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Pro Audio

Purafied VU Compressor: 4 of the Most Sought-After Units in 1 Plugin

Direct from Purafied comes the brand new VU Compressor – 4 highly sought-after compressors modelled into one smart, easy unit.

Whilst Purafied is a relative newborn as of September 2022, chief bossman Sam Pura has been in the audio biz for around 20 years, deftly using his real-world hardware experience to meld plugins to perfectly suit his needs and those of audio engineers worldwide. This little number is in fact the third plugin release in as many months from the company, preceded by their Deathwestern amp simulator and their freebie Liquid Death Snare.

The VU Compressor comprises 4 unnamed but easily recognisable copyright-dodging classic compressors into an easy-to-use interface that allows the user to simply switch between boxes whilst retaining the same settings – a super simple comparison method that gives this unit a lift above many others in the marketplace.

vu compressor

The compressors built into the box are the:
A – the Urei ‘Bluestripe’ 1176 Rev. A
D – the Urei ‘Blackface’ 1176 LN Rev. D
F – the Urei ‘Blackface’ 1176 LN Rev. F
3A – the Urei Teletronix LA-3A

Seasoned audio enthusiasts will most likely recognise the tones associated with these similar but different-enough boxes being emulated here – the A is classically known as a ‘more aggressive’ 1176 unit, perfecto for vocals, the D and F are both slightly less aggressive revisions of the A, favoured on bass, guitar, and drums, the F itself with a different amplification system, and the 3A is a stalwart for guitars thanks to its mid-shaping abilities, whilst also fitting nicely sometimes for vocals too.

That said, the cool thing about messing with audio is there’s no rules, only sound aesthetics and tastes, so these boxes can be interchanged and manipulated extensively to find the perfect tone that thou may be seeking on one’s knob-twisting quest.

compressor plugin

You’ll quickly notice the unit forgoes ratio, attack and release settings; each piece is simplified into the style of the LA-3A with only input and output controls. According to the manual the attack on all the 1176-based units is forever set at its slowest time, with release at its swiftest, and ratio set to 4:1 – settings that are pretty commonly used across these compressors. Chronic fidgeters will hate the lack of adjustment, and others will absolutely love it.

Furthermore, the unit provides a fistful of features missing from the hardware units, and from so many software versions too. Here we can find a Side Chain High Pass Filter to help mitigate bass frequencies overly triggering the reduction circuit, both a low and high shelving EQ that can be inserted, each independently, before or after the compressor, a Total Harmonic Distortion control that by either increased or decreased, and a Mix knob to allow use of this thing in an easy parallel compression mode.

Additionally this unit comes with around 100 presets for an easy start, a handy auto-gain feature for easy level matching, and oversampling of up to 16x for silky smooth usage.

best comp plugin

One of my favourite things about the plugin, besides the easy comparison between different compressor types, is the snarky dig at other famous plugin companies who insist on adding 50/60Hz hum to their emulations: “Note: Our models do not include any 50 / 60Hz hum modes, we apologize for not ruining your mix.” And don’t forget that on this thing you can actually increase the plugin window size. Sometimes it’s the small joys too…

The Purafied VU Compressor retails for $151AU, is right now on special for $76AU, and is available direct from the company website.