ANCHOR
Bus Comp KM-04
Console VCA glue that holds the mix together without flattening it.
AU · VST3 · macOS
What it does.
ANCHOR is a VCA bus compressor in the console tradition: stepped attack and release, four ratios and an Auto release that follows the music. One or two decibels of reduction and the mix starts to move as one thing.
Every switch has fixed positions, so a setting is easy to recall and to describe. A sidechain high-pass keeps the kick from driving the whole bus, Console adds the color of a summing amp, and Mix gives you parallel glue in one instance.
- Best on
- Mix bus · Drum bus · Group buses · Stems
- Line
- Heritage
- Category
- Dynamics
Hear it.
The same recording without and with ANCHOR, set from SCAN and adjusted by ear. Switch while it plays; the position stays where it is.
The before-and-after examples are being recorded. They will appear here.
What's inside.
Stepped and recallable
Attack: 0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 10 or 30 ms. Release: 0.1, 0.3, 0.6 or 1.2 s. The same positions every time you open the session.
Auto release
Two stages: it recovers quickly after short peaks and slowly after sustained compression.
Four ratios
1.5:1 for a trace of glue, 2:1 and 4:1 for firm control, 10:1 for near-limiting on a drum group. The knee tightens as the ratio goes up.
Console color
Adds the level-dependent odd harmonics and the second harmonic of a summing amp, which grows with gain reduction. 0–100 %, and at 0 % it adds nothing.
Sidechain filter and key
High-pass the detector at 60, 90 or 150 Hz, or key the compressor from the sidechain input. The detector is stereo-linked.
Makeup, Mix and meters
Makeup from −6 to +18 dB, a gain-reduction needle with a scrolling history, and parallel Mix in one instance.
SCAN for ANCHOR.
Play the chorus or the densest section for about twelve seconds. SCAN measures the take and proposes settings for Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, Makeup, Sidechain HPF, Console. Each move comes with the reason, in one line.
Apply it with one click, then trust your ears. It is a starting point an engineer would be happy to begin from.
Play the chorus or the densest section for about twelve seconds.
- Source
- Full mix
- Crest factor
- 11.4 dB
- Tempo
- 100 BPM
- Low end
- 38 % below 120 Hz
Recommended
- Threshold −12.0 dB at 2:1: about 2.5 dB of glue on the loud parts
- Attack 10 ms, release 0.6 s: holds the peaks without dulling them, and breathes with the 100 BPM beat
- Sidechain HPF 90 Hz: the low end will not drive the pumping
- Makeup +2.0 dB, Console 30 %
Example readout. The values depend on your material.
Specifications.
Controls
- Threshold
- −40 to 0 dB
- Ratio
- 1.5:1 · 2:1 · 4:1 · 10:1
- Attack
- 0.1 · 0.3 · 1 · 3 · 10 · 30 ms
- Release
- 0.1 · 0.3 · 0.6 · 1.2 s · Auto
- Makeup
- −6 to +18 dB
- Console
- 0–100 %
- Sidechain HPF
- Off · 60 · 90 · 150 Hz
- External sidechain
- On · Off
- Input / Output
- −24 to +24 dB
- Mix
- 0–100 %
Formats and system
- AU
- macOS
- VST3
- macOS
- AAX
- Coming soon
- Windows
- Coming soon
- macOS
- 11 Big Sur or later
- Processor
- Apple silicon and Intel
- Sample rates
- 44.1–192 kHz
- Channels
- Mono and stereo
- Interface size
- 75–200 %
- Latency
- Reported to the host
ANCHOR
Bus Comp · Bus Compressor. One payment, yours to keep.
List price $99−51%, now $49Launch price
- Free 7-day trial before you buy
- Serial for 1 computer at a time, works offline 45 days
- Free updates for version 1
Add another plugin and both are 15% off; ten or more, 45% off. How bundles work, or all twenty in Complete for $299.
