- in Gear , New Music Gear Monday , Plugin , Software by Bobby Owsinski
New Music Gear Monday: A.O.M. Nu Compressor – 52 Compressors In One Plugin
We all have a lot of plugins, usually far more than we can use, so when a new one comes out it has to be especially interesting to get our attention. What if there was one compressor plugin that literally gave you everything you ever could need? Interesting enough for ya? A.O.M’s Nu Compressor might just do that, as it gives you 52 programs to choose from that covers a variety of applications.
Nu Compressor has parameter controls that are similar to other compressors – Input, Output, Threshold, Attack, and Release. It also has a Mix control and a Link parameter that controls how tightly the stereo linking between channels will be. Its sidechain section is a little more involved than most with variable Low Cut and High Cut frequency controls added to Listen, and Internal and External selection.
What really sets Nu Compressor apart from everything else is the preset selections. This is a set of colored buttons to the right of the parameter controls divided into 9 banks of 6 selections each (except the last bank which only has 4). These banks have logical divisions – Clear and Smooth, Drive and Saturation, Snare, Vocals, Instruments, Kick, Bass, Special, Buss and Unplugged. Some preset types have more or fewer presets, but they’re all set in a way that’s easy to follow.
Most of the presets have pretty good descriptions of what they do, like Tight Snare, Ambiance Enlarger and Stable Bass Line, unlike some of the rather vague preset descriptions that you get with most plugins.
If you want to shape each preset even more than what’s possible with the top level parameter controls, there are up to 90 different hidden parameters also available. These include things like Reduction curve shape, Envelope generation algorithm, Knee shape, and Static/dynamic control of frequency response and saturation, among many others.
One interesting quirk is that the analog style gain reduction meter works from left to right instead of the other way around as found on almost every other compressor/limiter that you’ll see. No big deal. I like the change.
Nu Compressor is available in the most popular plugin formats for both Mac and PC. It’s price for a perpetual license is $300. There is also a demo period available as well.
