Three-Body Technology Cenozoix Compressor (Plugin Alliance)

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v petero wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 5:38 pm @bmanic If you’re no longer using this compressor, I can buy it from you.

Just demoed and I am thoroughly impressed with the speed at which I can achieve good results, even with the buggyness highlighted in this thread.

Regards

Kenneth
pa license transfer nearly costs more than what you can get it with vouchers and coupons
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Hi Ploki

Unfortunately I don’t have any vouchers and coupons. Guess I will just be patient and wait for it to be on the usual PA sale.

Ploki wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 11:00 pm
v petero wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 5:38 pm @bmanic If you’re no longer using this compressor, I can buy it from you.

Just demoed and I am thoroughly impressed with the speed at which I can achieve good results, even with the buggyness highlighted in this thread.

Regards

Kenneth
pa license transfer nearly costs more than what you can get it with vouchers and coupons

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v petero wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 5:38 pm @bmanic If you’re no longer using this compressor, I can buy it from you.

Just demoed and I am thoroughly impressed with the speed at which I can achieve good results, even with the buggyness highlighted in this thread.

Regards

Kenneth
Oh no, I am still using it quite often but it didn't work out as my main go-to. I'm trying to switch most basic mixing tasks to the softube console system so at the moment I'm figuring out which of these will be my go-to.. possibly Pro-C2 again as it is one of the softube supported plugins since the last update to the system.
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot

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Fair enough.

Does anyone have a Forever coupon for sale?
bmanic wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2024 2:33 pm
v petero wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 5:38 pm @bmanic If you’re no longer using this compressor, I can buy it from you.

Just demoed and I am thoroughly impressed with the speed at which I can achieve good results, even with the buggyness highlighted in this thread.

Regards

Kenneth
Oh no, I am still using it quite often but it didn't work out as my main go-to. I'm trying to switch most basic mixing tasks to the softube console system so at the moment I'm figuring out which of these will be my go-to.. possibly Pro-C2 again as it is one of the softube supported plugins since the last update to the system.

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Version 1.1.0 has been released.

Version 1.1.0 (Apr 19, 2024)
  • Implemented "Drive" modelling: Extra harmonic distortions for each of 24 vintage and modern compressor styles with adjustable drive levels. Enables you to mix and match a compressor style with a different drive style
  • Implemented "Post-Makeup Dry Mix" that allows to mix dry and wet signals after makeup processing.
  • Implemented compact mode with hidden waveform and threshold panels
EDIT: and here is the video showing the changes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2QoqQDUw8s

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@bmanic, since I know you're a fan of both these plugins, how do you find the Brit VCA in Cenozoix vs the SSL E channel compressor in TrackComp 2?

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I haven't really compared them. Mostly I use the Clean preset in Cenozoix as my starting point and of the emulations I usually end up using the Vari-Mu or the Focusrite Red 3 emulation.

I just tested the new update for the first time and I'm really, REALLY liking the new harmonic distortion option they added. Some of them sound absolutely amazing! For instance the 'mastering' one is really sweet sounding in the way it sounds sort of scooped and fluffy. This new option also adds a lot of new grit and forwardness to the 1176 blue emulation, something that was quite lacking in the first version. Now it's really amazingly good to be frank.

EDIT: I took a look at the new 1.1 update saturation feature in Plugin Doctor and indeed the saturation is really complex and very dynamic. All 24 algorithms are completely unique! I'm truly amazed at the amount of work that must have gone into this.

For instance the saturation for the Mastering algorithm is indeed sweet sounding because it has a clear dip in the level of 3rd and 5th harmonic from about 3kHz to 6kHz and a lot of 2nd and 4th harmonic support in the low octaves. That makes a lot of sense and it's very clear somebody has been tweaking these with good taste and with an ear for good sound. Similarly interesting is the saturation algorithm for the 'Drum' preset. It has very wildly varying harmonic shapes depending on incoming level. Most of them around 200 to 500Hz where you have a lot of the body of a snare and most other drums. This is a fantastic update!!

As for Trackcomp 2, I mainly use the SSL bus compressor, API 2500 emulation and the Chandler Germanium emulation. Haven't really felt the need to use the E channel lately as I'm now using the Softube Console 1 for all of those basic tasks when doing my rough mix.
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot

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Just did a shootout of all my SSL Bus compressors and holy moly! Cenozoix pretty much obliterated all the others in terms of getting useful, stable and punchy SSL compression on the mixbus. Especially at 16x oversampling it's smooth as butter.

Yeah, even the mighty DMG Audio Trackcomp 2 fell in this shootout. It started breaking up and sounding slightly grainy and unstable at difficult settings (like fastest attack and fastest release, so 0.1ms attack and 100ms release) compared to Cenozoix. It's by far the most "stable" of all the bus compressors that I have available.

The problem with comparing these is that I tried to calibrate the amount of actual gain reduction, attack and release using Plugin Doctor and it is immediately obvious that Cenozoix is far more program dependent than any of the other candidates. I suspect it's much more so than any hardware SSL buscomp I've used. Cenozoix has a built in sidchain filter which even seems to be dynamic, meaning it constantly changes depending on the amplitude and frequency of the signal going in. You can see this clearly in Plugin Doctor both in the Hammerstein view and if you manually sweep through the frequencies in the dynamics tab's attack/release inspector. Heck, some of the Cenozoix models even vary the attack and release times depending on frequency. This is by far the most program dependent compressor outside of my own experiments.

Anyhow, I tested Cenozoix Glue VCA against these:

Trackcomp 2
PA Townhouse
Softube Console 1 Mixbus
Acustica Audio Sand 4
Tim Pethericks L-BUS for Nebula
NI Solid Bus Comp

It wasn't even close. NI Solid Bus Comp was the only one that stayed a tiny little bit more stable and less grainy than the others.. but it was absolutely no match to Cenozoix, like not even close to being in the same universe.

Cenozoix Glue VCA is virtually impossible to distort, which means it's keeping the release time artificially slow no matter what. Seems like it allows for only a maximum of about 3dB of "quick" movement and then it slows down a lot, whereas all the others have a much less program dependent release and are pretty much linear. This causes them to breakup.

The cool thing here is how easy it is to setup Cenozoix as a SSL style bus compressor and just forget about it. You can push into it as hard as you want and it will not let you down, will not crackle and go grainy (unless you go nuts with it).. it'll just do it's job. Yet you get almost all the benefits. You can set it to 30ms attack (or more) with a short release and you have all the gluey punch you would expect. It's only drawback is that it can't do as "clicky" of a punch with the SSL type bus compressor as something like Cytomic The Glue. At least that's my feeling of it right now. And of course Trackcomp 2 is very tweakable and can be set to silly ranges and thus can do all kinds of weirdness.

Also worth noting that the SSL type bus comp model in Cenozoix is way easier to use for actual loudness than any of the other plugins. You have far less stray peaks going everywhere. It easily nets you a dB or two of extra peak control without any penalty, even when doing the 30ms attack + 100ms release thing. It just goes louder and smoother without any artifacts. This is one of the key differences I've found between analogue hardware compressors vs software counterparts. So yeah, am I saying Cenozoix sounds more like hardware? Yes, I guess I am. It can at least be used like hardware, for actual dynamics reduction.

Anyhow, I'm extremely impressed.
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot

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Here is an audio demonstration where you can try your own SSL bus compressor plugins.

Little Chill Techno Jam, unprocessed original

Little Chill Techno Jam, Cenozoix Glue VCA, 4:1 ratio, 0.30ms attack, 100ms release, stereo link at 76%, about 6 to 8dB of gain reduction. 16x oversampling + drive (Glue VCA model)

Google Drive links, 16bit 48kHz .wav files. 10.8mb in size.

You can quite easily hear how stable this thing is and how solid it feels. There is no sidechain filtering at all.
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot

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midi sentinel wrote: Thu Apr 25, 2024 10:54 pm
  • Implemented "Post-Makeup Dry Mix" that allows to mix dry and wet signals after makeup processing.
They must have been watching Dan Worral's video on parallel compression

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You're killing me here, B. Anybody got a Forever 29 voucher they would be willing to sell me?

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Sorry man.. I just had to spill the beans on this one. It truly is a really good compressor. Just have patience. PA always does those crazy sales.. like 10 times a year. There's bound to be a new one soon.
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot

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I have continued to find more uses for this plugin and their continued support of it has been cool too. Great use of a F29.

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bmanic wrote: Thu May 16, 2024 3:51 am Here is an audio demonstration where you can try your own SSL bus compressor plugins.

Little Chill Techno Jam, unprocessed original

Little Chill Techno Jam, Cenozoix Glue VCA, 4:1 ratio, 0.30ms attack, 100ms release, stereo link at 76%, about 6 to 8dB of gain reduction. 16x oversampling + drive (Glue VCA model)

Google Drive links, 16bit 48kHz .wav files. 10.8mb in size.

You can quite easily hear how stable this thing is and how solid it feels. There is no sidechain filtering at all.
i got the softube bus processor quite close to the SSL Bus+ reference file from here:
SSL+ vs some plugins, Atk 30, Rls: Auto, Ratio 4, SC 130hz, GR2-4 (96kHz) uploaded by "Las Vegas" in his yt video titled "SSL G Bus Compressor Shootout 2023 (Hardware vs Plugins)".
The difference - to his test - i made in my own evaluation was setting the knee (he had it on hard knee in his test) to 5 (6 seems roughly equivalent to trackcomp's g-bus) and find a matching saturation setting to the SSL Bus+.

I now tried this also with your Little Chill Techno files and was ok with Softubes performance. I didnt saw the need for another comp at least for now :) (ymmv)
SYS 64738

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Good to hear! However, did you try Attack 0.3ms and get equal effortless loudness and tamed peaks?

That's the key here. At longer attack times, most of the SSL compressors work just like the hardware, well sort of.. however at shorter attack times it gets much more difficult and unstable (or as some would say "grainy"). That's what impresses me with Cenozoix. Though to be fair, I haven't compared it to a hardware unit as I don't have access to one at the moment. I suspect the hardware would possibly choke at these settings too so I'm not saying Cenozoix SSL algorithm is realistic, I'm just thoroughly impressed by how little damage it does to the audio. It seems to have very clever program dependent behavior, ideal for complex signals and thus ideal for busses.

To be fair though, if you want _the_ SSL behavior that most seek, it's pretty much universally used with either 10ms or 30ms attack and 100ms, 300ms or Auto releases, 95% of the time. :)

Personally I've always loved the shorter attack times on the SSL compressors. I always used something else for "smack" and "punch".
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot

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