New Music Gear Monday: Softube Bus Processor Plugin

We’re using more and more processors all the time, and not only is it taking time to set them all up, but they’re taking up precious computer horsepower as well. That’s why there’s a trend towards all-in-one processors that let you do it all with just one plugin. Softube’s Bus Processor plugin is one of these new breed processors, and it has all the features that might take you 3 or 4 processors to get otherwise.

Bus Processor is divided into three sections – the familiar Compressor section in the middle with its Sidechain section just to its left, the Saturation section to the right, and the Spatial section on the bottom.

The Compressor is built around the look and feel of the famous SSL buss compressor, with the addition of Knee and Range controls. There’s also the unique Tempo Sync control that sets the release time to the tempo mapped into the timeline of the DAW, which helps the compression breathe with the track.

The Sidechain portion of the Compressor section features a Stereo Link control that gradually shifts the Sidechain detection from fully linked channels to Dual Mono. Next comes the Low Cut, which controls the low frequency cutoff of the Sidechain. Finally there’s a Sidechain Tone control, which shifts the Compressor tonality using a tilt filter. Turning clockwise favors high frequencies before compression, while turning counter-clockwise favors low frequencies before compression.

The Saturation section adds a combination of odd and even harmonics, but is mostly focused on odd order like that of tape distortion. There’s a Wet/Dry balance control, and an Amount control that adds the amount of saturation desired. You can change the color of the saturation using the Tone and Harmonic buttons, while the Tone Shift emphasizes either the high or low end of the saturation.

Finally, the Spatial section of Bus Processor lets you focus the signal with the Mono Bass frequency control, or add gain to the side information by adjusting Width. Air increases high frequency content to both mid and side channels.

The Softube Bus Processor Plugin is currently on sale for $99 instead of its $149 retail. You can find out more here, or watch the video below.

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