Goodhertz Vulf Compressor – This Compressor is AMAZING

For those of you unfamiliar with Jack Stratton, Vulfpeck, and their signature style of modern jazz-funk then get to searching. Their band has been part of a movement over the last decade to make jazz cool again. Part of their unique sound comes from how they use broken-down and lo-fi to their advantage.

While they clearly have a skilled engineer handling their productions, they delicately entangle grit and ‘oldness’ into the sound. Part of that is their use of classic analog compression. In this article we’ll go over the Goodhertz Vulf Compressor, a compressor inspired by the machine behind Vulfpeck’s unique sound – the Boss SP-303 Dr. Sample Sampler.

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The Plugin

“Vulf Compressor is a really boutique, top-shelf Himalayan pink sea salt.” – Jack Stratton

 

 

When it comes to mixing music, you have an unlimited number of tools at your disposal. One, however, will be used without fail and will have a more consistent effect on the sound than anything else – compression. If compression really is the salt of music mixing, then, “Vulf Compressor is a really boutique, top-shelf Himalayan pink sea salt”. The Vulf Compressor does for crappy sounds what you would expect an expensive mix engineer to refuse to do – polish a turd.

The plugin sports the signature Goodhertz stylings which make it focused and simple to use. In the color bar, you will see a visual representation of your affected signal. Goodhertz notes in their user manual that, “we’ve opted for simple and direct controls & interfaces that don’t rely on photorealistic knobs or ornamental screw heads to communicate their meaning.” They don’t sacrifice CPU usage for fancy looks, it’s all about the audio. Even though there is a sidebar section to control advanced settings, the whole plugin works effortlessly. While there are many sliders the real players here are the Compression, Wow, and Lofi parameters. Tweaking these will result in a signal that sounds beautifully compressed, wonderfully warbled, horribly crunched, and so much more.

The advanced section allows you to dive in more if you prefer but you don’t need to. They’ve made it so you can get right to the juicy stuff from the man section. If you do dive in, however, the advanced section will let you adjust your Wow speed, the type of Lofi effect and the associated parameters of each effect. Built-in sidechaining makes this the perfect companion to your native plugins and will make for smooth mixing.

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Holy Moly It Sounds So Good

So what inspired the sound behind the glorious plugin? It came almost as a fluke, “Vulfpeck’s Jack Stratton read about the compression algorithm on a forum and enlisted two friends, Devin Kerr and Rob Stenson (co-founders of Goodhertz), to bring that algorithm to life in a digital form.” Well, the history adds to the whole package, watch the video below to learn more about the hilarious circumstances.

 

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So how well does it work? Extremely well. You can use this plugin to intentionally make your instruments sound worse, in a good way. There has always been something naturally warm about analog instruments, and Vulf Compressor can make that happen even with the stalest sounds. The unique combination of parameters adds to that ability. The compression algorithm is based on a classic analog device, but with modern-day shimmer. The Lofi controls introduce harmonic distortion while decreasing the high-end resolution, and for good measure, it sprinkles in some noise.

 

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That video does a fair job of demonstrating the compressor’s effect. Between the ON and OFF, you can hear the definitive difference in the quality of the sound. There’s more life, more character, the audio simply sounds better. There have been some complaints that the bypassed audio is not gain-matched, but if you don’t believe us then download the trail plugin and see for yourself.

The important thing to know about the plugin is how versatile it is. Slight changes between the Wow, Compression and Lofi will completely shift a tone. Are you looking for a powerful plugin in a small package? Look no further.

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Conclusion

The Vulf Compressor is not only a great compressor, but it may just change your entire workflow. It has the uncanny ability to shine cheesy/artificial/corny/etc. sounds and it will make your glorious sounds ascend to the heavens. For $149 on the Gooodhertz website, you could begin a whole new chapter in your production career. Click here to purchase.

 

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The GoodHertz Lineup

 

 

There are many reasons to love the Vulf Compressor, and one of them may be the new gratitude you feel for being introduced to Goodhertz. All of their plugins have similarly impressive coding and audio effects. Their simple-to-use, no-fuss interfaces make the plugins all about getting the sound you want to achieve.

Of the 14 individual plugins, each can take a comfortable space in your production workflow. From creative to destructive to out-of-this-world the lineup covers a wide range of abilities. We would highly recommend trying out each one to see if you want more from Goodhertz. Luckily for you, they bundle their plugins and offer discounts if you buy multiple.

Check out their website for more detail about each plugin. We look forward to diving into each, check back for our future reviews on their products!