After his successful exciter and transient shaper FeenstaubTX, developer Variety of Sound is back with his second instalment in the Feenstaub series, the FeenstaubTC tube compressor.

Note that the plugin is 64-bit, VST3/VST2 and Windows only.

Whenever Variety of Sound releases a plugin, people get excited. And for a good reason, I might add.

In a market saturated with analogue emulations and “magic” buttons, there is an abundance of poorly made, derivative and bad-sounding plugins.

Yet, this is never the case with Variety of Sound.

Their Feenstaub series is all about colour, depth and dimension, and the FeenstaubTC is a blend between the characteristics of tube compression and tape saturation. The best of both worlds, one might say.

If warmth, fatness and transient management are what you’re after on your tracks or your entire mixbus, look no further!

The plugin boasts a resizable UI and is equipped with some nicely tuned presets that show what this thing is capable of.

One thing to note is that Variety of Sound has included the intended operating levels for both the compressor and the saturation in the preset list. That is smart!

If you want to jump right into tweaking, the plugin has a clear layout with readouts showing you the total amount of both gain reduction and total harmonic distortion.

The large button on the left labelled “GR” is the volume-compensated input for the compression.

The “color” button is an internal sidechain for the compressor. The shape of this filter is the inverse frequency response of a specific tape and recorder combination.

The bipolar “timing” button lets you choose between Vari-mu or glue-style compression. You dial in your preferred attack time while release times are program-dependent.

On the right side of the plugin “THD” is the volume-compensated input for the saturation. The knob labelled “Fat” controls the transfer curve. At 0% the transmission is linear over a wide range before level limiting, while at 100% there is noticeable saturation at lower levels.

The “warmth” control determines the number of high-frequency compression artefacts we know and love from tape machines, while subtly extending the low-frequency range as well.

At the centre of the plugin are gain trims for both compressor and saturation. Both parts of the plugin can be operated independently.

In the upper right corner is an additional high pass filter for the compressor side chain as well as a transformer model to control uneven low-frequency material and add additional harmonic material.

Through the last decade and more, Variety of Sound has built an exceptional arsenal of audio tools made available for free. FeenstaubTC is no exception to the rule, and his high status in the audio plugin community is well deserved.

As always, the plugins come with a thorough manual that discusses both signal flow and advanced use cases. Bootsy, the man behind the brand also shares a lot of valuable insight regarding plugins and audio on his blog.

The plugin can be downloaded as a ZIP file. No email or account registration is needed, which we always appreciate.

Download: FeenstaubTC (FREE)

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