowell came up with an analogue delay plugin that emulated stuff like the memory man, space echo etc... I would buy it immediately. So here's hoping.

http://duc.digidesign.com/ubb/images/icons/cool.gif

[snoopy]

Echo farm looks interesting, but I haven't heard from anyone that has tried it yet.