Klanghelm DC8C 3 because is very cheap and you can do mostly all kind of compression jobs imho =)

 

dbx

 

It's a pretty pointless question, but anyway, I guess it's the Waves API 2500 - has several knee and sidechain modes so it's great as a buss compressor, but also works for everything else. Very clean sounding.

 

Any comp that features all emulations in one plugin. U-he presswerk or boz digital labs compressor or DMG TrackComp (closest emulations, always gets improved, re-emulated like in previous versions recently release, as well expanding - TrackComp coming soon with 160 and 76a modes, should be in next beta, as people from GS say, so...)
TDR kotelnikov, nova
Kush/ubk/sly-fi stuff
Voxengo, cytomic, fabfilter, some stuff by airwindows, fuse audio labs, BRA, klanghelm, overloud stuff, dmg compassion, arousor, unfiltered zip, vertigo, elysia, smartcomp, URS and maybe a couple other things. And they all are must-have) Slate stuff isnt bad at all, but overhyped.

 

Last edited: Aug 21, 2019

Good answer. I had similar thoughts, taking the thread title literally. I never put the proper time into getting the most out of DC8C, but I'd probably go with something like Presswerk. Or Manic Compressor as mentioned above. It's not my favorite comp, but it's a really good one and it can do a lot of things well. Kind of like Pro-C2 with some options for coloring the sound a bit more.

I've been getting a lot of use out of the UAD Distressor too. Another one thats good in a variety of applications.

 

As long as we talk about digital downward compressors, all compressors do the same. They do math ... I and 0. The only difference is in the attack and release curves, ratio-curve, filter, oversampling and the type of waveshaping (curve). The more free access a compressor allows to these parameters, the more devices that can be mimicked. That's all. No magic. No tubes, no transformers, just mathematical curves.

 

Shit, that's a rough question since there's utilitarian aspects and character to take into account...
Gun to my head, Top 3 for mixing based on what I use the most, in no particular order:
Emperical Labs Arouser
Black Rooster VLA-2A
DMG Audio Compassion
(and Klanghelm's DC8C has to get an honorable mention.)
Mastering is another story; for that I'd have to go with Voxengo.

 

DC8C, you can configure it all ways.

 

Renaissance Compressor and Renaissance Vox, most effective, fast and good like any hardware compressor, specially on live recording insert, and most important, not an snake oil "clazzic gui"

 

Ah, yes; I think people often overlook the fact that plugins with classic GUIs are unable to compete with newer plugins that have been represented with more modern pixel configurations. Knee, Attack, Release, Ratio, all those really fall a distant second in importance to the GUI designers decision on where to place certain grouping of pixels. Few people realize this....

 

Try SSL Iron if you don't know it already,it's an amazing bus compressor.Not easy to find the best settings,but once you've find them,wowww!....

But if I had to keep only one compressor that would be the Empirical Labs Arousor,this compressor can do everything,for me it's the most versatile on the market.

 

it's not because one plugin has a "snake oil clazzic gui" that it isn't good either...And it's not more ugly.

 

Eventide Omnipressor or Sonible smartComp

 

Last edited: Aug 21, 2019

sonible smart:comp.

 

SSLCOMP

 

But i think, you cannot only take one Comp, i like having "explosion" on the hard consonants and the SSLGCOMP/SSLCOMP cannot do that, I like to add the CLA76 with blue rev to add this extra aggression on vocals !

 

The question is insufficient. Third party meaning not 'embedded in' daw, i suppose. Must be plugin or can be hardware? How much time for decision? Could I sell 'stuff' before buying special unicorn one, or decision must be instantaneous, based on chainsaw to the neck reduction, 10 seconds to name only one in personal possession, existing bunch of hardware and/or software 'stuff'? On what purpose or where I'm going with that one compressor? Can I steel (download not cracked, hardware one from someone's studio) one ("Fairchild 660/670") if no one is going to look for me on deserted island, or in some single person post-apocalyptic bunker?.......