Just curious, which "in the box" compressor do you all like the best? I'm talking primarily about compressors that come with Sonar. What is it that you like about it? Pros & cons?
 
If you happen to have a 3rd party software compressor that you a really crazy about, that's not off limits for the sake of this conversation, either. I'm just really curious as to everyone's thoughts on the various compressors. I'm still trying to decide on which one I like the most. I use the one in the ProChannel quite a bit, but I use some of the others, too, and just got curious.
 
Thanks for any thoughts!

The Prochannel comps are all really good IMO. PC76 on just about anything. The CA-2A on drums and acoustic guits and the PC4K on overheads and busses etc - anything where you don't want to raise the noisefloor but just tuck the signal in a bit.. I always start with them and then go outside if I think I need something else. Outside of SPLAT recently discovered the Nomad Factory AMT Max Warm. Supposedly a mastering compressor but it kills on Vox. Eventide Ultrachannel also has great comp options but it gets a bit flakey sometimes. I try to find new plugs all the time to stay fresh but those are the ones I know will do the job. And Concrete Limiter - cant's beat that thing on the master buss. Waves makes something called the Infected Mushroom Pusher - sorta like a channelstrip on steroids... or some other stimulants! Very aggressive but brilliant. But then, that's just me :O)

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The Linear Phase Multi Band is my favorite "in the box" one.  

I use the CA-2A a lot. I’ve even got the Mac AU version if it and prefer it to Waves LA-2A model.

The Concrete Limiter is excellent - another Cakewalk processor that I think would be worth expanding into a VST and AU plugin.

Other than that, 1176 emulations are my "go to". Cakewalk's and Waves don't sound quite the same, but both are good and very easy to use. Rather like the original hardware that simplified compression into a small number of controls that make it hard to get a really bad result.

And the Sonnitus compressor might be old but is pretty good, if a bit "characterless".

Each compressor does a job well but not always all jobs well.
The CA-2A: I find it to be great with a lot of things but in my opinion it shines on Vox and bass.
I use Softube compressors for guitar. The summit EQ/Comp does both really well. As does the FET compressor.
I use Waves SSL G Bus compressor for most of my Buses.

My favorite bus compressor is The Glue. I'm sure there are comparable SSL style compressors available but I cannot fault this one. It goes on my master bus immediately. But it's also great on guitars and for parallel compression on drums.

I also love the VC-76 and VC-2A from NI, their 1176 and LA-2A emulations. VC-76 is great for aggressive compression and VC-2A is a no brainer for any kind of macro smoothing. Both are great on vocals, in fact a great compression chain is the VC-76 followed by the VC-2A, just 2 or 3 dB of gain reduction on each.

Fabfilter Pro-C is also a go to whenever I need to experiment with a lot of different compression strategies. It's like a Swiss Army knife of compression.

Supercharger GT by NI is fantastic whenever you need to compress the left and righ channels independently, and also for mid/side enhancement.

I just keep going for that Sonitus one. But I do a lot of ducking with it so it's here and there, listening to sends. I use it for that purpose because it feels like it might not burn cpu doing some vintage emulation and in just ducking it does not have to. For other tasks I don't use comps that came with Sonar. I tried to use the prochannel once and just can't for workflow reasons. I've always right clicked the fx bin, can't help it.

Of the stuff that comes with Sonar, I use the 1176 emulation ProChannel module a lot. I use the CA-2A even more, but I bought that as an optional extra, and I can't remember if it was ever give away as part of the standard package. It should be, it's kind of essential, IMO. Agree with Chuck about it's usefulness for vocals and bass in particular.

I've been using the new (or perhaps "recent" is a better word) multiband compressor more and more for serious work. And I like the SSL emulator bus compressor a lot for parallel compression on certain things.

I also bought the S-Type channel compressor module a while back, but I find I never use it.

A different way of answering this would be: I like my compressors in the ProChannel. It seems intuitive to me to have them baked into the channel like on a really good desk. Yet another way to answer would be: my default channel compressor is the 1176 emu, and when sketching out an initial mix, every channel will have that or the CA-2A. Other things will be used if and only if necessary.