The 6030 Ultimate Compressor offers no less than 10 unique
compressors from the company that has been doing analog modeling longer than
anyone. Built from the ground up, the 6030 adds new sonic capabilities, stunning
new interfaces, and quality only McDSP can deliver.
Short of a demo of the actual plug-in, here’s an overview of the
compressors included in the 6030 Ultimate Compressor from a very biased source –
me!
For Starters
Here at McDSP we’re mighty proud of our products (FilterBank and
CompressorBank for example) and how they can emulate a variety of analog
outboard gear by offering unique controls (Peak, Slope, Dip, BITE, Knee for
example). You might say McDSP put the ‘M’ in modeling. The 6030 Ultimate
Compressor is meant to drive that point home, and then some.
With the 6030 Ultimate Compressor, we’ve taken some revered classics and
customized them to our own liking. Heck we think they’re better. Along the way
we created original designs that were too gosh darn good to keep to ourselves.
The result is TEN awesome compressors in ONE plug-in! Now some folks might get
all shook up in the jimmies when we say we’ve altered some holy grail vintage
outboard gear – but being creative is about taking chances, not re-hashing what
has already been done before. So rock out and read on.
U670
In 2000, a generous (and very trusting) Nashville-based engineer named Jeff
Balding offered McDSP the opportunity to ‘borrow’ his Fairchild 670 compressor
to see how it could be modeled. Some of this effort turned into presets for the
CompressorBank plug-in, as well as a mode in the CompressorBank CB4 plug-in. But
there was always more that could have been done, and now it has. A new set of
attack ballistics was created to accommodate modern production styles, the
‘warmth’ factor was tweaked, and the U670 was born.
Moo Tube
An all tube design emulation, with some unique twists. Mid range sensitivity,
attack and recovery time ranges, and output frequency response characteristics
were all re-worked by McDSP engineering. And we like the cow factor.
iComp
The iComp may not operate on your iPad (yet), but this all-original McDSP
design sounds great, in our completely biased opinion. Attack and release times
are not adjustable, but are instead automatically updated based on user selected
threshold and ratio control values. Good on songs headed to iTunes.
Opto-C/Opto-L
Not just another electro-optical attenuation circuit emulation – these Opto
models use McDSP designed key signal circuits for an improved (watch out for
jimmies) response from the originals. The Opto models also use a different
release characteristic, because we like to tweak!
British-C
Based on a more ‘traditional’ design, the British-C model offers the standard
compressor control set – threshold, ratio, attack, and recovery. McDSP added
internal smarts to prevent unwanted distortion, even at extreme compression
settings, not unlike other high-end analog compressors from this part of the
world.
Over EZ
The Over EZ module incorporates a smooth knee response with a flexible
control configuration, making it useful in a variety of situations.
SST’76
It may not get you from San Francisco to London within 6 hours, but this
compressor has some super sonic transporting capabilities of its own. The SST’76
is a fast reactive design that sounds great on drums and other percussive
sources. The solid-state (SST) circuit model uses a McDSP designed key circuit
to boot.
FRG444
Referred to as ‘The Frog’ by McDSP staff, the FRG444 uses a moderately
aggressive compression design for a more, well, aggressive kind of sound. The
FRG444 will not give you warts either. But goose bumps possibly, especially on
big rock drum kits.
D357
The D357 is the most aggressive compressor in the 6030 collection. An LED
style gain reduction meter is used to display the rapid dynamic range control
changes the D357 is capable of enacting on unsuspecting audio. Use with
caution!
