Best Multiband Compressor Plugins: The Only 6 to Consider!

Last updated on January 11th, 2024 at 06:56 pm

In this article, I will be reviewing the best multiband compressors currently available.

This list will comprise the 5 absolute best plugins for every need and budget, since their price ranges from only $29 to a whopping $199.

So, without any further ado, let’s get started!

Best Multiband Compressor plugins

Recommended

MB-Control

Cost efficient and fully-featured multiband compressor.

MB-Control

Advanced

Multiband X6

Advanced Multiband compressor with an an array of advanced features.

Multiband X6

Lowest Price

Waves C6

Cheapest Multiband compressor out there. Great performance on a budget.

Waves C6

Testing the Plugins

I will be reviewing these plugins and running them through a series of tests, such as loading as many instances of the plugin as possible before artifacts appear during playback, and more.

Here’s a brief description of the testing process:

• Technical performance: Tested with Pluginval and Auval, loading as many instances of the plugins as possible before audio playback is affected, testing oversampling, aliasing, latency, and more factors.
• User experience: From installation to actually using the plugin.
• Sound quality: Self explanatory.
• Economic Factors: Taking the average price of roughly 20 plugins of the same type and comparing it to the price of the plugin.
• Compatibility & Plugin formats.
• Plugin-specific Features: In this case, if they have auto makeup, auto attack and release, etc.

Learn how the plugin testing process is done here.

Note: I tried a lot more multiband compressors than the one found on this list, but these are the ones I found to be more suitable for most people, be it because of their price-to-performance, or just overall feature set.

THR MB-Control

Multiband compressor with Auto Makeup

Price: $49.99.

Released at the end of November 2023, the THR MB-Control is a very new addition to the plugin market and is designed to make multiband compression as simple and intuitive as possible.

It offers three distinct bands which can be manipulated independently to adjust the way your tracks, buses, or entire mixes sound.

To make things simple, you have access to a handful of ratio, attack, and release values, as well as the option to enable the auto-attack and auto-release functionality, and if you really want your compressor to groove with the music, you can choose to enable the release-sync feature which synchronizes the MB-Controls’ release time to the project’s BPM.

One of the stand out features of MB-Control is its Automatic Gain Makeup functionality: Proper auto makeup gain is quite hard to implement even in regular full-band compressors, not to mention on multiband compressors, but MB-Control does offer this feature which lets you focus on hearing how the compressor is affecting the signal without getting influenced by volume changes.

In addition to this, a saturation module for each band can also be used to add brightness and personality to the sound, and all of this without affecting the output level.

MB-Control also offers sidechaining compatibility, which allows for advanced compression techniques, such as ducking and pumping effects, as well as 4x and 8x oversampling to reduce aliasing and improve audio quality.

Lastly, a 7-day free-trial is also available.

Notable Features: 

• Auto Makeup per band.
• Saturation.
• Sidechain per band.
• Tempo-synced release.
• Auto attack & and release.

Pros:

• 7-Day Free trial (Full access).
• Intuitive design.
• Clean Sound.

Cons:

• Only one compression style.

Learn more about the THR MB-Control here.

Multiband X6 by Devious Machines

Advanced controls yet simple to use

Price: 79 pounds

Multiband X6 tries to make multiband compression simple while still providing you with a ton of functionality by having global parameters that affect all bands simultaneously: The threshold knob will set the threshold for all bands, for example, but this also works for the ratio, attack, and release.

The “Compression” knob adjusts the ratio and lets you choose the maximum level of compression, which means that it will never compress the signal more than that, making the whole process more forgiving.

It’s worth mentioning that  Multiband 6X still offers in-depth control for every single band, the global parameters are only there to make things simpler.

In addition to this, it features an “Auto-Threshold” that analyzes the tracks’ average level and sets each band’s threshold accordingly (this is not dynamic: It analyzes the tracks, sets the threshold and it doesn’t change from there).

A really nice auto-gain is also available that can be toggled from “Full-band” to “Individual-Band”, and it’s one of the better auto-makeup features I’ve seen so far on multiband compressors.

Multiband X6 features three compressor styles (Punch, Smooth, and Crunch), and it also doubles as an expander.

Lastly, Multiband X6 has an advanced tap that can be sued to enable sidechain processing, multiband or wideband functionality, linear phase, lookahead, Mid/Side processing, and oversampling.

Notable Features: 

• Mid/Side processing.
• Sidechain.
• Oversampling.
• Lookahead.
• Input/Output Level Match.

Pros:

• 14-Day Free trial (with white noise).
• Global Parameters and auto threshold.
• 3 compressor styles and expander.
• Very Visual.

Cons:

• Harder to understand than some other multiband compressors (MB-Control or G3 MultiBusComp).
• Only available for 64-bit systems.

Learn more about the Multiband X6 here.

Waves C6 Multiband Compressor

Affordable alternative to more modern compressors

Price: $29.99.

The Waves C6 is a classic in every sense of the word: It’s been used on countless records by industry leading producers, and it’s also extremely old, as evidenced by its dated interface.

While it doesn’t provide as good of a workflow as any of the other plugins on this list, it only comes in at $29.99, and the processing/sound quality side of things is excellent.

It features a total of 6 bands with the typical threshold, ratio, attack, and release, as well as master controls for all of those parameters as well.

Lastly, you can control the output level via the master Gain knob, the Gain on each band or via the Master Output (I thought the Gain would behave as an Input control, but it doesn’t, the compressor doesn’t react differently to those changes, so it’s basically an output control that affects each band slightly differently).

Notable Features: 

• Sidechain.
• Two compressor styles: Opto & Electro.
• Two release styles: Manual and ARC.

Pros:

• Simple to use.
• Very affordable.

Cons:

• Old interface with a fairly unintuitive layout.
• Gain seems to affect the signal post processing).

Learn more about the Waves C6 Multiband Compressor here.

FabFilter Pro-MB

Industry standard multiband compressor

Price: $169.

I don’t think Fabfilter requires an introduction since it’s the company behind some of, or maybe most of the industry leading plugins.

The Pro-MB multiband compressor lets you add up to six bands, all with individual parameter control, and it also doubles as an expander.

Aside from the typical compressor parameters, such as threshold, ratio, attack, release, and knee, it also features a “Range” slider that controls the maximum gain reduction or “expansion”: If you want a maximum of 5dB of gain reduction at any point, set the range to -5dB and Pro-MB will never compress the signal more than that.

If you prefer a more traditional style of workflow, you can link the bands together for a simpler more “traditional” way of using a compressor.

Lastly, it features a couple of additional settings to fine-tune the processing, such as “Aggressive compression”,  “Aggressive Expander”, and more.

Notable Features: 

• Lookahead.
• Sidechain.
• 2x and 4x oversampling.
• Choose between Minimum Phase, Dynamic Phase, and Linear Phase.
• Mix.
• Pan.
• Stereo Lin, Mid/Side processing.
• MIDI learn.

Pros:

• Great-looking and very responsive UI.
• Transparent & clean-sounding compression.

Cons:

• High price tag.
• No Auto-Gain.

Learn more about the Fabfilter Pro-MB here.

SSL G3 MultiBusComp

Buss Compressor designed to add Sonic Glue

Price: $199 or $14.99 per month.

Another new addition to the plugin world is the SSL G3 MultiBusComp, a 3-band multiband compressor marketed as being a “glue compressor”, which means that its main purpose is to be used for bus compression and mastering, hence the name.

In typical SSL fashion, the interface looks sleek, clean, and it’s a very simple and intuitive plugin to get your head around, contrary to a lot of other multiband compressors.

One thing I noticed when working with this plugin was its threshold & gain linking feature, which sounds like an auto-makeup feature, but isn’t: Essentially, you can link the two sliders together and lowering the threshold by 1dB increases the gain by 1dB.

This approach, however, does not keep the output level the same, so I never found myself using it.

Each band comes with a saturation module (very slight saturation) which doesn’t affect the output level when turning the drive up, making it extremely easy to use.

In addition to this, the MultiBusComp offers Oversampling, which can be turned on via the “BQ” button, as well as sidechain capabilities.

One complaint I have, however, has to do with the installation process: You need to register on their website, download the SSL Installer, download the plugin via the installer, then download the iLok License manager, and lastly, activate the plugin.

If your trial runs out and you open a project where the plugin should be getting loaded, at least in Reaper and Studio One, it gets stuck in a loop trying to activate and you need to cancel the activation multiple times before it opens the project.

Notable Features: 

• Sidechain.
• Oversampling.
• Saturation.

Pros:

• Excellent sound quality (Great for bus compression).
• Very easy to use and understand.

Cons:

• No proper volume compensation.
• High price.
• Requires SSL Installer and iLok license manager (not the best user experience).

Learn more about the SSL G3 MultiBusComp here.

Note: The reason the user experience score isn’t higher is because of the Plugin installation, activation, and licensing steps described above, which is as bad of an experience as it gets when installing plugins.

BlueCat MB-5 Dynamix

5-band compressor & expander

Price: $149.

The MB-5 Dynamix by BlueCat has been around for quite some time now, but despite its age, it’s still a fairly powerful and usable plugin.

MB-5, as the name implies, gives you the ability to enable up to 5 bands (3 enabled by default) and these can be tweaked individually, be it to add compression or expansion.

The detection mode can be RMS or Peak, and you can control the RMS detection time manually as well.

Lastly, it features a Limiter section, as well as L/R and M/S processing, and even “hold release” functionality (this lets you set a time limit in milliseconds where the compressor holds the compression before releasing).

As far as the interface goes, it’s quite dated-looking and the controls don’t feel that smooth (small mouse movements adjust the parameters a bit too much), and it’s also not the most intuitive multiband compressor out there (the MB-Control or the SSL G3, for example, are much more intuitive).

Notable Features: 

• RMS & Peak Detection.
• Built-in Limiting.
• Hold Release functionality.
• Adjustable Slopes.

Pros:

• Free version (stops processing for a couple of seconds every now and then).
• Clean Sound.
• L/R and M/S processing.

Cons:

• No Auto Makeup.
• Unintuitive design.
• Plugin seems to always be “in front”, meaning that pressing the spacebar wont start and stop the song unless you click somewhere on the DAW first.

Learn more about the MB-5 Dynamix here.

Summary

MB-Control is a great multiband compressor for large projects since it’s the one that uses the least amount of resources on this entire list, it’s also extremely easy to use and at $49.99, it’s a great choice.

Multiband X6 would be my next choice, since it comes in at roughly $90 and includes a ton of advanced features.