Cytomic The Glue (or Ableton Glue Compressor)
$99 (or free in Ableton Standard and Suite)
Some kind of VCA-style bus compressor is pretty much a must-have no matter what type of music you make. Most VCA-style options owe at least some debt to the SSL bus compressor. Originally developed as part of the British company’s wildly popular (and wildly expensive) recording consoles, the SSL became a default choice on the mix for countless rock and pop records, then spawned a range of clones and emulations. We certainly wouldn’t blame you for choosing an ultra-authentic software emulation such as SSL’s own Duende Native Bus Compressor or Universal Audio’s SSL G Series Bus Compressor, but for a more affordable option, we’d recommend checking out Cytomic’s The Glue.
The SSL compressor’s main strength is its ability to apply relatively subtle compression to a stereo mix, and helping to ‘glue’ together the individual components of the mix, creating something cohesive and greater than the sum of its parts (hence the name of Cytomic’s plugin). The Glue isn’t an officially licensed SSL emulation, but it’s clear what inspired it – in Cytomic’s words, it’s “based on the classic 80s British big console buss compressor”. Officially licensed or not, The Glue is an outstanding mix bus compressor (and equally capable on sub-mixes such as the drum bus or sampled loops).
Officially licensed or not, The Glue is an outstanding mix bus compressor
If you’re using Ableton Live (and let’s face it, a large proportion of dance producers are), there’s an even greater incentive to use The Glue: you already have a version built into your DAW. Ableton’s Glue Compressor, introduced in version 9, uses the same compression algorithms as The Glue, but with an interface tweaked to fit neatly into Live.
06.08 PM
Big fan of the UAD stuff, just want to point out that paying $299 for any of their classic plugins be it the La-2a, 1176 or the Pultec EQ’s is over doing it.
UAD has frequent sales and promotions the biggest are around the Holidays and in June for the 1/2 year sale. The compressors will go as low as $99 and if you pair that with other coupons you can snag them very inexpensively. Another way to go would be buying a custom bundle. Like when you order say a Satellite or Apollo, spend another $300 and you can get 3 plugins of any value.
At first glance you may think the UAD stuff is a lot of dough. And it is if you’re going to get the latest right when it comes out. But if you watch sales and buy custom plugin bundles you can really save. There’s really no reason to pay full price for the classic compressors. They are great tho and I def like the Silver La2a
06.22 PM
great article! surprised DMG’s Compassion is not on this list. it’s pretty much my go to compressor for everything. oh, and no mentions of Waves’ compressors… that’s kinda strange.
10.18 PM
Eric – we always list products at full retail price, but you make a great point. A lot of these plugins can be had for much less at sale time, including the Universal Audio emulations.
11.48 PM
what no rocket
12.08 AM
No [insert product name]? And no [insert product name]!?
The hell with you people! 😛
12.18 PM
But what about [insert product name]?
In all seriousness, thats a great roundup.
10.38 PM
Fabfilter bundles are in sale until August 1st, in case someone’s interested. No I don’t work for Fabfilter 🙂
I’ve been eyeing the mixing bundle for some time, I’m very tempted.
03.19 PM
Slate Digital’s Virtual Mix Rack is amazing. The 1176 emulation adds nice grit and sustain. Also, the new opto compressor from BrainWorx is so punchy, sounds killer in parallel.
05.32 PM
Great list, I would also have to add any of the Native Instruments Compressors such as the Vari Comp and the Solid Bus Comp not to mention the Vintage Series VC 2A, VC 76, VC 160 as well.
07.04 AM
Elysia comps are geat! The alpha compressor can save you good money in the mastering department.
09.06 PM
Can’t see how you missed compressors like: Acustica Audio Murano and Titanium for example or MJUC, then what about Boz Audio, Slate Digital?
IMO most important compressors were excluded from this article
07.11 AM
Thank you for the article, but…what about Waves? Quite a glaring omission!
08.08 PM
The thing with the UAD stuff is that you need the DSP accelerator. I don’t have a spare £1000 lying around…
07.39 AM
I agree with Ralphonz on this one. As good as they may sound you left out the fact that UAD plug-ins won’t work without the hardware which raises the bar to 1.000 $ plus.
And hey, what about waves? You don’t have to be fan of their vast product range but a Roundup without at least one of their plug-ins seems a bit strange… Actually I don’t like a lot of their emulations either but there are some true gems…
07.48 AM
+1 for slate … The Neve type compressor really does something
01.45 PM
I dig waves ssl stuff.
12.04 PM
No Klanghelm MJUC ?! This comp is a steal !
06.20 PM
Klanghelm MJUC. Excellent. For the price nothing to compare on the market.