Soundevice Digital has released Royal Compressor XT, giving its old-school compression plugin a dual-unit setup. United Plugins handles the release, and the new version keeps the warm vari-mu sound of Royal Compressor while adding more ways to treat different parts of a mix.
The British vintage gear influence is still there. But XT gives each compression unit a full set of controls, from Trim and Input Control to Model, Recovery, Saturation, Output Attenuator, and Dry/Wet. That means each section can get a distinct setup without messing with the other.
Modes 1 and 2 keep the old Royal Compressor behavior intact. L/R lets each stereo channel get separate treatment, while M/S handles center and side content on their own. Low/High goes a bit further by splitting audio into two frequency bands, with a crossover point users can move.
Each unit also gets a power switch and Solo option. One side can take a break while the other keeps working, and users can check exactly what either section does to the audio. Pretty handy for fine-tuning a mix.
Models A, B, and C give producers three takes on handmade hardware units. The cleanest choice has a 70 ms attack, while the most colored one hits at 17 ms. Saturation levels can be tweaked, and Recovery uses fixed steps with hold settings.
Preset management gets some love as well. P1 and P2 handle saved settings for each compressor, while global presets cover the full plugin. A vocal setup from one unit can also move straight to the other, with no need to dial it all in again.
For anyone who likes driving compressors hard, automatic gain control helps manage the output. A final limiter adds another level of protection, and oversampling reaches 16x to cut aliasing from saturation.
Compatibility covers Windows 10 and newer PCs, along with Macs on macOS 10.14 or later. Producers can run it in VST, VST3, AU, or AAX formats.
The price is arguably the wildest part. Royal Compressor XT costs €15 under its launch deal, rather than the standard €69. Past buyers of Royal Compressor qualify for a free upgrade, while the first plugin has joined the United Plugins Free Bundle.
The British vintage gear influence is still there. But XT gives each compression unit a full set of controls, from Trim and Input Control to Model, Recovery, Saturation, Output Attenuator, and Dry/Wet. That means each section can get a distinct setup without messing with the other.
Modes 1 and 2 keep the old Royal Compressor behavior intact. L/R lets each stereo channel get separate treatment, while M/S handles center and side content on their own. Low/High goes a bit further by splitting audio into two frequency bands, with a crossover point users can move.
Each unit also gets a power switch and Solo option. One side can take a break while the other keeps working, and users can check exactly what either section does to the audio. Pretty handy for fine-tuning a mix.
Models A, B, and C give producers three takes on handmade hardware units. The cleanest choice has a 70 ms attack, while the most colored one hits at 17 ms. Saturation levels can be tweaked, and Recovery uses fixed steps with hold settings.
Preset management gets some love as well. P1 and P2 handle saved settings for each compressor, while global presets cover the full plugin. A vocal setup from one unit can also move straight to the other, with no need to dial it all in again.
For anyone who likes driving compressors hard, automatic gain control helps manage the output. A final limiter adds another level of protection, and oversampling reaches 16x to cut aliasing from saturation.
Compatibility covers Windows 10 and newer PCs, along with Macs on macOS 10.14 or later. Producers can run it in VST, VST3, AU, or AAX formats.
The price is arguably the wildest part. Royal Compressor XT costs €15 under its launch deal, rather than the standard €69. Past buyers of Royal Compressor qualify for a free upgrade, while the first plugin has joined the United Plugins Free Bundle.
