McDSP FRG or Moo Compressior?

[Wobbleburger]

Well, great responses all! I'm doing the subscription, so I currently have the C670, FRG, Selig Leveler (pretty amazing) and 4Dyne. I'll add Moo here probably. I want the bundle but I'm already spending 30$ a month on this sub so I have to wait a bit ... Loving FRG so far. I replaced Mace with it. I found Mace a little convoluted as I'm not at the level of tweaking that it warrants. The McDSP RE's look simple and easy to grasp, which is more what I want.

[Marco Raaphorst]

I just bought the McDSP bundle. Lots of good reviews here, and a decent price for the three of them, and I only had the stock compressors plus one Efector, so why not, right?

Well I spent some time listening to DrOctoRex bang away on the default drum patch while I tried each of the three new compressors, and I'm wondering what I'm missing. By the time I gain-match them so they're not just getting louder/softer when I toggle the bypass switch, I'm hard pressed to hear much, if any, difference. I think I understand the basics of compression, and I've been able to get good (if still subtle) results in other contexts with the mClass compressor and with the SSL master bus compressor, but I'm clearly missing something with these McDSP compressors. I'm not blaming THEM, I'm just trying to manage my expectations and/or figure out WHY I'm not getting very noticeable or desirable effects. I also tried a stock synth loop or two in the DrOctoRex, same sort of ambiguous result.

Do I just have an untrained, unsophisticated ear? (Two ears, actually, but you get my point.)

It should be noticeable, the Moo though is very subtle. FRG very obvious and 670 is less aggressive than the FRG.

[dvdrtldg]

Thanks guys. With fresh ears this morning, I'm starting to feel it... I guess I just don't like the sound of heavily compressed drums, where all the stuff in between the hits gets raised in volume and kind of smears the overall sound. But I was able to dial in a more subtle, compromise sound with FRG just now, just enough to make the needle dance a little, the kick and snare pop a little but without smearing the whole thing into a mess.

Try creating a parallel channel and compress on that with fairly extravagant settings. Then mix as much or as little of the compressed signal with the dry signal as you like

[two shoes]

I like compressors and talking about compressors and I've played with all the RE ones a lot in the past 6 months or so. All three of the McDSP ones are a different type of compressor than the Mace, which I actually think is pretty good at what it does and a good complement to the McDSP bundle. Unless you've used a Mu style opto compressor before and know that's what you want the Mu isn't the one I'd go for if you're only going to get one. Between the FRG and C670 the FRG is more transparent and versatile imo - when the C670 works it works great but it's only for certain things that want a relaxed but "colorful" style compression if that makes any sense.

The one from Synapse is also good for mid rangy material. I don't hear them mentioned as much as the McDSP ones, but both of the FXpansion compressors are very useful and probably more versatile than any of the McDSP ones except maybe the FRG - i think they're called DCAM bus comp and channel comp or something like that. The big one from red rock is serviceable but perhaps a tad overrated according to me.

If you have money and don't mind paying for an orphaned product the FET from Softube is also standout, esp when you really gonna squash something. Finally the CL-1B in the Softube classic channel is probably my favorite software compressor of all time for acoustic and vocal sources. There's a new mkii version like all of the Softube stuff that was supposedly redone from the ground up - I've heard mixed reviews but haven't used it. None of the Softube REs are getting the mkii updates per Softube. Whatever you do don't pay prop shop prices for anything Softube unless you must have the RE version - they are much cheaper elsewhere.

[dvdrtldg]

both of the FXpansion compressors are very useful

Yep I like these a lot. The chan comp in particular is an absolute beast

[Kalm]

Moo and RE160 is the only compressors I have. One slow one fast. Haven't needed much else