This is a very interesting product, as I know of no other hardware-modeled multi-band compressor plugins, at least outside of Nebula-land. There really aren't that many hardware multi-band comps out there, come to think of it. The Drawmer is one of the few.
Anyway, I've been playing with the 1973 demo on a mix and like it better than the little brother S73 that came out a month ago. Not only is there more flexibility, with full control over crossover points and each band's compression settings, but the sound is cleaner and more transparent to my ears, especially in the high end. The "Air" switch didn't sound that good to me on the S73, but here it's very nice and easy to dial in by adjusting the high band's threshold.
The low end is rock-solid, a characteristic that the S73 had but that's even more apparent and controllable with the full-fledged version. And the overall sense of depth and cohesiveness that can be had is rare in plugin-land.
As with most Softube plugins, the GUI is very cool, looking pretty much like a real hardware unit. And the CPU usage is next to nothing, which is a pleasant surprise (edit: this isn't always true; it was pretty hungry on another mix I tried -- YMMV).
You could certainly use this liberally within a mixing session on your vocals, bass, drum bus, etc. The 1973 isn't just for master bus duties. It worked very well on a vocal track and a bass track I tried it on. It could become one of my go-to vocal compressors -- with the Air switch it can work some magic.
Excellent job, Softube! This is another winner you've got here.
Cheers,
Eddie
post edited by Eddie TX - 2016/03/10 01:45:02