FabFilter Professional-C 2 has been my default channel compressor for years, partly as a result of it was reliable, and partly as a result of its interface made it very simple to see what was really taking place to the sound. It was the software you reached for once you wanted management with out fuss, the sort of plug-in that quietly sat on lots of of tracks doing its job with out ever drawing consideration to itself. Professional-C 3 retains that readability, but it expands the concept of what this compressor will be in a means that feels each audible and sensible.
Probably the most rapid change lies within the new compression kinds. These will not be superficial flavours or advertising labels, they genuinely alter how the processor responds. Versatile and Clean present two totally different approaches to on a regular basis dynamics, yet another responsive and the opposite extra relaxed, whereas Op-El and Vari-Mu deliver a heavier, extra character-driven motion that pushes Professional-C into territory it by no means actually occupied earlier than. None of those modes try to impersonate a particular piece of classic {hardware}, though they do introduce a way of tone, density and movement that feels way more musical than the largely impartial behaviour of Professional-C 2.
The Character part builds straight on that. Tube, Diode and Vivid add harmonic color contained in the compressor itself, with a Drive management that may be as delicate or as assertive as you want. The vital element is the power to put that color both earlier than or after the achieve discount. Pre-compression drive turns into a part of what the detector reacts to, subtly reshaping the envelope and the way in which the compressor grabs a sound, whereas post-compression color works extra like a ending stage, including texture and edge as soon as the dynamics have been managed. In observe it implies that a single occasion of Professional-C 3 can change the acquainted chain of compressor into saturator that many people have been constructing by behavior.
To know what these modes are actually doing, I ran a easy sine wave via Professional-C 3 and considered the output in Professional-Q 4. A sine wave comprises just one frequency, so any further traces within the spectrum are harmonics added by the processor itself. Switching between the totally different compression kinds and character modes makes these variations instantly seen, with every mode imprinting its personal harmonic fingerprint on what ought to be a mathematically pure tone. On actual materials that interprets into totally different shades of weight, grit, and density, which explains why these new kinds really feel genuinely distinct in use.
Professional-C 3 additionally brings numerous workflow enhancements which can be simple to miss however shortly grow to be onerous to stay with out. Auto Threshold retains the compressor behaving persistently on sources with unstable ranges, akin to vocals, dialogue or stems assembled from totally different takes, whereas Host Sync permits rhythmic ducking and pumping to be arrange with none exterior routing. These are the sorts of options that don’t change the sound straight, but they modify how shortly and confidently choices will be made.
One of many extra formidable additions is FabFilter’s new Occasion Listing system, shared throughout Professional-C 3, Professional-Q 4, Professional-DS and Professional-G. Slightly than opening every plug-in window one after the other, the Occasion Listing permits all of those processors to be considered and adjusted from a single panel that mirrors the observe order of the DAW. Thresholds, features, EQ curves and different key controls will be seen throughout a complete session at a look, making it far simpler to identify imbalances or over-processing. It feels much less like clicking via software program and extra like working throughout a mixing desk, the place relationships between channels are instantly seen, and for bigger tasks particularly, this has the potential to grow to be a major time saver.
Professional-C 3 feels much less like some extent replace and extra like a cautious rethinking of what a contemporary workhorse compressor ought to be. It affords deeper tonal character, clearer perception into what it’s doing, and a extra coherent means of managing dynamics throughout a combination. For anybody who depends on Professional-C as a every day software, this isn’t merely an improve, it’s a significant growth of what that software can do.
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