I am looking for a replacement VST for the Renoise Bus Compressor. I like this device very much and would die for a VST version of it, but you can’t have everything you want.
So far I tried fabfilter, mcomp, ozone dyn 1 band, tb… It never sounds the same, the Renoise bcomp nicely also captures even early transients, maybe the attack curve is bent or so. I now found a replacement for the standard compressor, but the bus compressor works differently. I also tried to bend the release curve, still not the same.
I use a handful of free compressors. I also like how the builtin Compressor (Compressor, Bus Compressor, Maximizer) work/sound. I’m not sure if you can get the sound you’re looking for from the free ones I use, but they’re free, so maybe worth a try.
I have found all of these to sound quite good and each has its own character. I think SLAX or Density may be more what you are looking for, not sure though. HBC is quite good, also.
I don’t use MacOS, so I will be of no further help LOL.
HBC is pretty awesome. Some of the Sonic Anomaly effects are also available as JS effects in REAPER, there’s a repo for ReaPack. (Not sure if that helps, but there you go.)
Airwindows You might look through the Airwindows plugins. I’m not as familiar with them, yet, so I can’t make any recommendations. Available as AU/VST. There might be one in there that fits your criteria. Also, being GUI-less, they look like native effects in Renoise (No external editor window, a bit tidier than most other 3rd party effects).
Thanks man, airwindows doesn’t provide a such sophisticated bus compressor. Actually there are only very few. You know what, I remember when I still was on windows with cubase and buzz, there was this fx plugin suite sonitus fx, which was then borg-ed by cakewalk later (and never existed for macos). I bet that compressor would sound very similar, I loved it so much.
Such a similar plugin I am looking for I guess. Maybe I’ll check waves. EDIT: Not a single waves compressor has a flexible knee. C1 compressor only has a fixed knee.
Wow, I hadn’t noticed that the ReaPlugs were only Windows. Shame, they are really quite good, also. Seems odd, considering REAPER is available for MacOS.
Did a quick search for some MacOS compatible VST compressors.
SAFE Compressor (Has knee, and an interesting “preset” system) SAFE Plugins You’ll want the newest versions from the official site.
Molot (only thing missing is your req. of 20:1 ratio. Does have an “Inf.” ratio option, though. Haven’t played with that yet, myself)
Man, options for MacOS are slim in this department. (Especially for free.) Poor folk such as myself appear to be much better off on Windows and Linux, lol.
Or you could just consider this a message from the Tracker Lords that you are meant to only use Renoise! No need for a VST replacement if Renoise is your domain
hey @mholloway , yes I really like most of the Renoise plugins. This is about transferring some songs to Bitwig to use fancy VST3, MPE, parallel container, stereo split container and so on over there, for a more fast workflow. So the domain is Bitwig. I will do that more often now, that’s why I am looking for the most accurate replacement VST, then the transferring workflow will be as fast as possible. I am not a total noob regarding compression, but I even couldn’t make the highly recommended Pro C2 sound exactly like the bus compressor. The Renoise one nicely captures even early transients and returns a very constant result - and only uses 1ms PDC. Maybe the Bitwig internal “dynamics” then is the most similar.
I found a good compressor to replace the Buscomp for you @ffx
Feedbackcompressor by Tokio Labs does pretty much the same maybe even similar algorythm used inside as it was my first more pro upgrade from the already very good Buscomp in Renoise. https://myvst.com/vst-effects/tdr-feedback-compressor-free Please let me know if this works for you and if you like it as I do.
Thanks. I only checked TDR feedback comp II, which has a maximum ratio of 7:1. What’s the maximum in version 1? EDIT: Yes, also v1 also has max. 7:1 ratio, plus Windows only.
Ahhh stupid me the Doofi the mac thing. Maybe you just need to invest in a Lenovo cheapopad and run 3.1 just on there like I do? The Kollenivkov is also a mad cool compressor.
I’m surprised that no one mentioned it so far.
Compressor with ratio 20:1 and higher is technically a limiter. Ratio this high definitely isn’t meant for master bus. That’s why for example TDR Feedback Compressor and it’s successor Kotelnikov have maximum ratio of 7:1. They are dedicated for mixing and mastering.
ffx, if you feel the need for such high ratio, perhaps something should be fixed in particular tracks before they are sent to master bus. It’s better to compress gradually than smack a single dynamic range squeezer in the final stage.
Thanks, but I don’t use it on master bus, if so only slightly. If you use the bus comp with 20:1 and a knee of -30dB, then for sure it is not a limiter. I compress a drum group, for various scenarios. TDR Feedback Compressor has some limitations vs. native bus compressor. I was looking for a compressor capable of all the features, so I can translate songs in a most easy way without workarounds.
I won’t start a discussion with you now, why a compression ratio of 1:10 actually can be useful, actually the more available range, the better. Then I wrote many times, it should be a 1:1 replacement for the Renoise dynamics modules, and yes, I sometimes use the bus compressor with 1:10 and knee, sometimes even 1:20 with knee, like a soft limiter, it depends on the mix context. Those songs already were done, now I want to convert it to Bitwig as accurately as possible. A compressor with only 1:7 max. wont help me to replace the Renoise bus comp.
the mac thing. Maybe you just need to invest in a Lenovo cheapopad and run 3.1 just on there like I do? The Kollenivkov is also a mad cool compressor.