Dynamics Processing

Blue Cat's Energy Pack [Bundle]

Want to bring energy and dynamics to your tracks? Looking for a complete wideband, multi-band and side chain dynamics processing solution? It's here!

This bundle of plug-ins includes our best tools to manage the dynamics of your audio tracks: Blue Cat's Peak Meter Pro monitors the levels and offers unique ducking capabilities thanks to its side chain features. Blue Cat's Dynamics includes all you need for broadband dynamics processing, while MB-5 Dynamix takes care of multiband effects. Finally, Blue Cat's Protector's simple yet efficient limiting capabilities completes the bundle.

All these plug-ins offer unique side chaining capabilities using MIDI or automation control. They can thus be used for a wide range of dynamics-based side chain effects. Check our tutorials for more information.

Blue Cat's Dynamics

Blue Cat's Dynamics is a complete dynamics effect processor: it can be used as a compressor, limiter, gate, expander or even waveshaper for distortion. You can manage the dynamics response of the plug-in with a unique two-thresholds system. The plug-in includes an input filter as well as a side chain filter, in order to control the frequencies affected by the compression. Its continuous VCA/Opto and Peak/RMS controls let you smoothly and precisely choose the behavior of the envelope detection like you have never been able to.

The plugin also provides advanced stereo features, with mid/side processing capability, multiple stereo linking options and the ability to choose on which channels to apply the effect.

An additional brick wall limiter/clipper protects the output for complete control over the dynamics response. You can use this software as a real time side chain compressor as well, thanks to its unique MIDI CC & automation output. Side chaining has never been so easy, as you can see in our tutorial, and it even lets you trigger external hardware devices. It's also possible to trigger other effects according to the dynamics response, as shown in our dynamic EQ tutorial: you can build your own dynamics processing effect with your favorite plugins.

The real time display of the detected envelope under the compression curve lets you know what's exactly going on in the dynamics processor. You can also visualize what's been applied to your audio signal with the real time in/out envelopes display: there is no easier way to compare the input and output signals in real time. You can also record all this information as automation curves, so that it's possible to monitor the modifications applied to the signal on top of the audio representation in your favorite host. See our monitoring tutorial for details.

All these features can be controlled from a user-friendly and skinnable user interface (customize it to your own needs!), or from any hardware/software MIDI controller. MIDI learn has not been forgotten so that MIDI setup is fast and reliable.

The package includes a mono and a stereo version for optimal CPU usage.

If you are looking for a multiband dynamics processor, check out the Blue Cat's MB-5 Dynamix plugin.

Blue Cat's Gain Suite

This plug-in suite is a series of gain utilities which let you control the volume of one or several audio tracks in real time. The interest of these plug-ins resides in their particular features:

First, their automation and advanced MIDI control capabilities (the response curve of the MIDI controllers can be fully customized). Used together with one of our analysis tools or a MIDI controller, these plug-ins let you remotely control and automate the gain of each channel of the audio signal.

Another interesting and exclusive feature is the ability to link several instances of the same plug-in: thanks to our unique data sharing technology, you can control the gain of several tracks at the same time, with advanced response curve capabilities.

The plug-in bundle contains a stereo and a mid/side version for independent control of the left and right or mid and side channels. It can be very useful for stereo widening/narrowing. Additional information about stereo widening with mid/side processing can be found in this paper.

Last but not least, the skinning capabilities of these plug-ins allow you to customize the way you interact with them.

Blue Cat's MB-5 Dynamix

Blue Cat's MB-5 Dynamix is an extremely powerful all-in-one multiband dynamics processor: it can be used as a multiband compressor, limiter, gate, expander, waveshaper or all combined at once, on any part of the spectrum. The unique dynamics processing section of the Blue Cat's Dynamics plug-in has been streamlined and integrated in this plug-in to process each one of the 5 bands separately.

The plug-in provides unique envelope detection capabilities that let one band trigger the dynamics response on others (internal side-chain). Combined with the advanced stereo features including mid/side processing and independent channels activation, it gives you full control over the dynamics of the signal for a wide range of effects.

An additional brick wall limiter/clipper protects the output for complete control over the dynamics response.

The plug-in provides comprehensive visual feedback to let you know what's exactly going on at every step of the dynamics processor: for each channel, monitor the spectrum, the in/out levels, dynamics response, compression ratio and in/out level of each band...

The user interface has been designed to streamline the workflow, and despite the wide range of functionalities offered by the plug-in, it is extremely easy to use. Inter-bands controls (copy/paste, link...) lets you create complex treatments with a few clicks.

Thanks to its advanced MIDI and automation output capabilities, Blue Cat's MB-5 Dynamix is capable of advanced side-chaining features: you can control other plug-ins with the output of the dynamics processing stage for simple side chain dynamics effects or more advanced signal-dependent effects. Check out our MB-5 Dynamix Tutorials for more details.

If you are looking for a broadband dynamics processor, check out the Blue Cat's Dynamics plugin.

Blue Cat's Protector

Blue Cat's Protector is a 0dB stereo brickwall limiter with adjustable dynamics response. It will typically find its place on the master bus of your DAW to protect your audio output from overshoot, limit the general volume and improve the perceived loudness, thanks to a very transparent frequency response.

Despite its very simple set of controls, it offers a wide range of sounds and it is also suitable as a track limiter for more creative effects such as distortion, pumping or heavy limiting.

Beyond its powerful dynamics processing features, and like most of our plugins, Blue Cat's Protector also offers a powerful side chain capability thanks to its MIDI CC output. This unique technique not only lets you do side chain limiting but also parameters modulation: control any parameter of any plugin to create powerful side chain effects in real time.

If you are looking for a complete dynamics processing solution you might be interested in looking at Blue Cat's Dynamics plugin.