FabFilter Pro-MB (Download)

Powerful and intuitive
Multiband compression and expansion are powerful tools, but notoriously difficult to set up and control. Enter FabFilter Pro-MB: making multiband dynamics processing intuitive yet powerful at the same time.

Multiband dynamics processing, whether it's compression, limiting, or expanding, can really help control the elements in your mix. But without a doubt, these are some of the hardest processors to master, as there are a host of issues that can arise when using them. The FabFilter Pro-MB is a multi-use dynamic processor that includes compression, limiting, and expansion as well as gating. Luckily for us, FabFilter has not only continued their trend of making complex effects processors easy to navigate (via their help icons and guides), but they've gone ahead and made many of the issues that can plague multiband processing obsolete.

For starters, this plug-in has a brand new Dynamic Phase processing mode. This mode is as transparent as it gets, and will prevent pre-ringing artifacts, latency, and static phase distortion (which can be an unintended consequence of multiband processing). Another feature that we particularly enjoy is the way the frequency bands work; you can create bands yourself, and they do not have to connect. This means you can make each band cover as much of the frequency spectrum as you want, leaving the other sections untouched, and only processing the frequencies within those bands. If bands do connect, you can adjust the crossover slope to reduce any interference (or for creative effect). Each band has threshold, range, attack, release, output, ratio, knee, and lookahead controls (whew!), so you've got tons of ways to rein in each frequency, leaving you with a much tighter sound. In addition, when working in stereo, each band has left-right or mid-side processing.

Once you get a hang of this thing, you really start to see its potential. This type of dynamic processing is usually used in mixing and mastering, and it's easy to see how effective it is at tightening up a mix. Just throw it on the mix bus, look at the frequency spectrum analysis and see what frequencies are crowding the mix, throw a band on it, adjust the settings, and that's it! Additionally, it can be used on individual instrument tracks or busses as well. It can help make each element of a drum bus "pop" more, or can tighten up the low end of a bass and cut the muddy midrange, without losing the attack of the high frequencies.

There's also a ton of presets that can give you a good idea of how to make the most of this plug-in. These include mixing and mastering presets as well as many for individual instruments. The help icons make it easy to learn what each parameter does, and the bypass buttons (as well as the A/B comparison tool) let you reference an unprocessed signal for clarification. If you don't have any multiband limiters or compressors, and you want to dip your toes into this world, this plug-in is arguably the best place to start. It might be the only one you need.

Features:

• Up to six processing bands, freely placed anywhere in the spectrum
• Bands can be easily snapped together to form a traditional crossover system
• Handles any form of dynamics processing, from highly transparent compression, limiting and expansion to pumping upward compression and punchy gating
• Unique Dynamic Phase processing mode featuring zero latency, no static phase changes and no pre-ringing artifacts
• Excellent Linear Phase processing mode, eliminating audible artifacts when quickly changing crossover frequencies
• Minimum Phase processing mode
• Up to four times linear-phase oversampling to reduce aliasing
• Fully customizable per band:
  • Threshold, range, attack, release, output gain, and ratio controls let you set your compression settings for each band
  • Variable knee lets you adjust intensity and transparency of compression
  • lookahead (up to 20 ms) helps reduce latency and artifacts
  • Variable stereo linking, mid- or side-only processing let you zero in on frequencies on either side, or the middle of the frequency spectrum
  • External side chain input with triggering on a separate frequency range
  • Audition allows you to isolate to sidechain trigger audio
• Steepness of each crossover slope can be freely adjusted between 6 dB/oct and 48 dB/oct
• Intelligent, highly program- and frequency-dependent attack and release curves adjust depending on presets and compression type
• Global dry/wet mix from 0% (no wet signal) to 200% (double the wet signal) to easily scale the total effect of the plug-in
• Beautiful Retina interface with unique interactive multiband display, designed for an optimal workflow
• Accurate and smooth real-time frequency analyzer with pre- and post-processing options and ‘freeze’ feature
• High-quality audio processing algorithms with 64-bit internal processing where needed
• Band solo/mute and bypass options
• Precise output metering

Requirements:

Windows

• 64-bit: Windows 10, 8, 7 or Vista
• 32-bit: Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP
• VST 2/3 host or Pro Tools

Mac OS X

• OS X 10.6 or higher
• AU or VST 2/3 host or Pro Tools
• Intel processor