The latest new release from plug-in designers Stillwell Audio is The Rocket, a compressor that makers say will “push the frontiers of what was previously expected of native compression”. And their statement seems substantiated; look past The Rocket’s beautifully crafted user interface and you’ll find a lot going on.
Astonishingly, Stillwell claim that it’s capable of responding with an attack time of just five microseconds, despite the fact that the duration of a single sample at 96kHz is just over 11 microseconds! (For comparison, the attack time of the notably fast Universal Audio 1176LN can go as low as 20 microseconds, and that’s using analogue circuitry.) Stillwell are not forthcoming about how exactly these figures are reached, but we’re guessing the plug-in’s algorithm upsamples the incoming signal to enable it to ‘see’ the transients at higher resolution. In fact, there’s a ‘Decadence’ control that apparently shifts up the internal sample rate, although Stillwell say that the function of this is merely for those who “appreciate the most luxurious of high quality audio”. Interesting.
So we’ve covered the attack, but what of the other controls available to a Rocket user? Well, there’s an intriguing knob marked ‘Impetus’, which apparently simulates “drive and saturation of unequalled musicality” within the virtual circuitry of the compressor. Beside it resides a simple parallel compression knob that essentially acts as a wet/dry control. This saves the user from having to assign the plug-in on an auxiliary send when a heavily compressed signal is to be mixed with a dry one. It’s also phase-aligned, for optimum audio clarity.
Up to 20dB of make-up gain can be added either manually, using a slider, and automatically, giving the user 'the ability to really pile into the saturation point'. A high-pass filter can be applied to the side-chain so boomy low-frequency sounds (such as bass drums) can be ‘ignored’ by the detection circuit. An external side-chain can be selected, providing the DAW host in use has side-chaining facilities. Like the aforementioned 1176, a favourite on drums, ratio controls for 4:1, 8:1, 12:1 and 20:1 can be selected, while the aggressive ‘all-button in’ mode can be initiated by clicking a dedicated button.
Also new from Stillwell, released under their Schwa sub-brand, is TinMan, a plug-in that’s described as an Intelligent Resonator. And it looks like quite a clever device. TinMan analyses the incoming signal and picks out up to four frequency peaks, which should give a good representation of the pitch and key of the audio. With this frequency information, it applies resonant filters and AR envelopes to each band, creating anything from subtle enhancement to radical sci-fi effects, all in the same key as the input. Controls include Threshold, Resonance and Mix, and the user can select the frequency range of the detection circuit, with the current state shown on a graphical representation of a piano keyboard.
Both new plug-ins cost a very reasonable $50 (approximately £28), and there are half-price discounts for users of Cockos’ Reaper DAW working on non-commercial projects. What’s more, fully working demos are available from the Stillwell Audio web site, so you can try before you buy!
www.stillwellaudio.com