FG-116 BLUE SERIES FET COMPRESSORS


Introducing the Slate Digital FG-116 Blue Vintage & Blue Modern FET Compressors. These compressors are really cool and both the vintage and modern add extremely useful new features that the hardware does not have and that’s a high-pass side chain filter and of course a parallel mix knob.


FG-116 BLUE FET VINTAGE COMPRESSOR

FG-116 Blue Vintage recreates the sound of two “rev A” FET compressors. Both compressors sound rich, colorful, and musical.

Circuit 1 has the classic ‘mid forward’ character that has made the blue striped FET compressors so famous. It adds a wonderful coloration to the upper mids especially, and adds a warm presence to vocals, bass, drums, and guitars. Compared to the Black 116, it will have a softer top and bottom end, and more articulate transients due to the harmonic distortion in the midrange.

Circuit 2 is modeled after a “rev A” unit that had been updated and refurbished, and had a very unique and musical sound. Compared to Circuit 1, this model has much bigger lows and smoother mids and highs, making it sound quite stunning on drum room mics as well as vocals that need to have more bigness and don’t require the midrange push of Circuit 1.

Both Circuits have a Hi Pass Detective Filter that allows the lows to pass through uncompressed, which can sound really musical on a drum buss. Finally, the Mix/Knob allows you to parallel compress right inside the module, which is an ideal way to use this type of compression.


FG-116 BLUE FET MODERN COMPRESSOR

FG-116 Blue Modern is a custom revision of the classic FET compressor that offers two unique circuits that blend the old school tone with new school topology. The output transformers have been cleaned up so that it will have no output saturation, and the attack has been decoupled from the release so that it can be set much slower than the hardware for more transient articulation. Both circuits of the Blue Modern sound hifi, punchy, musical, and yet, they still can achieve the classic aggressive tone that makes the FET compressors so famous.

Circuit 1 is somewhat similar to the Vintage in that it will have a bit of a forward sounding character, but it is much cleaner and more pristine. The attack is slow enough that this compressor can sound amazing on close drum mics with the slowest attack and fastest release. Try it on a snare to bring out the punch while extending the decay. The mix knob works great in this situation where you can slightly overcompress and dial it back. On bass you can get a very edgy sound on this same setting. By backing down the release you’ll start to tighten up the sound which can be great on kick drum.

Circuit 2 will have a more breathable and punchy low end and overall smoother response on the top end. It sounds amazing on drum buss with the Hi Pass filter engaged, and even full mixes can really benefit from this musical compressor! Yes, with the Blue Modern, with the attack on the slowest and release on fastest, then with the HP filter on, you can use it on full mix and compress about 10db, then back off the mix knob to about 25% for a seriously incredible energy and excitement. Even in combination with another mix buss compressor like FG-Grey or FG-Red. This setting will be really great on a lot of mix material in all genres. Try it on electronic drum beats too to make them pound out of the speakers.

PRODUCT VIDEO

 

The beautiful GUI is telling me that this thing is going to hog the shyt out of cpu

 

I actually doubt that... the black 116 isnt bad at all... I assume these will be the same, or close.

You probably know this, but I will mention it in case... the pics above are gigantic, and no where near the size as in a daw.

Cheers!

 

Slate compressors are one of the best algos,only Softube could compete with them.
Dollar for dollar they are the best value in algo plugins.

 

Actually they not to bad. I've all-ready demoed them and they pretty cool.

I opened a few instances on a couple of tracks with both units loaded (why i don't know) just to check cpu in Reaper and it came in pretty low at around 1 percent.

They have that "Slate" ie (stolen Acustica) sound and are quite transparent.
The vintage is much more preferable and usable than the modern for my ears & taste. Overall i'd say 8 out of 10.

The gui is excellent, slick and using them in VMR of course a Breeze.

They make a good addition
However I still maintain that Nebula 3rd party products and Acqua plugins are still someway ahead at the moment and actually with new I8 also efficient cpu wise. I run the most modern nebula server ultimate bundle & with core 7 it runs like a dream. Plus you can load your Aqua plugs also & the added bonus of a 9 Gig library.
I still maintain Slate makes pretty good plugins and he throwing out an insane amount of products to the bundle at the moment.

However for a little extra cash you can buy the Nebula 3 Ultimate and that for me is a much wiser choice than either subscribing or paying a similar amount of cash for just two plugs.

However they make another good addition to his subscription bundle

 

Yes,i agree Acustica and Nebula are the best,but when we talk algos Slate makes really good stuff.For vintage (algo)compressors i would only choose Slate,some softube and mjuc.

 

they still need a gate, and then it can be a good all in one channel processor

 

They look so awesome, can just image how they sound as well

 

Mixing with Mike - Plugin of the Week

 

to me they sound as if they have some reverb added to them ?!? (in the first PRODUCT VIDEO)