FET Compressor

The FET Compressor is an impressively faithful modeling of one of the most iconic compressors of all time. FET Compressor is loved for its aggressiveness and its tendency to add some tasty distortion to the sound source when driven hard. This compressor loves to be slammed and abused. But few things are so good they can't be improved, Softube added a couple of nice features that makes it even more flexible than the hardware original.

In general, the FET Compressor can be used for deeper gain reduction than you would normally use with any compressor. The reason is that even at extreme settings, the FET Compressor shows no trace of the pinched sound many other compressors make when you push them hard. This ability for strict gain control is not least useful on lead vocal tracks that need to be kept in the listener's face. The distortion also adds a nice grit to the voice, highly useable in rock mixes but in no way limited to that.

Another common use for the FET is in drum mixing, where many engineers use it on room microphones, overheads or across the entire drum buss. Used this way, the FET Compressor has a way of bringing out a large, explosive sound in the Led Zeppelin vein. This is also an application where parallel compression is a useful technique, so the Parallel Inject control was added to facilitate this. To reduce kick drum pumping or let the bass guitar's low end bloom, use the side chain filter.

But there are still many more uses for the FET. Bass, acoustic guitars, pianos - bring out some edge or use the compressor's fastest attack setting to round off any transients.

Please note: Softube purchases are strictly licensed for sale to customers in the USA only