Quantum-Music.ca

Recently, I was re-reading an old Sound on Sound magazine, more precisely its SOS mix rescue section, and I saw this plugin on the screen that looks very similar to the manley variable MU Compressor. Let me tell you that it caught my interest very quickly. Even if I’m not an analog fan for practical reasons, I’ve to admit that I would be more than happy to possess a manley compressor. I think it’s the dream of every mastering engineer. The marvelous object is quite pricy though. The idea of a plugin version seemed pretty interesting…

When I saw this, my reaction was “Someone made a plugin emulation of a manley product few years ago and nobody told me about it ?!”. While I was questionning my friendship with other sound engineers, I saw the MODERN prefix name on it which made me realize that it was a “MODERN family” plugin from Antress. The “it’s a freeware” reason always seems to be a good justification.

Unlike most sound engineers, I have absolutely nothing against the fact that a plugin is free or not. Often they use the same well known algorithm and the same precision; it’s then a question of judgement of which method to use. Moreover, the people that are giving it away are people that have done it by passion. This is an interesting factor that money can’t buy. Also, this is ain’t the first free plugin I review and, in general, I’ve said very good things about these plugins.

Few seconds later, I’m excited about the idea of having a “Manley” compressor and the first question that comes to my mind is “Where can I find this plugin ?”. I mean, it’s not part of the modern pack anymore… Which means it’s not even on the constructor website! Well, I managed to find it on another website which was hosting an oldversion of the pack.

So, how does it sound ?

That’s a tricky question. Does it sound good or does it sound like a Manley. Unfortunately, the answer is neither. Wow, that sounded very brutal…  Let me explain my point more clearly:

Compared to a Manley:

The cool thing with a Manley compressor(Slam, vari-MU, etc.) is that you can make things sound crazy loud and it’s just better. More you push it, more you get that wow sound. It is used very often on high end hip hop production to give that impact. Here, it’s completely different. I try to boost the things by every manner possible and every time when I bypass the plugin it sounds louder. However, it is true that the plugin behave in an “analog” way from a certain perspective; the way the compressor behave is far different from usual digital compressors and there is subtle texture. But if it can’t do its job properly, it’s simply degrading for no apparent reason.

By itself:

If I can’t push it without destroying it, why would I insert a compressor on a mastering chain ? (Let’s do not forget the “do no harm” rule of mastering.)

In conclusion:

I will admit that the GUI is beautiful and very inspiring, but unfortunately, it sounds nothing like the real thing. It has been very deceiving and ironic since it is suppose to emulate a high end reknown equipment. Even running at high sampling rates, it’s just not there. I find it quite ironic to “emulate” a gear that is reknown for its wonderful sound by poor sounding algorithms. Sad. (Overall rating (2.8/5)

PLUS:

• Inspiring GUI, I mean, that looks very good on a screenshot!
• Very distinctive texture