So, I recently stumbled on the compressor called Material Comp by some appearently Japanese developer and I really liked what it was doing on the master bus and on individual instruments.

https://www.voosteq.com/



To me the compression envelope sounded much more like hardware compression when compared to some of my other compressors in the arsenal such as Klanghelm DC8C (eventhough it's deeply customizable, so I might be able to dial in a similar release behaviour), TDR Molotok and NI Supercharger GT.

Don't get me wrong, these are all fantastic compressors, but none was able to give me that particular sound, A crucial part of the variety of sound that Material Comp can impart on the material is the choice of different compressor, preamp and glue types, that in combination give you a very distinct and (to my ears) pleasant tone.

I was wondering why this compressor is not more popular? Do people not like it or is it because the company is not very well known (maybe their marketing sucks)? I saw that snake oil dude made a video about it, but it was very overly critical, almost as if he had some bad intentions or tried to condescend on it for entertainment purpsoses.

Since this thing is really affordable right now (I would never buy it at the supposed list price of 150 bucks), I would love to hear other opinions. There is a fully functional 14 day trial version and sistersite also has some older version of it, if you want to go this route. Please let me know what you think about it!

 

Because it doesn't do anything particularly good. Congrats on finding the sort of placebo that works for you.
No need for limited trial BTW, it's still on sister site.

Also I can't help but notice that you mainly listed very agressive, squishy compressors, while this one is more tame, general-purpose. This might be the reason why you can't achieve the same result with Supercharger bloody GT or a fecking Molotok. "Molotok" means "hammer" BTW, it's called that deliberately.
Try u-He Presswerk too while you're at it. Not recommending Pro-C or smart:comp, those will sound sterile to your ears.

 

Last edited: Oct 29, 2022

Have you actually tried Material Comp or what is the base of your statements?

Trust me, I know which compressors in my arsenal are fit for which purposes. I deliberately used these comps since I was doing my initial tests on a drum loop and I wanted to have a rather aggressive, bit pumpy boom bap sound with a nice release envelope. Hence they compressors I used were all legit choices for that task.

Unlike your assumption, Material Comp did not turn out to be "tame", but was able to deliver that aforementioned particular sound. I expected Molotok to be the most likely winner in the shootout, but it's "box tone" is quite waveshaperish as opposed to the more analog saturation tone I managed to get out of Material Comp.10db of gain reduction in Material Comp sound much better while still analogish sounding (note: not tame) than 3db of gain reduction in Molotok.

Thanks for replying, even if your comments are not very on topic. I would love to hear the opinion of those who have actually tried and used Material Comp, not some unrelated statements about plugins in general.

 

Last edited: Oct 29, 2022

Interesting you say that about Presswerk. I thought it, along with DC8C, was supposed to be highly customizable as to achieve any kind of compression.

 

I say that it's better than Material.

Bold assumption. I have tried and used it. I try every compressor released on sister site, because I love compressors. Material did not justify its place in my permanent toolbox.
I also have to reiterate that you needed something more tame than Molotok or Supercharger GT in the first place. These "waweshapey" tones (which are produced by compressor retriggering on *waveform peaks*, which is achieved by very fast initial release curve) is what they're built for.

 

It's not bad by any means, it does its job reliably enough.
Just not remarkable either. And the intrface along with some amount of hype and marketing speech instead of technical explanation make it look cheaper than it is.
Oh yeah, and I used Soundspot Cyclone for its, ahem, flavour a couple of times, so I'm not judging either way. Just answering the titular question.

 

No need to reiterate you wrong conclusions. I was not looking for something tame, as indicated in my previous remarks (in essence: Boom Bap aggressive drums with punch). I actually used Supercharger in a rather moderate setting and while sounding less aggressive than Material Comp, it didn't give me that envelope response that was so particular about Material Comp. Again, I'm referring to a particular release behaviour that I can't easily describe. Think of a more nonlinear / exponential gain restitution as opposed to a digital linear (as in a straight line) release behaviour.

I also tried Molotok in it's least aggressive setting and it would still waveshape the sh*t out of the material at minimum gain reduction values without adding the type of analogish color I was looking for. And I say that as a certified Tokyo Dawn day one fanboy who owns almost their entire catalogue.

But I guess you want to claim to have a better understanding of my envisioned sound than I have? Talking about bold claims!

So let's stay civil. If you had a recent mode of reference and could explicity point to weaknesses or strengths in direct comparison I would find it much easier to gain valuable insights. But with overgeneralised statements and personal opinons being so overly prevalent it can be difficult to gain actionable information from public discourses.

 

"Comp Mode", "Preamp Spice", "Analog Flavor", "Glue Magic"..."Punch"?..."Groove"??, "Imager"..... Noise???

 

Alright, I'll clarify the terms in a civil way then.
The most agressive compressor actually make for the tamest transients, because the most aggressive compressor is essentially a clipper. It's suitable for parallel drum processing, but usually you want some transients (i.e. slower attack), and release that underlines the drum's sustain. Something like FET.

Aggressive compressors include Molotok, Rough Rider and the likes. They are a few samples away from being a soft clipper. Very fast attack, very fast release, very high ratios. Good for bass.
Some comps like Distressor emus or Mia 925 can go aggressive, but are generally used in tamer settings. FET compressors I'd call tame and it's exactly why they're perfect for drums. Yes, FET compressors are tame. It's a feedback architecture, for FET's sake. It cares about its input more than some engineers do.
Something like optos I'd call generally tame to gentle. Purpose-built digital comps like Pro-C 2 and smart:comp 2 are gentle. These are good for vocals, violins, all the other dynamic but not transient stuff.

What I'm saying is, compressor's aggressiveness is another name to its waveshaping qualities. It's not equal to the "aggressiveness" of the compressed drums it produces. In fact, it's in negative correlation with it.

 

I have tried it, nothing special really. Just another compressor with saturation with the idea that (for example) with Neve type of preamp saturation it would sound like a Neve compressor, which is not. All those old vintage units are loved for how it reacts to the sounds fed to it and its non-linearities (transfer curve changes with different source material, input level etc), it may produce saturation, but that's not really what it is about and why they are loved and sought after. Material Comp is static at its best though if you turn off all the saturations. You can hear it and it shows on the graph how static it is doesn't matter whatever you feed into it. Testing it on a "drum loop" actually will give you the idea how average this plugin is as for material with a lot of elements through out the frequency range likely will almost always sounds better with variable/dual release stage. The 2500 is so loved for that shit alone on drum bus/loop. I have no judgement that you said you like a compressor like this for drum loops. To each and their own I guess.

IMO, this compressor is just your bang average stock DAW compressor (with fancy GUI) and 3-4 saturation stages one after another you can choose, which kinda make it more a Saturator than a Compressor. It doesn't even have variable releases (like the 2500, Gbus, 33609, elysia) even on the Auto Release settings with Groove knob turn on (turns out it's just envelope follower, lol), let alone dual stage attack/release, triple stage or other more complex digital compressor design like the Molotok/Molot GE (alpha sigma, negative compression) or Kotelnikov with its FDR and what not, if want to compare. I mean Tone Project Unisum make this plugin looks like a toy if you think about it, but yeah that's a Mastering Compressor, not fair to compare. It's not bad at what it does, but yeah, stock DAW compressor with 3-4 saturation plugins of your choice can give you the same result because that is what it does, maybe if you dont want to do that you can use this one plugin for it.

again.. really, 3 saturation plugins after compressor ? hmm. You are allowed to like it though, I just don't.

 

Last edited: Oct 29, 2022

Fircomp 2 Fircomp 2 Fircomp 2 Fircomp 2 Fircomp 2 Fircomp 2 Fircomp 2

 

Fircomp has completely different compression character, extremely clean (love it for that application).

 

Completely disagree. It's compression behaviour has nothing in common with any stock compressor, unless you are using a DAW I have never used before (I have used almost any DAW in existence). And it's not similar to a generic compressor with a few stages of saturation, since I already tried this. Material Comp's compression envelope by itself are quite unique, has nothing to do with just adding some saturation post compression.

I guess the thread is fruitless, since I was asking for people to actually TRY the comp and share their impression. Instead I'm getting a lot of "yeah, I used it once and it's not special". Can you even recall how it sounded from using it once many moons ago? Do you not see how some distant memory about having it used once has almost zero value here? Expecting someone to download and install a free demo and provide some immediate, informative feedback is too much to ask for, sorry for only realising this now.

 

Have you actually tried it or are you judging it based on the choice of parameter names?

 

Dude, I'm not some newbie to audio production and engineering, as you should know. No need to explain trivialities. I'm sure there are some 16 yo FL Studio wannabe producers out there who would benefit from your theatralic didactics, but I'm not part of that peer-group.

All I asked is to try Material Comp and share your impression, not from a distant memory, but actually from recent trial. What do you like, what do you dislike? How does it compare to other comps in your perception based on actual experimentation in the here and now. But I guess arguing is more entertaining to you than having an informed discussion àbout a specific audio processor?

 

I tried it once. I really do not like those "compression mode" functions on any plugin.
Pro-C, DMG Trackcomp, Material comp etc.
I got all functions I'll ever need with Attack, Release, Ratio, Threshold, Knee, look-ahead and oversampling.

Acon Digital comp is excellent to me.

But yes, nowadays I really absolutely prejudge plugins just by looking at the parameters. The rest I measure. I do not even listen to them if the measurements present saturation.
For saturation, the audec waveshapers really can do everything I'll ever need.

 

I guess you were talking something about being civil? Guess that only applies to other people then.

I was explaining my earlier words, since, clearly, the need to do so arised.

What happened here, is you found a release curve that perfectly matches your intentions. And that's unironically great!
But the question "Why don't people talk about things I find important" is just a bad question to ask. Because usually the answer is "because it's not important for most people". You can't argue objectivity because this comp is not essential. And by maintaining that people "just don't get it" or "haven't tried it recently enough" you won't do yourself any favours either.

No, you asked why people don't talk about your new favourite toy as much as you'd like. And the answer is, because it's not everyone's favourite toy, just yours. It's not a bad plugin by any means, but it came to an oversaturated market a while ago with no standout functionality other than gimmicky saturation knobs. People just didn't know of it, and those that did knew, didn't care. Which is illustrated by this topic so far.

 

Because there is better free compressors out there! if you try!

 

Interesting Compressor, just demoing it..

It's got some good features like M/S mode (not all comps can do it),
and Auto attack/release, (although what that does will have to be seen in more detail..)

And then it's got all those extra Color features..
Interesting approach with various types of HW emulation, (apparently very complete at that),
the dubious Punch/Groove controls and so on.. so it could be useful as a Coloring tool.

I don't see it as a tool of much Precision or Refinement,
so no, it's not replacing Elysia on the Master bus anytime soon

 

i dont like it. there're more than enough compressor plugins without this "looks like hardware, it must sound like hardware" gui. im not able to test every single plugin on the planet. ive to filter. step 1: drop the ugly stuff.