In case you've forgotten, the Sonitus compressor is pretty good

You may have forgotten about the good ol' Sonitus compressor, as I did. It seems a little antiquated by current standards, lacking some of the bells 'n whistles that have become standard features since the plugin came out in 2003 (!). No lookahead, sidechain filter, channel unlinking, M/S, auto-release, wet/dry mix, gating, or expander.
 
However, it does have sidechaining, a continuously-adjustable knee and is capable of high ratios. It might not be the first choice for every compressor application, but it's quite capable for many tasks. This past weekend I discovered one such task that it's very good at: vocal leveling.
 
I was playing with my recently-acquired MMultiAnalyzer. I also have SPAN Plus, which does a fine job for comparing track spectra, so I was reluctant to buy another multi-channel analyzer. But MMultiAnalyzer has a few features that make it stand apart from similar products, and the one feature that convinced me to part with the cash was its unique loudness chart.
 
It occurred to me that the loudness chart would let me evaluate how well different compressors and settings achieved vocal leveling. I created a project with the same vocal clip duplicated on 16 tracks, each with a different compressor and an instance of MMultiAnalyzer. I could then see the volume envelopes for each of them, overlaid atop the original raw clip. This made it very easy to compare how well each compressor was doing, and to tweak settings for best results. 
 
Here's an example. The black trace is the raw clip, the red trace is the volume history after processing with the compressor in SONAR's Vocal Strip:
 

 
I tested every compressor I could remember ever using for vocal leveling, and some I would never have considered. There weren't a lot of surprises; the ones that had seemed to work well in the past tested well. My longtime go-to, FabFilter Pro-C scored well, as expected. But it wasn't the best. It was in fact narrowly edged out by - surprise! - the Sonitus.
 
Here's a plot of Pro-C (red) versus Sonitus (blue):
 

 
Honorable mention goes to another surprise contender, the free MCompressor from the Meldaproduction free bundle.
 
Some of the candidates that I expected to do well did not. Bottom of the list (in no particular order): Klanghelm DC1A, IKM Fairchild 670, Limiter No. 6 (just the compressor portion), and all of my FET-type compressors (e.g. RoughRider, Stillwell Rocket).
 
Sorry, I'm on 8.5 so I can't test ProChannel. I'd invite others to perform the same type of test with their favorite compressors. Lawajava, I'm looking at you, buddy. Let's see how your favorite (Alloy) does. I'd also be curious to look at some so-called "bus compressors" such as The Glue, as well as some of the popular do-everything comps like DC8C.
 
I'd be especially interested in how Meldaproduction's MDynamics does - I know a few of you have the Melda Total Bundle, so you'll have this as well as the MMultiAnalyzer plugin. On paper, MDynamics looks like the ultimate multi-purpose comp, with every feature you could ask for. The only other one that's as feature-rich is Blue Cat Dynamics, but I don't have that one, either.
 
 
 
 
 

One of the things I compared was Pro-C's "opto" versus "clean" modes. The difference was surprisingly small. 

I didn't try to match levels precisely because what we're interested in is the shape rather than absolute values, and having them spread apart a little actually helps in that regard. They could have been easily made the same amplitude by adjusting their makeup gains. But because we're evaluating their ability to level volume, a "good" graph is one that's more or less horizontal with minimal level changes. 
 
So when looking at the charts above, ignore the white grid lines; they are irrelevant. The point of the second chart is to show how closely the two compressors' behaviors are, despite one of them being much newer and much more expensive. 

In case you've forgotten, the Sonitus compressor is pretty good

 
I like to use this one
 
http://www.fabfilter.com/products/pro-c-compressor-plug-in
 
I'm thinking about picking up this one
 
http://www.fabfilter.com/products/pro-mb-multiband-compressor-plug-in
 
But I know how you hate their stuff...

The Band19

In case you've forgotten, the Sonitus compressor is pretty good

 
I like to use this one
 
http://www.fabfilter.com/products/pro-c-compressor-plug-in
 
I'm thinking about picking up this one
 
http://www.fabfilter.com/products/pro-mb-multiband-compressor-plug-in
 
But I know how you hate their stuff...

you didn't read his post.
 

Are the Sonitus plug-ins 64-bit?

Yes, the Sonitus suite is now 64-bit.

bitflipper
 
Sonitus suite is now 64-bit.

The Sonitus 64 bit dsp Suite is Direct X, a technology that Mr. Anderton recently referred to:
 
"the DirectX plug-in format, ... has been on life support ever since Microsoft seemed to lose interest. Cakewalk, Sony, and Magix still support DirectX while Steinberg and others do not; DirectX is what I call a "zombie format" because it's dead, yet it still lives on. Without ongoing support from Microsoft, it's anyone's guess at what point DirectX will break...or it could live forever in its zombie state. But generally, given equivalent options, I'll avoid unsupported products because I've seen too many instances of loading older projects and not being able to insert a particular plug-in because it was never updated."
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3066095
 
 
Sonitus as VST has only been available as 32 bit.
 
 

I was recently reminded that a particular Dx 3d Game released in the year 2000, one that I used to contribute development too, is being installed on Win8 machines and played by die hard fans.
 
 
 
I was hoping to enjoy 64 bit VST Sonitus so for use with the DAWs that don't do DX, but I have been told it's not going to happen.

Mike, if a 32-bit VST works OK when bridged (as most do) then there is no downside at all to using it. Aside from the trivial overhead of the bridge itself, they are just as efficient. And of course they sound exactly the same. 
 

bitflipper
Mike, if a 32-bit VST works OK when bridged (as most do) then there is no downside at all to using it. Aside from the trivial overhead of the bridge itself, they are just as efficient. And of course they sound exactly the same. 
 

That's the other thing Dave, nothing seems to pop up in task manager telling me the plug is bridged. I assume teleport server would be for VST and wouldn't impact a DX right? Whatever the case, that doesn't show up nor does anything else that I can see when I run a Sonitus in 64 bit. I very well could be missing something though.
 
-Danny

I believe scook said one time that the Sonitus DX plugs that come with Sonar are 32 or 64 bit. If you purchase the VST suite they are only 32 bit.

I like a lot of the sonitus stuff, The Comp & the Eq,  I use their reverb pretty steadily.  I like the sound of it, I always seem to be able dial in what I want with it and since it has an inboard EQ in it I don't need to add one after it.  It also seems less CPU hungry than perfect space or many of my other options.  That being said, I also use the Prochannel Eq's & comps a lot too. 

I only use Sonitus and the Blue Tubes compressors.... I use many Sonitus FX a LOT

The Sonitus suite bundled with SONAR is DX format. Since there is no bridge for DX plug-ins, there are two versions bundled with SONAR, one for 32bit hosts and one for 64bit hosts. The version installed depends on the host installation. The Sonitus plug-ins sold separately are 32bit DX and VST plug-ins.
 
In the case of VST plug-ins, in current 64bit only installations, Cakewalk does mix some 32bit dlls with the 64bit dlls in the VSTPlugins directory, for example Perfect Space and Cakewalk Sound Center.
 
In SONAR the plug-in header provides some clues about the plug-in format. VST plug-ins in addition to the preset drop down on the left side of the header have a drop down in the center of the header to manage presets and plug-in options. As of X3, the VST drop down name has been changed to VST2 and VST3, reflecting the different formats. If the plug-in is bridged the standard VST header is only displayed when the plug-in UI is opened while the SHIFT key is held down. Then the standard VST header is in a separate window usually under the plug-in UI.