McDSP - 6030 Ultimate Compressor Native

The McDSP 6030 Ultimate Compressor is ten compressors in one plug-in, from Fairchild-style tube warmth to a properly aggressive solid-state squash. It's for mix engineers who'd rather swap compressor characters in one window than load five different plug-ins.

Ten compressors, one window

A column of ten buttons swaps the active module in real time, so you can try a vocal through an opto, a tube and a solid-state design without losing the thread of a mix. Every module is McDSP's own design. Some are built from scratch and others take a classic unit as a starting point and change it. v7 added a mix control for parallel compression, a side chain filter, and feedback and negative compression modes.

The modules

• C671: McDSP's take on the Fairchild 670, with faster tracking for modern sources and a warm output
• MT2 (Moo Tube): an all-tube design with reworked midrange sensitivity and gentle attack and recovery
• iC2 (iComp): an original design with no attack or release controls. Timing follows the threshold and ratio you set
• Opto-C3 and Opto-L3: an electro-optical compressor and limiter that back off naturally after a certain amount of gain reduction
• BC-23 (British-C): a traditional English-style design that stays clean even at extreme settings
• EZ C (Over EZ): a smooth knee with full threshold, ratio, attack and release
• SST'78: a fast solid-state design with a McDSP key circuit, built for drums and percussion
• FRG446 ("The Frog"): moderately aggressive and at home on big rock kits
• D359: the most aggressive of the ten, with an LED-style gain reduction meter

The sound

The C671 thickens bass and vocals without much obvious compressor sound, and the opto modules are slow, musical levellers that are well liked on vocals. At the other end, the FRG446 and D359 will pin a drum bus and add grit when you want to hear the compression working. None of the ten is a note-for-note copy of the hardware it nods to, so if you're after an exact LA-2A or 1176 clone, look elsewhere. What you get instead is ten well-made colours in one place at zero latency, which on a busy session is worth a lot.

Native or HD?

Native runs on your computer in AAX Native, AU and VST3, which is all most studios need. If you mix on Pro Tools HDX or an Avid VENUE S6L, 6030 Ultimate Compressor HD adds AAX DSP support.

Features

• 10 compressor modules in one interface, swappable in real time
• Side chain input with filter
• Mix control for parallel compression
• Feedback and negative compression modes
• Analogue saturation modelling
• Double precision processing, zero latency
• Mono and stereo versions
• Presets from award-winning mix engineers

System requirements

• Version: 7.3
• Mac: macOS 10.13 High Sierra to macOS 26 Tahoe. AAX Native, AU and VST3. Native on Apple Silicon and Intel
• Windows: Windows 10 and 11. AAX Native and VST3
• RAM: not specified by McDSP
• Licence: iLok, on an iLok2 or iLok3 USB key, your computer or iLok Cloud (a free iLok account is needed). Two activations per licence

SOUND7 is an authorised McDSP reseller. Digital delivery: licence activation code sent by email.

Demo