The APU Loudness Compressor plug-in is a compressor/expander designed to support modern loudness types (LUFS, True Peak). Typical compressors operate using only RMS and/or Peak units of measurement. But technology has come a long way since then and we’re overdue for an upgrade..

This compressor uses modern industry standard LUFS units of measurement to provide a far more transparent response which is connected to the way humans actually experience loudness. This isn’t just a superficial difference, the entire signal flow of the compressor operates within this more precise understanding of loudness.

The plug-in user interface provides a more intuitive alternative to traditional threshold-and-ratio style of compressor controls. Instead, source and target ranges of loudness can be configured and the compressor will either compress or expand as needed. You may wonder why we ever used the bizarre threshold/ratio/makeup method in the first place.

Real-time visuals are powered by hand-written OpenGL fragment shaders, providing beautiful iterative graphics which give detailed insight into how your dynamic range is being impacted by the compressor.

Congrats on the release.

I've only played with this for less than an hour, so it's too early for me to come up with any meaningful feedback, but so far I am impressed by a few things:
1. Kudos on the highly optimized code! Impressive.
2. I am not sure I understand how this compressor manages to be almost free of non-linearities, even in Peak mode with 0 attack. Not that I am complaining, but I haven't seen a compressor yet that can do that. This of course also means 0 aliasing, and I do mean 0.
3. While the UI is not really my cup of tea, I really appreciate the effort. The UI loads fast and is very responsive and easy to navigate.
4. Did I mention the incredibly low CPU usage?

Any chance for PayPal?

This is interesting.

I am also wondering if there is any chance for PayPal as a payment option.

I will try this when I get a chance. Looks good

Thanks for the (early) feedback

I'll work on getting PayPal checkout added to the site. Hopefully sometime over the next few days or so, then I'll update this thread.

Hi it is only VST2?

Mac os AU version?

looks really cool.

Please can you tell me the right form to read the graph?

I think that it is a really visual innovation, and maybe can give a new form to understand this tool (compressors)

Regards

I always enjoy when folks take a different approach and offer up something forward-thinking and push the envelop. Will def demo this. Cheers!

Here's what's currently supported:

Windows: VST, Standalone Application
macOS: VST, AU, Standalone Application

The blocks in the graph are the history of loudness level. You can change between different loudness types using the dropdown menu at the top ("Loudness type"). This includes different options for LUFS, RMS, True Peak, Peak.

The default view shows the blocks sliding in from the left to the right over time. This way you can see how the loudness is changing over time. The input and output signals are side by side so you can see how the compressor is impacting the dynamics over time.

Basic operation is to select a range of loudness values using "Source range" and then adjust the "Target range" to compress or expand (hint: you can drag the bar itself or either of the two thumbs, or use ctrl+drag or shift+drag). It's somewhat of a unique workflow, so it helps to just fiddle around with these two sliders to get a feel for what's going on.

In general, the view zooms in and out by itself to get a closer view of what's happening at any point in time. You can disable this in the Visualization tab ("Auto range") and drag the "Loudness" slider to its left to give yourself full control over the view.

thanks.

This week I have to finnish an ERP, so the weekend I will try this compressor, the approach look amazing.

Maybe you can include a simple reduction meter for help to the learning process with this new approach.

Congrats and kudos, you are smart

Regards
Alfredo

Very interested to check this out. Looks like a broadcast style AGC more than a typical compressor/limiter. I find this style of dynamic control can be super useful in music production and is often overlooked.

It`s one of those releases one can instantaneously notice
the expended love, care and thoughts.
Kudos & all the best for just that!

Although I don`t deal with mastering I`ll demo to figure uses for mixes
(other than previews).

P.S.
If Aaron ever considers to see plugins acquired by some known volume buyers
I`ll nominate him to get slapped with a radioactive towel ...

I'll consider this fair warning

Thanks for the good vibes

I just realized that the company name, APU, might be in reference to the author's name, Aaron, and not the Simpson's character. Believe it or not, I never took the company seriously, even though I saw the APU Loudness Meter frequently mentioned, because of the name. Huh. The mind works in strange ways.

Well I do love the Simpsons, at least historically.

But: Audio Processing Unit

Mostly an homage to the NES, which was the system I grew up on and later wrote my first emulator for.

Working fine in Studio One 6, but it crashes Logic Pro X. Love the Graphics.

Thanks, taking a look at this today.

I've got about 20 DAWs installed between 4 machines and that wasn't one of them, but looks like there's a 90 day trial at least

PayPal is now up on the site as a payment option

This issue should now be fixed in v1.5.1

Special thanks to Markus Schulz for the programming music..

Much appreciated. I just purchased.

Thank you for the support <3

Sounds very interesting.
I will try it.
When does the spring sale/introductory price ends ?

Of course it pushes the envelope, it's a compressor
i see my self out lol

Why I oughta...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B_FiRzpfZo

I don’t have a strict end date, probably whenever the next plug-in is ready for release. It will most likely be a synth and that’s going to take some time.

Thank you, purchased right after reading your post.

I spent a few more hours with this gem and I feel literally guilty for having paid only $20 for it. Imo, this comp is worth ten times more, and I am saying this after only having played almost exclusively with the peak mode, which is likely not even the main attraction.

Tested on vocals, drums and mix bus, went to all extremes I could think of and this thing was consistently great, predictable and quick to dial in, every step of the way, both as a comp and expander. Most of my tests were in peak mode, still wrapping my head around the other ones.

Apart from the UI which I am still not a fan of (I'm truly sorry saying this because it's obvious how much care and effort went into it) the few things I would consider great additions are:
- the ability to not only visualize but also hear the delta
- a mix knob
- the ability to hide the visualization which I find too distracting. I am not one to dismiss a little visual aid when mixing, but in this case it does not help me in any way to better understand what the processor is doing.
- internal sidechain controls, or at least a HPF.

By the way, I would gladly pay $20 for each of these, should they make it into a future update.

Time will tell if I'll ever get used to the UI, and I don't mean just the visualization part. I miss knobs and meters.
I know, old habits die hard and it could of course just be me, but the UI in its current state would feel more at home in an image processing application. This is just one guy's opinion, nothing more.

Really great work @ caustik ! Congrats.

Thank you for the support! <3

Great to hear. It probably does set expectations a bit low having the price so low, but at least it also makes it accessible for anyone. I'm not exactly a savvy businessman, just trying to grow a userbase and improve over time at this point.

No worries, honest feedback is greatly appreciated. I think most of the sliders will ultimately end up replaced by knobs (with the exception of range sliders maybe). That should help a bit. If you have any specific vision of how the UI could be better I'd love to hear it.

There are a couple options in the Visualization tab which make the graphics less annoying. In the "General:" row you can switch the 2nd combo-box to "None" or you can disable the delta field entirely on the right in the 3rd row.

Hopefully after switching to knob controls there will be some more screen real estate which can be used to add more configuration like the ideas you've described above.

Thanks for the detailed review/feedback. Glad you're getting some productive use out of the tool even if it isn't yet in it's final form

I don't have time to demo this at the moment (knee deep in production!) but have gone ahead and purchased based on your interactions here. It is refreshing to see an independent dev interactive here and wanted to show support. I'll chime back in once I have a chance to put the plug to work!

Thank you! Hopefully it goes smoothly but definitely let me know if you run into any problems.

This is very interestiing; I'll have to explore it further.
If your next plugin is a synth I'm interested too.