As the title suggest, I'm looking for a new buss compressor for more "glue"

What do you use and what can you suggest...

 

Hardware or software?
What are you using now?
General purpose or specific genre(s)?

 

Software, and anything with a bit of "glue magic"...

 

That's trivial: Cytomic The Glue

 

SSL Native Bus Compressor. The, original "modern glue" bus compressor.

 

ssl native bus is the best but the trade off is low end definition something you can put back with something like konsol by analog obsession. or you mix into him

 

I'm enjoying the Overloud Gem Comp G. Super low CPU. Sounds great.

 

SSL Native V6 Bus Compressor has SC Filter to bypass low frequency compression.

 

https://audiosex.pro/threads/ssl-native-essentials-bundle-49-99-was-479.57732/

 

As to my experience and taste in ascending order: Waves, SSL, Cytomic, PA.
Especially for you my tips goes to PA's bx_townhouse because it sounds most upfront and loud.
But this also depends a bit on the settings, so I wouldn't ignore The Glue.

If you're also into lower compression ratios, Pulsar Mu could be an option.

 

Last edited: Feb 17, 2021

this old tree is one of the best bus compressors available:

 

vintage warmer 2 always had that ''magic''

 

Pulsar Mu sounds good (but has a stupid protection scheme if you don't have an ilok dongle)

PA Vertigo VSC-2. there are some mixed opinions on this, I think it sounds great though.
PA townhouse bus compressor - I like it for drums mostly, but it's pretty versatile.

Acustica Sand is another SSL. Sounds awesome but you can't run many instances
Acustica Ultramarine is a really nice sounding Fairchild emulation.

 

Lindell NEVE 354E and Boz Digital Manic Compressor are the two that I´m using now.

 

Do you think most people know why they need "glue" or has it just become such common terminology that everyone thinks it is an essential element of mixing? Often if I have a lot of compressors across a lot of tracks, adding glue is not essential. In many ways it seems to be a great word for marketing departments to use for us to "get that real analogue sound"
I guess what I'm asking is if you were mastering a track would you like a "glue" plugin on the master bus?

 

Last edited by a moderator: Feb 18, 2021

Colorful! SOFT ratio on the mixbus so good!


or this, been using this too long now, if it doesn't make it to the mixbus, it will go to the drum bus. Feedforward FTW!


or this if your mix lacks character, works well for hiphop (I LOVE THIS ONE)


Once you get bored, and want to go m/s, this :

 

DMGAudio TrackComp 2..excellent for tracks and buss. grab a demo and it's priced fairly.

 

Weiss/Softube is you’re looking for surgical clarity.

 

I Tried that one in the past, it has some kind of color/eq that i don't like especially on low ends, does not work for me.

I have tried the Native buss compressor, not precise enough for me, but after playing with the high pass filter, i got it to calm down a bit, and started to actually like it a bit, still, it's not versatile enough for me or at least not to my taste, i'll still dive a bit more into it and throw it every chance i get and see how it reacts

Haha you know me too well! still the townhouse compressor is already my go to for busses i'm just looking for alternative and more choice.

Thank you! i'll try these next.

i can tell you with "confidence" i know what i'm looking for and i know what "glue" means, i'm experienced enough to tell each compressor's character, how they react and even personality at some point (i know i know i'm getting to old and emotional for this lol) i have a good enough trained ears to actually look for a "certain" type of compression that i think is missing from my mixes.

my only concern with what you've said is "adding glue is not essential" i mean how would you know what i need or what a certain cases needs, or what a mix needs, each time you start working on a song is already a unique case, so that's not a valid argument to me, and i didn't say analog sound, i said glue which i know what it is.

i appreciate your comment, but assuming is only a shot in the dark, i'm here asking for recommendations, and my question is to anyone who understands the meaning of "glue".

 

i use weiss/softube stuff on mastering phase only, while mixing, i do appreciate a compressor's characters...