Overview

Tighten your mixes with musical bus compression

Use the Bettermaker Bus Compressor to add bus compression to your drum, vocal, guitar, and stereo buses. This VCA bus compressor plugin is designed to preserve transient material and maintain “punch” while gluing your mixes together. The Bettermaker Bus Compressor will add the warmth and vibe that your submixes have been missing, especially when applied to raw studio recordings.

Unlock an enhanced hardware emulation with added features

The hardware version of the Bettermaker Bus Compressor uses an entirely analog signal path with settings that are saved and recalled digitally; this has led to the unit’s widespread popularity amongst professional mixing and mastering engineers. While the Bettermaker Bus Compressor plugin sounds very similar to the hardware, it’s slightly more forgiving and surgical, allowing you to de-ess vocals and hi-hats. Furthermore, the VCA Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) knob generates additional harmonic content, subtly saturating your music.

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Filter and boost the sidechain signal to avoid pumping effects

When processing bass-heavy sounds, many compressors often respond too aggressively to low-end transients. As a result, you may end up with undesirable pumping effects. The Bettermaker Bus Compressor includes a sidechain high-pass filter and midrange boost option. Use these features to target the punch of kick drums and the sibilance in vocals.

Choose between responsive or smooth compression

The Bettermaker Bus Compressor plugin features both Peak and RMS detection modes, making it an incredibly versatile compressor. Peak mode is intended for tight dynamics control and is perfect for taming aggressive drum transients. RMS mode provides smoother compression, ideal for sustained sounds like pads, basses, and vocal textures.

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Features

  • Threshold, Ratio, Attack, and Release controls
  • Auto Release mode that sets the release time based on musical content
  • Mix knob to apply parallel compression
  • Gain control to add positive or negative makeup gain
  • Internal/external sidechain filtering options
  • VCA THD that applies subtle saturation
  • Peak and RMS detection modes
  • Input, output, and gain reduction meters
  • Choose between freely adjustable or stepped knob settings
  • Factory presets

Audio Examples

Industry Reviews

  • Lamont Sincere

    Lamont Sincere

    Mixing Engineer (Wiz Khalifa, Duke Deuce, Lil Yachty)

    The Bettermaker Bus Compressor is like the secret ingredient in a great meal for any bus track: it is the little thing that makes everything taste… Read More

  • Brad Cox

    Brad Cox

    Producer, Mixer, Mastering Engineer (Slash, T Pain, Moonshine Bandits)

    Super clean and transparent. Gives glue without losing punch or coloring your mix/master!

     

  • Lucas (Luke) Pimentel

    Lucas (Luke) Pimentel

    Grammy & Dove nominated, Gold, Platinum & Diamond awarded Mastering Engineer (Jeremy Riddle, Miel San Marcos, Marcos Witt)

    The classic glue VCA that we’ve all learned to love has been taken to the next level with added flexibility and harmonic content. It’s not only fast and punchy, it can get bigger and fat!

  • Ken Lewis

    Ken Lewis

    multiple Grammy nominated, Gold & Platinum certified Mixer, Producer, Finisher (BTS, Wu Tang Clan, Bruno Mars)

    I haven't found a song yet that Bettermaker doesn't make better. Such a wide range of control, Bettermaker does whatever i need it to do, as gently or aggressively as i want.

Customer Reviews

  • Bettermaker Bus Compressor

    ★★★★★
    by D. Puzia
    I have tons of bus compressors, and most are fantastic. However, this one takes it to another level! It's clean and transparent when you need it. Then when you want to get big and add grit it really… Read More
  • Great bus compressor

    ★★★★★
    by BluelagoonStudios
    I used this a lot, in about 50 songs since you provided it. Yeah this is a great plugin. I used this one, or the Townhouse compressor, depending on the material I was processing. But then came the… Read More
  • In Love With This Compressor

    ★★★★★
    by XS
    im part of the yearly subscription
    but i bought this compressor perpetual`s licence
    it glues the mix so well, is very trasparent
    extremely low cpu
    it does the job effortlessly

Specifications

Supported Plugin Formats
AAX Native, AU, VST2, VST3

Supported Operating Systems
macOS 15 down to macOS 12
Windows 11 down to Windows 10

Mac
Intel, or Apple Silicon

PC
x64-compatible CPU

System Requirements
Display resolution: 1440 × 900px or 1280 × 960px or higher
Memory: 2 GB RAM

Downloads

With the Installation Manager you can select, download & install all the Plugin Alliance products. Select any and all formats you need for your system! Mac & PC.

ChangeLog

Bus Compressor

Bettermaker Bus Compressor - Changelog

Version 1.0 (Nov 23, 2023)
- Initial Release