Compressor

Lightweight Multiband Compressor

Lightweight Multiband Compressor is a free compressor VST plugin developed by Christian Budde. Compatible OS(s): Windows.

Lightweight Multiband Compressor is a lightweight multiband compressor based on Christian’s Lightweight Soft Knee Compressor.

Features:

Lightweight multiband compressor.

Second order linkwitz-riley crossover filter.

Continuous and consistent characteristic.

Fully adjustable soft knee in dB (as margin below the threshold).

Mathematically optimised (using three psychoacoustical evaluated approximation functions).

Open source (as part of Christian’s Delphi ASIO & VST Project).

Manual.

http://www.pcjv.de/

Leveling Tool

Leveling Tool is a free compressor VST, Audio Unit plugin developed by AdHd Audio Tools. Compatible OS(s): Windows 64b, macOS.

AdHd Leveling Tool is a Tube Leveling Amplifier inspired by the legends and carefully crafted to meet your compression needs.

http://www.audiotools.se

Lazy Kenneth

Lazy Kenneth is a free compressor VST plugin developed by Noisebud. Compatible OS(s): Windows.

Lazy Kenneth simulates the pumping effect of a sidechained compressor in music that mark every 4th with a bass drum (techno, house, trance and so on).

Put an instance of Lazy Kenneth on your bass line, your pads or percussion and it will automatically duck on every fourth.

Lazy Kenneth started out as a hoax to torment a mastering client for being lazy because he never bothered to use sidechain even when it would improve his mixes by far.

It turned out that there’s still a need for a simulated sidechain in some DAWs since they simply lack the needed routing capabilities so Noisebud decided to continue the development of this simple but yet effective tool.

Lazy Kenneth is a part of our Indiegogo campaign where we try to fund the development of OS X and 64-bit versions. You find the campaign here: http://igg.me/at/noisebud

http://www.noisebud.se

L3V3LL3R-X3

L3V3LL3R-X3 is a free compressor VST plugin developed by platinumears. Compatible OS(s): Windows.

L3V3LL3R-X3 is a 3-band version of L3V3LL3R, using dynamic EQ instead of the usual cross-over filters.

The plug does have a cross-over section, but this just feeds the side-chains of the three L3V3LL3R compressors: the resulting gain modulation is matrixed into modulation signals for a pair of dynamic shelving filters plus a gain stage. This avoids introducing constant phase anomalies around the cross-over frequencies: with this design the phase is only affected when two adjacent bands have differing gains, and subtle compression will only result in very tiny phase shifts. To put it another way: when all 3 bands have the same gain, the signal will be passed with only a volume change.

You can listen to the cross-over filters by solo-ing one or more of the bands: the solo’ed signal still passes through its compressor, so you can fine-tune the settings for a band while listening to it in isolation.

Features:

Dynamic EQ topology to reduce phase artifacts.

Three vintage style L3V3LL3R compressors with band-limited sidechains.

Intuitive “solo in place” function for each band.

Switchable soft clipping keeps your peaks below 0dBFS: turn up the master Gain knob for a warm overdrive effect.

Global gain change meter.

Zero latency.

SSE optimisations for low CPU use.

http://www.platinumears.com/plugins.html

L3V3LL3R

L3V3LL3R is a free compressor VST plugin developed by platinumears. Compatible OS(s): Windows.

L3V3LL3R is a faithful model of the legendary “Leveller” hardware compressor from the ’60s. These units are extremely rare and collectable due to the fact that less than one of them was ever made and sold. On the plus side, this did make it possible for platinumears to collect together ALL surviving examples, and thereby create a modelled VST version that is actually more like the original units than the original units were themselves.

The compressor uses an algorithm which is somewhere between feed-forward and feed-backward and which platinumears has therefore dubbed “feed sideways”. It can be gentle and subtle if you want it to be. But its more fun when you slam it hard, especially on drums.

Features:

One knob compression: turn up the comp knob for more, turn it down for less.

Non-linear vintage-style transfer curve.

Switchable soft clipping keeps your peaks below 0dBFS: turn up the Gain knob for a warm overdrive effect.

Powerful envelope shaping, with no calibration for the time constants: use your ears.

Series mode: switch to mode “II” to get two L3V3LL3Rs running in series for some serious smashing.

Zero latency.

SSE optimisations for low CPU use.

http://www.platinumears.com/plugins.html

KT-C

KT-C is a free compressor VST, Audio Unit plugin developed by Kingtao. Compatible OS(s): Windows 64b, macOS.

Parallel Compression.

Input & reduction VU-meters.

Continuous ratio between 2:1 to 10:1.

Continuous attack from 0.5 to 300ms.

Continuous release from 0.05 to 10s.

Two compression curves, matching electrical (linear) or acoustic (dB) sensations.

http://kingtao.org

jsCompShaper

jsCompShaper is a free compressor VST plugin developed by jsAudio. Compatible OS(s): Windows.

jsCompShaper is a flexible soft-knee compressor/waveshaper which can seamlessly morph between these two operating modes. It provides pre-/post-emphasis filtering (similar to a side-chain filter) for frequency-dependent compression and waveshaping, as well as an analog-like attack/release curve. Furthermore, it supports parallel compression and oversampling.

Features:

Blendable compression and waveshaping in a single plug-in.

Variable knee hardness.

Frequency dependent compression/waveshaping using a pre-emphasis EQ.

Parallel compression via the mix knob.

1x to 16x Oversampling.

VU and peak metering of input or output.

GR metering.

A/B states for quick comparison.

Full 64 bit double precision processing.

http://electric-snow.net/plugins.html

jparacomp

jparacomp is a free compressor VST, VST3, Audio Unit plugin developed by jhudstudio. Compatible OS(s): Windows 64b, macOS.

Summary:

1. jParaComp supports Windows/64-bit/VST2/VST3 ***VST3 will be uploaded later*** Mac/64-bit/AU 32-bit will not be supported unless enough requests.

2. Have a stereo track that has too many peaks on one side? Compress Left and right sides independently.

3. If used right, it can be used as a nice stereo effect for any instrument.

4. Built in clipping can stop the signal from going past 0 dB.

5. free.

6. Preset loader/save. I will be making presets at some point to add to the plugin.

7. Change background color. Currently there is only red and blue.

Donate? Donations help motivate me to make more free plugins. I will appreciate whatever donation about is giving.

http://jhudstudio.com/

jHammerEZ

jHammerEZ is a free compressor and eq VST, VST3, Audio Unit plugin developed by jhudstudio. Compatible OS(s): Windows 64b, macOS.

Summary:

jHammerEZ supports Windows/64-bit/VST2/VST3 (VST3 will be uploaded later) Mac/64-bit/AU 32-bit will not be supported unless enough requests.

Use the noise gate to cut unwanted signal in between silent parts. Simply Thin/fat the sound, compress, de-ess, and clip it. Just that easy.

Hover over each knob or button to find out what it does.

Preset loader/save. I will be making presets at some point to add to the plugin.

Advanced controls. Added for those who want more control over settings. Example, attack and release settings for the compressor.

Change background color for both Main controls and Advanced controls. Currently there is only 2 color modes.

Donate? Donations help motivate me to make more free plugins. I will appreciate whatever donation about is giving.

http://jhudstudio.com/

IQ4gui

IQ4gui is a free eq and compressor VST plugin developed by platinumears. Compatible OS(s): Windows.

Imagine a standard compressor with a filter inserted in the side-chain, so that it only responds to certain frequencies. Now imagine that instead of controlling the overall gain of the signal, it only controls the volume of specific frequencies… you just discovered dynamic EQ – IQ4gui.

In other words, it can compress or expand specific frequencies in a similar manner to multi-band compression (but with a very different character) or it can de-ess, or perform more esoteric functions such as ducking one frequency when another is prominent.

You may find it easier to imagine the process as an automatic EQ, which can be used to cut a certain frequency only when it becomes a problem, or apply a boost only when that region isn’t already loud enough.

While the audio signal passes through all four EQ bands in series, the side-chain filters are configured in parallel and are all fed from the main input, so changes to band one (for example) will not affect the amount of gain reduction or expansion applied by any other bands.

Features:

4 identical EQ bands, switchable between shelving or peaking types.

4 dynamics processing modes (up or down, compression or expansion).

RMS detection for musical dynamic shaping.

Separately tunable sidechain filters with side-chain listen option.

MS processing.

http://www.platinumears.com/plugins.html