M-Compressor is a free compression plugin by MeldaProduction that offers a wide variety of features, especially considering that it’s completely free.
The first thing that makes this plugin stand out is that it features an adjustable compression shape, giving you the ability to create dynamic sound effects, and a range of up-sampling options, which you just can’t do with other plugins.
What I like about it is that it gives you the ability to really see how the compressor is affecting the signal, since the graphic display gives you an incredibly accurate representation of what’s going on, making it easy to visualize the settings as you dial them in.
As audio engineers, especially beginners, this is very useful, since it allows you to use your other senses, not just your hearing, to learn how the compressor is working.
Having a visual representation of attack, release, ratio, threshold, etc. is something that I find especially valuable for someone who still hasn’t been able to train their ears enough to be able to hear the subtle differences.
The M-Compressor provides all the typical compression controls such as Input, Output, Attack, Release, RMS, Threshold, Ratio, Knee Size and the different Knee Modes (Hard, Linear, and Soft).
Additionally, it allows for side-chain compression, which is very rare to see in free plugins!
When you click on “Enable” on the Side-Chain bar, it also enabled high-pass and low-pass pre-filters for the detector, which is great for when you’re using it on a drum bus and don’t want every kick and cymbal crash to pump the compressor.
M-Compressor will work on both Windows and Mac OS and on all major DAWs, and you can download it for free with the MFreeBundle, which includes a lot more free plugins, from the MeldaProduction website here.
The whole bundle is 287MB and includes a total of 37 free plugins.
Related: Best Free Compressor VST/AU Plugins.
